SEQUIM — In the coming weeks, the city of Sequim will auction off a house and four outbuildings now sitting at Gerhardt Park, 1601 S. Third Ave.
The move follows the Sequim City Council’s decision in September to surplus the buildings rather than pay for demolition.
The two-story, 80-plus-year-old home is about 834 square feet with an estimated value of $80,905, and the outbuildings are valued at about a $500 combined value, Sequim Public Works Director Paul Bucich said.
“The low value for the outbuildings is related to condition, use, and cost to disassemble and dispose of the structures,” he said.
“The value of the house is from the county assessor, but the challenge is that it has to be physically removed from the property, which we are estimating will cost between $25,000 and $35,000.”
He said the home will need to be gutted and brought up to code.
“It’s not large; however, (for) someone with a need for a one- or two-bedroom (dwelling), the possibilities are endless,” Bucich said.
City staff had budgeted $150,000 to remove the home and outbuildings via demolition, but Bucich wanted to allow a house mover and/or builders the option to take the structures.
An outhouse and storage shed in the back of the property are not included in the auction.
Auction
The city set a deadline at 3 p.m. June 6 for sealed bids to go to to the Sequim city clerk for the buildings. According to city documents, bids will be opened at 3:15 p.m. at the Sequim Civic Center’s council chambers, 152 W. Cedar St.
Pre-sealed bid open houses are set for 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Friday and from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday.
For more information on bidding and qualifying, visit Sequim’s surplus webpage at sequimwa.gov/661/Surplus-Program.
Requests for clarification or more detail can be emailed to parks@sequimwa.gov and will be responded to only through updates to the city’s surplus webpage, city staff report.
According to city documents, successful bidders will receive notification by email, and other bidders can learn of the sales through the webpage. All bids received and the bidder’s name will be posted on the webpage, too.
No minimum bid is set, but evidence that a person is qualified to bid must be submitted along with a $1,000 refundable bid deposit for the house and a $100 refundable bid deposit for the outbuildings, both in the form of a cashier’s check made payable to the “city of Sequim.”
The city reserves the right to reject any and all bids for any lawful reason, city documents state.
City staff report that, once the house is sold, it must be removed from the park within five months of the sale; a two-month extension could be granted under staff’s direction.
The top bidder must show proof of their moving contractor’s insurance coverage, along with other requirements if it’s moved across the city.
Each outbuilding will be bid on separately, and they must be dismantled and removed from the park within three months of the sale, with a two-month extension also considered by staff.
Heavy equipment may be used for the barn, but not the other structures, staff report.
Gerhardt Park
Anton “Toni” and Rosa Gerhardt signed an agreement in 2006 to give the future park to the city upon their deaths in exchange for a domestic water connection.
The couple bought the property in 1973 and required it to remain a park.
Bucich previously said funds from the auction would go back into the park’s master plan and construction.
“We are planning on conducting a master plan effort for the Gerhardt property this year,” he said.
Public outreach is planned and a tentative plan will be proposed by the end of the year, Bucich said.
The Gerhardts moved to Sequim from Chicago in the late 1960s and raised sheep and honeybees. Anton worked on cedar telephone poles and did odd jobs before retiring. He was a German captive during World War II, and most of his siblings were killed along with his parents when their family farm was invaded.
Rosa immigrated to America before Anton in 1935 from her home in Moschendorf, Austria.
Anton died in 2007 at age 88 and Rosa died at age 100 in 2013.
The home being auctioned was built sometime in the late 1930s or early 1940s and was initially only 12 feet by 14 feet.
It was later expanded to two stories and rented out by the Gerhardts after they built a second home in the mid-1970s on the property that’s not part of the auction.
For more information about Sequim’s auctions, visit sequimwa.gov/661/Surplus-Program.
________
Matthew Nash is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. He can be reached by email at matthew.nash@sequimgazette.com.
