Appraiser: Stevens’s Home Worth $270,000

An appraiser in 2000 said Sen. Ted Stevens’s renovated house was worth $270,000, according to testimony Friday during the Alaska Republican’s criminal trial.

On Sept. 16, 2000, Gerald Randall, an appraiser for the National Bank of Alaska, broke down the value of the senator’s remodeled home. According to Randall, following some of the improvements, the interior value of the home was $194,357, $8,500 was the value of the driveway and $70,000 was the value of the land.

The value is critical because the home renovations are at the center of the senator’s criminal trial, now in its third week. Stevens has pleaded not guilty to felony charges of failing to disclose gifts, including $188,000 in home renovations from Bill Allen, the former head of the Veco Corp. oil-services firm. Stevens says he paid a subcontractor some $160,000 for the renovations, which he expected to cover all bills.

Randall served as an expert witness for the defense lawyers, who now will argue that his testimony corroborates their case that the government’s $188,000 projection is overblown.

But during cross-examination, Randall acknowledged that he conducted the appraisal months before contractors added a number of expensive renovations, including a steel staircase, a backup power generator, a balcony with an escape ladder and plumbing and electrical-wiring changes.

– Manu Raju