PORT ANGELES — The three Port commissioners unanimously agreed Monday to sell The Landing mall, but delayed selecting a buyer.
The commissioners heard presentations from two groups of bidders — Terminal Landing Co., comprised of Paul Cronauer and Mark Craig, and Landing Partners LLC, comprised of Victoria Express ferry owner Jack Harmon and local businessmen Jim Heckman Sr., Jim Heckman Jr. and Patrick Crumb.
The Port said it wanted bids of at least $675,000 for three-story, 46,840-square-foot, salmon-colored Landing building — its shopping and restaurant mall, passenger ferry terminal facility used by Harmon’s ferry and water-taxi business, a dock — plus an adjacent, 2,400-square-foot brick building now used by the Port Angeles Chamber of Commerce and a condemned pier.
Cronauer and Craig offered $709,100.
Harmon and his group offered $700,000.
Port commissioners said earlier that they would not sell the landmark waterfront facility to the highest bidder — but to the bidder with the best redevelopment plan.
The two groups presented similar proposals for redeveloping the property but different financing structures — Terminal Landing Co. using bank lines of credit, and Landing Partners using venture capitalists.
Viable proposals
After hearing each pitch, Commissioner John Calhoun said the Port has two viable proposals and commissioners shouldn’t delay in declaring the property surplus, which allows it to be sold.
Commissioner Bill Hannan agreed, adding that the Port should study both purchase proposals.
The next step, it was agreed, is for the three commissioners and Port staffers to make in-depth examinations of both proposals.
The sale of the property could possibly be decided at the commissioners’ next meeting, on Aug. 28.
Both groups of bidders agreed that the biggest hurdle in redeveloping the property would the long-term lease with the state Department of Natural Resources for the aquatics lands on which the building and adjacent pier sit.
The annual DNR lease for The Landing is $79,904.85.
The lease, which expires Jan. 31, 2033, may need to be extended or renegotiated.