Kelso riverfront land worth $955,000, far above developer's offer
Wednesday, November 22, 2006 7:01 AM PST
By Amy M. E. Fischer
Printable version
E-mail this articleThe city of Kelso's nine-acre parcel of riverfront property --- which at least one developer is eyeing for condominiums --- is worth about $955,000, according to a comparative market analysis by the city's Realtor.
With that in mind, the City Council should have a better vantage point from which to consider the $720,000 offer developer Tim Sparks made for the sandy, undeveloped land at the Nov. 7 meeting.
"I've never really had a good idea as to what it was worth," City Manager Doug Robinson said Tuesday.
The city had agreed to allow the Kelso Youth Soccer Club to build three full-sized fields on the property, which is across from Three Rivers Golf Course. Construction was to begin next year.
In light of that, Sparks said if the city sold him the property instead, he would buy land elsewhere in town and donate it to the soccer club for its fields, which he'd help the club develop.
He, in partnership with the Longview Housing Authority, wants to build affordable condominiums along the Cowlitz River for low- and middle-income residents. The units would be priced up to about $250,000, he said.
Tuesday night, Kelso Mayor Don Gregory called Sparks' offer "very, very fair" because of the land he'd throw in for the soccer club.
Soccer club representatives have said they don't mind if they don't get the riverfront site as long as they end up with roughly 10 acres for three fields and parking for 350 cars. Council members will consider Sparks' offer at their meeting in two weeks, as well as any other offers they might receive before then, Gregory said.
Another developer, Kelso resident Joel Davis, said at the Nov. 7 council meeting that he, too, was interested in buying the land. He and his partners are about to build the upscale 53-unit River Bend condominium complex by the golf course.
Sparks, who teaches Spanish at Three Rivers Christian School, has said he's not interested in a bidding war and will take the project to Longview if that happens.
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