PORT ANGELES — City officials may allow a vacant downtown storefront that it purchased nearly three years ago to be leased.
The city of Port Angeles bought the storefront, which used to be the On The Boardwalk restaurant, on Railroad Avenue as well as the building that houses Budget-Rent-A-Car and Cock-a-doodle Doughnuts in August 2006 for $1.2 million from Richard and Francis Niichel.
The City Council declared the buildings, which sit on two separate parcels, surplus last September in the hopes that they could be sold for redevelopment after The Gateway transit center, adjacent to the property, is complete.
Originally for parking
Nathan West, city Economic and Community Development director, said the original plan for the property was parking.
At the time, a parking plan for The Gateway had not been developed, West said.
“We purchased that property in anticipation of needing it for parking,” he said.
“At the end of the day, we ended up with a surplus of parking at The Gateway site itself.”
Instead of awaiting an interested developer, city staff members are considering leasing the vacant building.
West and City Manager Kent Myers broached the idea to the Port Angeles Downtown Association on Monday.
“We told them we’d like to see the building occupied on the waterfront,” said Jan Harbick, downtown association vice president. “It’s one of the main entrances into town.”
The City Council’s Real Estate Committee will discuss whether the city should advertise the storefront for lease at its June 8 meeting.
The issue later will be brought to the entire City Council, probably in July, said City Council member Dan Di Guilio, who sits on the committee.
Artists interested
Di Guilio said the issue of whether to lease the storefront is coming up now because two local artists, Bob Stokes and Paul Labrie, who were previously turned down, have approached the city again about using the location.
Stokes said they are proposing, as they did about a year ago, to use the storefront for a metal-sculpture and glass-blowing studio. He said they were turned down because the city intended to sell the property for redevelopment.
The location would be ideal for such a studio, Stokes said.
“It’s right across from the ferry terminal. It’s a high-profile location for something like that,” he said.
As a standalone structure, the storefront also meets the requirements for a glass-blowing studio, Stokes said.
Myers said the city hasn’t had any prospective purchasers for the property.
“Right now, there’s not a real demand,” he said, “not a whole lot of economic activity.”
‘Not conducive to a sale’
Said City Council member Larry Williams, who sits on the Real Estate Committee and is a local real estate agent: “The real estate market is not conducive to a sale at a value of what the city would probably like out of the property.
“We will see if we can rent it out until the market improves.”
Myers said the city still plans to sell both parcels for redevelopment when the time is right.
“We’re just hanging onto it, thinking that as the area develops, we would like to do something for tourism development,” he said.
The city receives $1,500 a month in rent from Budget-Rent-A-Car and Cock-a-doodle Doughnuts.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
