County Selling Prime Corner Site

Developers who missed it the first time will have another chance to bid on a prime piece of commercial real estate owned by Spokane County taxpayers.

The county is selling the former site of a Gull service station at the northwest corner of Argonne Road and Trent Avenue.

The 27,700-square foot property is part of a larger parcel purchased during construction of the Argonne underpass. About one-third of the original lot was used to widen Argonne.

Developer Richard Vanderbert offered $347,225, slightly more than the $12 a square foot the county paid for the land. In 1992, Vanderbert’s construction company built the Albertson’s store adjacent to the county’s land.

But Tuesday, during a hearing to consider that offer, Randy Jassman stepped forward with an offer of $375,003, and an earnest-money check for $30,000.

Instead of taking the offer, commissioners said they want to better advertise the property. It was listed only in the legal-advertising section of the Valley News Herald.

“We appreciate your generous offer, but, who knows, you may pay more for it,” if other people bid, Commissioner Phil Harris told Jassman.

Jassman, a Tomlinson-Black Realtor who represents California-based USA Petroleum Corp., said he didn’t know the land was for sale until six days before the hearing.

In that time, USA Petroleum officials flew to Spokane, sized up the lot as a potential convenience store site and prepared a real estate contract ready for commissioners’ signatures.

If USA Petroleum gets the site, it will be the company’s first convenience store in Eastern Washington.

, DataTimes