LAKEPORT — The Lake County Redevelopment Agency (RDA) is negotiating the possible purchase of Holiday Harbor in Nice. The site, already a marina with 100-plus boat slips, has potential as a public marina and town center, according to Dist. 3 Supervisor Denise Rushing.
The harbor lies in her district along the Northshore, which is the focus of ongoing redevelopment efforts in the county. County Supervisor Anthony Farrington said if the $2.9 million asking price could not be negotiated down, the purchase would not be possible.
“There”s no harm in moving down to the process of negotiating the price. It needs to come down or it”s not going to happen anyway,” Farrington said.
The RDA has been considering the purchase since it learned in December 2007 that the property was listed on Multiple Listing Service (MLS), a group of broker-to-broker databases for real estate.
“This project has the potential to transform the economy of Nice by attracting outside investment, if it”s done right, and it would be an asset to community as well as an asset to area. To have such access where other areas can boat over to Nice and take advantage of what”s there is one example of how the asset could stimulate economic growth in Nice,” Rushing said.
The RDA”s two top officials asked the agency”s board of directors ? also the Lake County Board of Supervisors ? at its Tuesday meeting for direction about how to proceed.
“The board was divided on this ? it was not unanimous?. There was a consensus to continue moving forward on it. There barely was a consensus to do that. We will continue pursuing it, but not at any cost,” RDA Director Kelly Cox said.
The agency”s board of directors held a closed-session meeting Tuesday evening to discuss terms and price. Cox said Deputy RDA Director Eric Seely will be communicating via mail with the seller this week.
Cox said the Holiday Harbor purchase would not threaten any current RDA projects. “It would certainly take a lot of resources away from other projects that we might otherwise be doing in future. There”s a finite amount if money, and if we go after Holiday Harbor, other projects would likely be delayed or not even done. No decision has been made yet, but we have to prioritize what we”re doing,” Cox said.
Seely said this is the first time he personally has dealt with a real estate broker to buy property for redevelopment.
“The redevelopment agency has an interest in acquiring the property because it has the potential to be developed as a community center. But by that, I don”t mean a building, I mean a public focal point. At this point we haven”t identified an end use,” Seely said.
The harbor was in escrow with a Santa Rosa broker before Bob Deuchar took over in June 2007. Deuchar is the real estate broker representing seller Joan Bartz, and the co-owner of the Re/Max office in Lakeport. When the broker did not produce the asking price at the time, the property went back on the market, according to Deuchar. “We”re giving the county the first shot at it,” Deuchar said.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com.
