City of Blaine puts vacant downtown land on the market

The city of Blaine is ready to put a vacant downtown property at 665 Peace Portal Drive on the market. At its June 22 meeting, Blaine City Council voted to enter into a contract with local real estate agent Ron Freeman to market the property with a listing price of $300,000.

The contract includes a 6 percent commission to be split among agents and brokers involved in a sale.

The property is vacant land in a prime downtown location, on the Drayton Harbor side of the street between Blaine Bouquets and Tiny Taproom. The city acquired the property in late 2019; the deceased former owner’s estate transferred the property to the city in lieu of foreclosure after the city paid to demolish a decaying and structurally unsound building on the site in April 2019 and placed a lien on the property.

The city had been pursuing demolition on the property for about two years and had not been able to contact the property’s owner. In total, the city spent about $283,000 on demolition, including asbestos abatement, staff time, legal fees and direct expenses on the property, according to meeting documents.

City council decided to list the property at $300,000, after Freeman assessed its value at between $230,000 and $300,000. That range is based on recent sales of comparable properties, of which there are few in Blaine. That makes pricing the property difficult, city manager Michael Jones said at the June 22 meeting.

“In real estate terms, it is a limited market,” Jones said.

The city doesn’t expect to turn much profit on the property, but it will benefit from the sale in other ways. Having that vacant lot in the core of downtown developed would benefit the downtown business district and aid the city financially through permit fees, sales tax on the construction and development, and by bringing the land onto the tax records at a higher value, Jones said.

“There are many financial benefits simply from the perspective of the city’s bottom line, but there are also some very real benefits to the downtown business district,” he said.

Some on council expressed an interest in getting close to $300,000 for the property.

“We do not accept a single penny less than what we need to recoup our investment in that property. Period. That’s where I stand,” said councilmember Garth Baldwin. “I think it’s worth it. It’s waterfront.”

City council will review offers as they come in and would make a decision on the final sale price.

“I think we all get that point,” Mayor Bonnie Onyon replied to Baldwin. “When we get that offer we’ll discuss it thoroughly and decide what the best move to make is.”

Also at the meeting, the council passed an incentive for developers to quickly develop properties in the central business district, rather than sit on the undeveloped land. That policy would apply to 665 Peace Portal Drive and to city-owned properties in general.

The new policy will allow developers to be rebated up to 12 percent of the sale price if they submit a complete building permit within six months of closing on the sale and have the building ready for occupancy within a year.

“That’s a very viable timeline,” Jones told council.

The policy allows for incentives to be negotiated on a case-by-case basis and states that they shall not exceed 12 percent of the fair market value of the property. A buyer would be eligible to receive a 6 percent rebate after submitting a complete building permit for a mixed-use structure with at least two square feet of occupied space for every square foot of property. That means the building would have to be at least two stories tall if it takes up the entire footprint of the property, or four stories tall if it takes up half the property’s footprint. The permit would need to be submitted within six months of the sale closing.

The buyer would be eligible to receive an additional 6 percent rebate after a licensed architect confirms that the structure is eligible for a temporary or final occupancy permit within a year from the date the city issues a building permit.

The policy passed 6-0, with councilmember Charlie Hawkins absent.