Letter of intent received from Family Care Network

The city of Blaine has received a non-binding letter of intent from Family Care Network (FCN) for the purchase of 2.5 acres of the Gateway parcel.

According to FCN’s letter of intent, the new development would include a general medical practice, a medical laboratory and an urgent care facility as well as parking, landscaping and the potential for future expansion. The approximately 10,000-square-foot medical clinic would initially be staffed by four or five providers, and would also include radiology facilities. The urgent care facility would be open seven days a week and would be available to anyone, including non-FCN clients.

The proposal involves property at the north end of the Gateway parcel adjacent to H Street, SR-543 and Grant Avenue. The Gateway parcel was formerly the site of the Blaine Municipal Airport. It is owned by the city of Blaine and originally consisted of approximately 28 acres of fully serviced, flat, prime commercial, industrial, manufacturing and warehouse property within Blaine city limits. The city has already sold off many of those acres.

Price has not been included in the letter of intent, which indicates that the potential buyer may alternatively be interested in leasing the property. An executive session was held at the June 24 city council meeting, in which councilmembers discussed issues related to price and provided input to city manager Michael Jones for negotiations with FCN.

“The city manager recommends that the council consider the letter of intent and direct the city manager to develop a counteroffer by amending the letter of intent and proposing it to the prospective buyer,” read a recommendation contained in the request for council action prepared by Jones prior to the June 24 council meeting.

Jones recommended amending the letter of intent in several ways. First, he said the 2.5 acres should be subject to a mutually agreeable site plan and conditions. Second, he said earnest money should be a more substantial amount than the $10,000 proposed in the letter of intent. Earnest money is a deposit a buyer gives to a seller as a show of good faith.

Other suggested amendments included a 60-day feasibility period. Currently, the letter of intent says that the buyer “shall have 90 days from mutual agreement of the [purchase and sale agreement] to determine at its sole discretion whether the property is feasible for buyer’s purposes.”

Also, Jones suggested that closing should occur within 90 days of recording a specific binding site plan for parcel creation, and that the city should begin the process of creating the lot after the buyer has waived contingencies.

Significantly, the letter of intent says that “the buyer may assign the [purchase and sale agreement] to an LLC to be formed.” For this reason, Jones suggested that “if the buyers assign the property to an LLC, it needs to be controlled by the buyers and subject to any and all terms of the sale such as the use of the site for medical services.”

At the June 24 Blaine City Council meeting, councilmembers voted to direct Jones to amend the letter of intent in all of the ways he suggested, except for the provision regarding earnest money, which will remain at $10,000. They also gave Jones direction regarding the selling price, which Jones would not discuss publicly at this time.

The letter of intent is dated May 20 and was signed on May 21 by a representative of Building Partnership LLC on behalf of FCN. The letter of intent expires on June 30 “unless terminated by the buyer for any or no reason.”

According to its official website, Family Care Network was first developed in the mid-1980s, when a group of local, independent family practice physicians came together to form an independent practice association called Whatcom Health Associates (WHA). In 1998, the members of WHA voted to dissolve and reorganize as a group practice named Family Care Network.