The Broadway LID Vote Explained
Left foot, blame staff … Right hand, vote nay … it’s just that easy!
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15 comments
A amy February 22, 2008
Some creative developer should think of the QUeen Anne school in Seattle that was turned into BEAUTIFUL condos. Views of Lake Union and very unique spaces. Sounds perfect.
E Erik S February 22, 2008
But daahling, flipping real estate is SO 2006!
M morgan February 22, 2008
Well surprise, surprise. The church made a low ball offer on the property to the school board and got it. Now, after strong resistance from the community, the church has decided to bag their homeless shelter… er, counseling and education program and sell it for MORE than the school district was asking. Brilliant.
I still can’t believe the school district let the church play them like a fiddle. What a raw deal for the Tacoma.
Tacoma School Board, PLEASE do not let this happen again.
B Ben February 22, 2008
I see the church having a hard time unloading a building for a 40% profit in less than a year. Do they really think somebody who would pick up a 2M+ property aren’t going to look at tax records for previous sales?
In the end, I see this as a lose-lose, both for the Church, but also for the community if this property sits around unused.
Ben
A Andrew February 22, 2008
How about a mcminnimans along the lines of the Kennedy school in Portland
D Dome Topper February 22, 2008
There are several parties interested in Rogers at this time and we are looking forward to having an owner that will contribute continued positive momentum on McKinley Hill (see Top of Tacoma, Neighborhood Coffee, Salon and Art Gallery, Terra Organics all in the last year). Though we are all very happy to have averted a Tacoma version of the Parkland Crossings operation, to their credit they did re-roof the entire building, removed an extensive amount of garbage from in and around the property, and did some interior work…so some amount of mark up is warranted-the market will decide the appropriate clearing price.
P Pat February 22, 2008
Kudos to Dome Top for never giving up the good fight…I hope something positive goes into that building…
Does anyone know what will become of the Old Liquor Store on 38th street or the vacant lot on the coner of 38th and M Street.
By the way, the Green Frog is for sale again – someone buy it please – I didn’t know that guy made that much money off of canopy sales. it is on the South East of 38th and M Street. The Whitman Area is looking for some good business to walk to…
Pat
N NSHDscott February 22, 2008
That looks like a perfect McM’s to me! In fact, it’s better than their Kennedy building.
Starting to give up hope for the Elks Temple as their entry point into a Tacoma market that has been so ready to make them succeed here …
R Republican (By Default) February 22, 2008
My comments were too long to post here so I put them on my blog. You can click my handle to get to the post. But here’s the link:
http://5views.com/2008/02/22/parkland-church-gets-cold-shoulder/
B Ben February 22, 2008
Republican,
Although I agree with most of what you posted (showers & food facilities sound one cot away from a shelter to me), there’s still a 1.2M discrepancy. Did they get a 25% discount for being a non-profit organization, or was the initial appraisal 33% too high? That’s a significant figure there.
Either way, the flip doesn’t make financial sense to me. I don’t read 1.2M in repairs (heck, 600k in repairs).
Bought for 1.6M, 600k in repairs, sell for 2.8, that’s a 27.2% profit in 3 months, or if you compound that out to the year, 161.78%/year. WOW.
So, if they did indeed get some sort of discount on this due to their non-profit status, then everybody has a real reason to be unhappy.
However, if they really did try to move in and raised the market value to this amount (for ANY reason), good for them. It was an intelligent decision, even if they don’t get to utilize the building. Additionally, it’s great that they’re working to help out the neighborhood.
So, to me, it all comes down to how they procured the property. It wouldn’t surprise me that the city didn’t put the proper conditions on the sale (in regards to resale).
P phil February 22, 2008
It’s still in play, so anything is possible.
Remember the proposed 150-bed ex-con/sex offender group home proposed for a residential area of South Hilltop (Amazing Grace Ministries)? The one which led Tacoma to pass the City-wide group home moratorium?
AGM died 3 times over 3 years before citizens rose up & beat it all the way back to Bonney Lake. Point being, McKinley Hill ought to watch Crossings carefully as it has the potential to re-surface.
Kennedy-School type development for Rogers=WAY COOL!! Seems Kennedy School helped improve its radius in NE Portland, so a good case study as well.
R Republican (By Default) February 23, 2008
Ben, there’s every indication that they purchased the building as a new location for their church. In speaking with someone in the church office today I saw no indication that they purchased the property in order to flip it. It sounds more like they had to exercise their option to purchase the building before they were assured they could use it. I’ll know more next week when I have a chance to talk with the pastor.
Churches generally have a positive effect on neighborhoods, so maybe there was a discount given for that reason, but so far it doesn’t sound like it. Churches have the right to haggle on price just like anyone else. And the church did offer $2.2 million originally, until they decided it wasn’t worth that amount. If you’re upset that the price was too low then you should take it up with the school district. They obviously didn’t think it was too low or they wouldn’t have taken the offer.
Looking at the appraisal in Nov. 2006 of just over $2 million, realizing that the market went through a correction in the next year and that there appears to have been considerable decay during that time. It’s conceivable that the value dropped significantly in that time.
The building was in disrepair for some time and as I said they’re still repairing water damage. I think it’s conceivable that they paid a fair price under the circumstances. If that deal had fallen through there would have been more time passing and with it more water damage and the price would have fallen anyway.
We also don’t know what restrictions or requirements the city was talking about putting on the building if they bought it. Those requirements could cost a lot of money to put in place, and it’s a common practice to adjust a selling price to reflect needed repairs and required improvements. Anyone who bought it would likely have requested the same.
What also needs to be considered is that the $2.8 million is an asking price. There’s no guarantee that they’ll get it. My guess is that they won’t. But if they happen to make a lot of money on it, I’ll be happy for them. I’m sure they’ll do a lot of good with the money.
And phil, comparing a church with a track record of helping people to a group that couldn’t even prove its non-profit status (among other serious problems) is a bit over the top. But you seem to think that another bar in the neighborhood is a good thing. That’s quite a contrast.
P Phil February 23, 2008
Restaurant, not a bar. Don’t drink.
Anyone who lives in Hilltop, or other select areas, know outsiders have a fairly consistent pattern of coming into their communities, purveying ‘good intentions’, then lying to the neighborhood, pimping out their cheap real estate, &/or rolling out other questionable for-profit or non-profit schemes.
On average, they are so myopic about their noble ideas (& either unregulated &/or poorly managed) they aren’t willing to consider or mitigate the damage they do to struggling neighborhoods.
Whether it’s paul post & his derelict rentals, some of these developers seeking to break up residential zoning since “It’s the only way our project pencils out”, or these unregulated, mismanaged or just plain out ‘out of proportion’ high-risk service & housing providers; they all have potential to do damage to struggling neighborhoods.
Is interesting the church might profit a cool million in short order off the school district & taxpayers. That could easily be argued as damage or a sweet deal. Where do I sign up?!
C Crenshaw Sepulveda February 23, 2008
I hope that church chokes on this building. This is an example of the greed I am accustomed to seeing in the commercial world, not in the religious world. Was this the plan all along, try to turn a quick buck on this property?
T Tressie February 23, 2008
cren— it’s expensive to sell Jesus…I’m a preacher’s kid…I seen it!…….and….the liquor store is open/opening at 38th/Pacific ! (driving too fast w/o glasses to see it all…)