Potential Buyer for Downtown Oak Street Property
Neeser Construction Inc., based in Alaska, has made an offer on the Oak Street property currently owned by Olympic Lodge owner Tod McClaskey Jr.
The property could be the new location for the Feiro Marine Life Center plus a conference center and some retail space. Neeser's project administrator said:
“A final agreement was reached pending verification of certain disclosures, due diligence, soil conditions. I assure you it will be worked out.”
The property could be the new location for the Feiro Marine Life Center plus a conference center and some retail space. Neeser's project administrator said:
“A final agreement was reached pending verification of certain disclosures, due diligence, soil conditions. I assure you it will be worked out.”
posted by Tom Harper at 10:35 AM
32 Comments:
Sorry, we've been through this so many times with this property... I'll believe it when I see it...
1:14 Now why can't you just let the realtors finish negotiating until you get all negative?
I have a question. These heroin arrests. The tone of the PDN article. The "Rah, rah, rah, we caught them, look at us..." No mention of rehab, distribution networks, other than small time dealers being arrested etc. Lots of empathy in the comments. Interesting.
All that extra scary crap, how the shit gets here, who knows. My question is are these young adults better off getting caught over here, than in Seattle? As far as social services? Sure, they lack here, but the systems in King Co. and other urban areas in our state are obviously overloaded.
I'm inclined to think, that if I were to raise a family, to start that process, I'd still rather do it here, than pretty much anywhere else.
At first reading of the PDN article, I though "Oh, Good! Somebody is willing to put up private capital for a speculative business venture." But then I read the article again, noting its references to a financing package needed in order to seal the deal. A lender would want to see evidence of the developer's ability to acquire long term leases from the proposed users of the new facility. So - it won't be long before pressure will be on the city council and the feds and the Feiro Board to make lease commitments. Just another way for a developer to leverage public money to make a private profit. Certainly not the first time this has been attempted on this site.
How lucky for the proposed buyer that his real estate agent now sits on the city council.
A conference center? Oh! What a new concept. As if that wasn't part of the last proposal.
Red Lion touts itself as a conference center. What are it's huge successes? Big money for Port Angeles? Any of these people ever read the on-line reviews of people who have stayed here?
So, this developer from Alaska thinks his facilities are going to attract people to Port Angeles from, umm, exactly where?
Of course people are going to flock to the gritty, crappy mill town to enjoy the views. Why go to Honolulu for a conference, when you can come to Port Angeles? Obviously, there are no comparisons!
Good luck with that.
McClaskey bought the Oak Street property because he wanted to have some control over what was put there. Rich people can do that.
It appears that he is okay with a small conference center as long as it isn't attached to a motel.
A new marine life center would be cool, would be nice if the project goes through.
God, is Nathan West a complete fool or what? All he can do is talk about the need for parking...for a facility that will not need any, IF it ever is actually built, due to the existing EXCESS of unused parking lots/spaces downtown. Hello, Nathan! Look around!
There are SO MANY empty storefronts downtown. These help to breed the MANY, MANY, MANY empty parking spaces available. I mean, pretty much all you can do in downtown Port Angeles is park and look at all the EMPTY around you. Empty like Nathan's head, apparently.
Oh, wait, his head's not completely empty. His head does contain some totally unrealistic fantasies of Port Angeles becoming a "hi-tech" city, with lots of educated, work-at-home tech-types flocking here. Oh yeah, Nathan, THAT'S going to happen. And when all those la-la land hi-tech workers get here, guess what? THERE'LL BE PLENTY OF AVAILABLE PARKING FOR THEM.
How long has Nathan been guiding the city's "economic development" efforts??? Uh, it, which is to say YOU, doesn't seem to be working, Nathan.
If you had the ability to live anywhere you want to, because your work in through the internet, WHY would you choose a ratty, dreary town like Port Angeles?
Really. Why not the beaches of California? Or Hawaii, or, anywhere where there is something going on.
These civic leaders need to go to other towns, and see what the competition is.
Okay, here is something a friend passed along to me earlier. If you think it is the negative observation of what is going on around town, you might want to look at what visitors have to say. These are just a few of many.
Of the Red Lion:
"Reviewed 1 week ago
This property is tired and really showing its age, but, it's Port Angeles - everything shows its age there."
Another: Reviewed 1 week ago
"Restaurant was somewhat dingy and appeared dirty because of the age of the floor coverings. Hotel has seen better days and was somewhat disappointing given the cost"
Days Inn:
Reviewed 2 weeks ago
Stayed here years ago when it was Portside Inn. Property has not been maintained. Needs deep cleaning. Front desk help was too busy texting on their cell phone and appeared put out at our request to check out and get a receipt. My brother's room had no heat or hot water."
and, another:
"Reviewed November 25, 2013 via mobile
"We stayed for two nights while on the peninsula, and although the price on Hotwire was good, the room/stay wasn't. This place is in need of a refresh, but it probably won't happen. Even the staff seemed a bit tired. The room was dirty, the bed was uncomfortable, and there was an odor that was barely masked by cleaning supplies".
2:44 PM, January 10, 2014
The are virtually NO "services" here. What little help available is in the form of NA groups and support for homeless young people at Serenity House and Taffy. I've dropped kids off at N/a meetings only to find our idiot stick police dept staking the joint out with multiple cruisers. Guess how many kids show up those nights?
Remember the clean out of the homeless camp reported in the PDN a while back? It's a regular practice. After walking the streets all day, these kids get back to camp to find all their shit - tarps camping gear, The stuff they need to survive, GONE.
Two o clock in the morning, 28 degrees,Raining to beat fuck, and the city just stole your tarps and extra coat and your sleeping bag. And it ain't like they're offering you a bed except juvie or jail.
You live like that (better than getting beat or molested at home) pretty soon a hit of tar dont seem like such a bad idea.
But I'm not being negative. Because anybody can help, any time they want. There are people doing heroic, epic shit around here and you can volunteer or donate to any one of em. I'm pretty positive about that.
Here is a review of a local campground. It's horrible:
Twigs, fallen leaves, bugs, dirt everywhere. Birds woke us up too early. Silly raccoons kept making me laugh, kept spitting out my coffee. Never going back.
Port Angeles Dictionary: Part 1.
SUCCESS (suck-cess): When your latest catastrophe isn't quiet as huge as it could have been.
So, people like this guy from Alaska come to Port Angeles to propose ideas. I note he is building spaces that will be leased to the city, and others.
Like, there is not already a glut of vacant, empty buildings and retail spaces around downtown?
But, as the usual crowd drool over others bringing in "fresh" money into the town, I wonder about something else. That earlier post shows how people feel about Port Angeles "Tired". In need of upgrades that they believe will not happen.
The PDN does it's usual booster coverage, ignoring the fundamentals. Any comments about what the city is going to do with the thousands of square feet of space it is going to lease from this guy? Is Danny boy going to negotiate that lease, too?
Is this project moving forward BECAUSE of commitments from the city/taxpayers?
So many questions.
It's not hard to imagine that this Oak St. deal has been "cooking" (as in "cooking the books") for some time. With that in mind, it's also not hard to imagine that Darling Dan Gase ran for City Council to help make sure that there were no problems with this deal - whatever it really is - going through. That way, he gets his BIG commission on that WILDLY inflated price, and the city gets stuck with another shattered dream, and another albatross around its neck.
On a related note...I LOVE the History of Failure column that the PDN ran about this site. It's so funny: On one hand, the PDN does all it can to hide troubles in PA (like ignoring the latest Karen Rogers "troubles" at OMC0, but on the other, they just can't help themselves when they dreg up the muck, and "celebrate" the many, many failures of PA.
Doesn't Red Lion already HAVE a conference center? Is the city now making financial commitments to bring in a project to compete against the existing downtown businesses?
And, wasn't there a study done that showed conference centers LOSE money? I seem to remember that from the last time this was proposed.
So, the wise folks at city hall, including our cough.. cough.. "new" economic development wizard from the successful days that got us to where we are now, are signing deals with an out of town developer for retail space and a conference center? Really?
How much vacant retail space is there already, right there, downtown? Do these guys REALLY think building MORE retail space will help existing taxpayers fill the EXISTING retail spaces?
Are these guys too stoned to think any more?
Great analysis, wow! Thanks! Jobs, jobs, jobs! We are such a lame area, we are SO LUCKY to have these guys in charge now, who know how to bring in some jobs and add some spark to our lame downtown! THAT'S what everyone wants right, a more vibrant downtown, and some of our local tax dollars creating jobs, and building infrastructure that has vision and is forward thinking?
It's not like anyone else has any other ideas! And it's free money! It's not like banks or the feds or state will be involved in all that muckety muck that tanked the economy! We will do it right this time!
I hear that the Randazzos are splitting up. Anyone know if this is true?
http://honolulu.craigslist.org/big/reo/4283125265.html
(fita's grill in PA is for sale, sort of)
I thought Max and Dale got divorced?
We know what is important, in this town!
That headline should read : " Port Angeles Taxpayers Suckered Again".
Long term leases guaranteed by the City?
Driving by the Gateway Transit Center yesterday, I noticed nobody there. Of course. It wasn't Saturday.
$15 million for a place to stand empty 98% of the time? Great planning. Great example of knowing where to spend taxpayers money.
1:48 - Ummm, actually it's 97% of the time. You rounded wrong. Unless the market is opening at 10 instead of 9, I forget.
Speaking of the Gateway ----
did you ever notice that the only view corridor toward the harbor from Front Street consists of the bus lanes next to the brick building? But there's no water to be seen; just the Landing Mall. Do you suppose the owner of the Mall or the businesses there had some sort of pull with the City to get the Gateway designed in a way that would call attention to their enterprises?
Port Angeles Dictionary: Part 2:
WIKIPEDIA (wicked-pee-duh): 1) A troubling source of accurate information about Port Angeles. 2) Part of that interwebs thing the "kids" talk about. 3) A source of stress for Russ Veenema (SEE ALSO: SWEATY BALD PATE). 4) A place to let the world know that John Elway left Port Angeles, never to return. 5) A place to let the world know Port Angeles is a good place to OD on opiates. 6) An online information source nearly as popular as the website of Scott T. Collins.
Interesting about Krush Ultra in Sequim closing. After the article last week in the PDN, that seemed a bit teabaggerish, I read the yelp review and the negative ones seemed very fake. One review said two burgers, a salad, two beers, and a drink came to $75. Yeah right. Several articles mentioned flies. Seems like a few tried to drive that guy out of business. More than a few. Wish I had gone. Probably was good. People here can be such dicks. I'm sorry, that's the problem in this county. Too many dicks. Kudos to the city of Sequim for realizing that the shit is knee deep.
Speaking of the Landing, I wonder how they feel about the City's latest proposal spend economic development money to help build more retail space, right next door?
Amazing. The City, and specifically the old-new economic development guy Tim Smith think the best thing they can do is promote competition to the existing businesses down town. Red Lion must be so thrilled to have competition for the oh-so lucrative conference center business in Port Angeles. And the property management folks must be thrilled with the prospects of city guaranteed retail space in the midst of so much already vacant space.
As Tim said in his letter, let's not let this great opportunity pass us by.
Really, the sucker in this deal will be the Neeser Construction guys from Alaska. They are being told the same BS all the previous suckers were told.
Remember all the wonderful things that were going to happen with the "Graving Dock"? Think of all the people that got suckered by these same Port Angeles good ole boys. If I remember correctly, Tim Smith was out there, promoting that one, too.
Yes, I hear that Melissa is sick of the drama around Matthew and is going home to her (very relieved) parents. It's hard to imagine they ever liked Matthew Randazzo, and I'm sure this lawsuit was the last straw, especially now that Steve Markwell has disappeared, and all the heat will be on Matthew.
Ah, yes. Back to the important things. If the troll can't bring up Max somehow, then it is the Randazzos.
Sad.
The prospective buyer appears to be conducting due diligence on the waterfront parcel today-drilling rig checking for contaminants?
The prospective buyer appears to be conducting due diligence on the waterfront parcel today-drilling rig checking for contaminants?
That is only about the third time that has been done on that property.
Where in the fuck are the old reports on it?
I'd like to know how much taxpayer money is being promised to make this sale go through. What guarantees by the City, NOAA, etc to pay how much, for how long, to whom, to get this project going.
Or, if it were NOT for taxpayer monies, would this project be happening? Is this yet another one of the famous Port Angeles scam jobs so that the same old people get lots of government money?
Funny how the conservatives always talk about how business knows how to do things better. Get government out of the way so that business can get things done. Blah, blah, blah. Until they see a way to get government to pay THEM!
Usual scams. By the usual people.
Who is selling the property? What is THAT history all about?
'Nuff said. Residents will be paying, once again.
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