Parkland May Have A Buyer City Has Been Negotiating With Wal-Mart For North Side Land
The city of Spokane may have found a buyer for the North Side parkland voters approved selling last spring.
City officials won’t identify the possible buyer.
However, the city has been negotiating with Wal-Mart “and others,” said Dennis Beringer, manager of the city’s Real Estate Department.
The Spokane Park Board is scheduled to discuss an option-to-buy agreement during its meeting Thursday.
Details of the sale will be discussed in an executive session. When the board reconvenes in public, terms of the agreement will be presented and testimony taken.
Written comments will be accepted until Nov. 11 when the board is expected to make a decision on selling the property. The sale will need final approval from the City Council.
Wal-Mart representatives did not return telephone calls Friday.
The 30-acre site is near Holland Avenue and Colton Street on the far north end of the city, near the Northpointe shopping center.
In January, Parks and Recreation Director Ange Taylor told voters the Parks Department hoped to raise at least $3 million from the sale of the land.
Money from the property sale will be used to build a four-acre neighborhood park on the same Holland Avenue site, develop a master plan for the Joe Albi Stadium site, and build softball diamonds, soccer fields and other improvements at the North Side stadium.
“This transaction will significantly benefit the Parks Department and their endeavor to accomplish their goals at Joe Albi,” said Beringer.
“It will benefit the city of Spokane,” he said.
Most of the property is zoned for light manufacturing. It could also be used for commercial, business or residential development without a zone change.
“It would be great if we could get it back on the property tax rolls,” said Dave Mandyke, assistant city manager.
“If we could get an owner in there who is going to generate sales tax on top of that, it’s a definite advantage over the property just sitting out there and not being put to its highest and best use,” said Mandyke.
“It’s not doing anyone any good the way it is just sitting.”
The property is an old sewer lagoon that the city tried for years to develop into softball fields.
The project seemed on the brink of success about three years ago when a Portland consulting group produced a management study showing that the project could work.
But financing failed to materialize, and neighbors of the proposed ballpark complained about plans for bright lighting and alcohol sales.
The city decided to sell the property and use the money to improve Albi. A public vote is needed to sell parkland, and about 80 percent of voters in the February election voted in favor of selling the site.