PORT ANGELES — The former Haggen grocery store in Port Angeles that has remained shuttered since April 2016 will be up for auction in August.
The vacant store at 114 E. Lauridsen Blvd. is being auctioned through Auction Management Corp. of Georgia.
Bidding on the property will begin at 10 a.m. Aug. 9 and end at 10 a.m. Aug. 16, according to the company’s website at www.amcbid.com.
The starting bid is $250,000.
Inspections of the property are scheduled at 11 a.m. Aug. 7 and Aug. 14, and the closing deadline for the property is Sept. 18.
Haggen spokeswoman Deborah Pleva said the Haggen brand is no longer involved in bankruptcy proceedings and had no information about the Port Angeles property.
An effort to reach the owner of the property was unsuccessful.
The Port Angeles property is appraised at $4,787,471 taxable value, and the owner, Spirit SPE HG2015-1 LLC, is behind on its taxes, according to county records.
The company did not pay the second half of its property taxes for 2016 and owes the county $59,306.10, which includes $27,109.40 for the second half of this year’s taxes that aren’t due until Oct 31.
It was also charged a $2,201.47 penalty and faces $2,576.68 in interest for the overdue 2016 property taxes.
The company acquired the property from ABS WA-O LLC in February 2015 for $9,567,378.
The building has been empty since Haggen shut its doors.
In March 2016, Haggen Northwest Fresh announced it would sell most of its stores to Albertsons.
The Port Angeles store didn’t make the list after Bellingham-based Haggen accepted Albertsons’ $106 million bid to buy 29 of its 32 core stores.
The Port Angeles grocery store — the only Haggen on the Olympic Peninsula — had operated as part of the Albertsons chain until it was purchased by Haggen in late 2014 and updated with Haggen signs and colors in February 2015.
The chain reaction had begun in March 2014, when it was announced that Safeway had agreed to be acquired by an investment group led by Cerberus Capital Management, the owner of several supermarket chains, including Albertsons.
Federal regulators required the newly blended grocery store chains to sell some stores to avoid a monopoly, and Haggen bought 146 stores.
The small Washington chain of stores struggled to convert those stores before filing for bankruptcy protection and eventually selling its stores.
The grocer is now under Albertsons’ ownership, which still operates 15 stores in Western Washington under the Haggen brand.
A group of creditors is going after Haggen’s previous owner in a lawsuit filed in September alleging about $100 million is owed and that Haggen’s purchase of 146 stores from Albertsons in January 2015 was a “convoluted Machiavellian scheme,” The Bellingham Herald reported.
________
Reporter Jesse Major can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56250, or at jmajor@peninsuladailynews.com.
