Judges Grill Cleveland Tower’s Owner on Tax-Break-for-Rehab Plan

Judges at the Sixth Circuit seemed doubtful at oral argument Wednesday that developers could claim a $22.6 million tax deduction on a historic downtown Cleveland high rise they renovated, based on the premise that they could have built a skyscraper on top of it.

Corning Place Ohio LLC maintained its claimed charitable contribution tax deduction for donating a conservation easement on the 11-story Garfield Building shouldn’t have been disallowed. The company, an affiliate of developer Millennia Cos., ultimately renovated the building thanks to financial support from Historic Preservation Tax Credits, a separate program that grants funding for adaptive re-use projects ...