The Tacoma City Council’s moratorium on big-box stores, targeted at stopping Wal-Mart from building in Central Tacoma, doesn’t worry the current property owner.
Ron Forest, chief operating officer of the Tacoma Elks Lodge No. 174, said Wednesday he’s confident the lodge’s deal with the developer will go through regardless of the moratorium.
“It doesn’t affect us,” he said. “Our agreement with the buyer is that they will close in November.”
Jeffrey Oliphant, through his development company JLO Washington Enterprises, has been working since February 2010 on a plan for the 18-acre Elks site on Union Avenue and South 23rd Street. The Elks have been trying to sell the property for several years to finance the building of a new, smaller lodge near Allenmore Golf Course. Oliphant is at least the third developer to try to make a go of it, after the development companies Opus and Panattoni walked away.
Because Oliphant’s plans for the site have already cleared an extensive city environmental review, it’s presumed his company has spent thousands of dollars on the site including earnest money that’s typically spent to tie up the property while due diligence is conducted. And Wal-Mart confirmed Wednesday that it indeed plans to build on that site, and has filed paperwork with the city to make it official.
Could the moratorium cause the developer to walk away?
“Any contract has language that will allow that. But the Elks have Plan B. All I can tell you about Plan B is that we’ll have our money in November,” Forest said.
From the same developer?
Forest wouldn’t comment other than to say that “from our position, we’re covered.”
It’s hard to know what to make of this because the details of the purchase and sale agreement between JLO and the Elks isn’t public, and Oliphant isn’t talking. But Forest made remarks at the end of an interview that indicates that this deal isn’t a small matter.
“Our survival hinges on selling our property. No one can say 100 percent we’ll get our money, but we’re confident,” he said.
Oliphant hasn’t returned calls for comment.
Thursday night, a neighborhood group against development on the Elks site voted unanimously to work in opposition to Oliphant’s plans. The Central Neighborhood Council is one of eight neighborhood councils in Tacoma and recently led the charge against digital billboards in the city.
Forest, in an email to The News Tribune on Friday, said the Elks were just as surprised as anyone about Wal-Mart’s plans, and that they believed MultiCare or other medical firms were the plan.
“When we entered into the sales and purchase agreement with JLO the best use project for the property was medical,” Forest wrote. “JLO put a lot of time, effort and monies into creating the site plan that was submitted for this project. In the last few weeks MultiCare made a decision to hold off. Because we have a locked-in closing date for the sale, JLO was forced to go to their back up plan with Wal-Mart. We were not made aware of this until it went public this past week.”
Forest stood by the developer.
“Please don’t pass any unfriendly feelings for Wal-Mart on to the Elks. We have no control of what the buyer does with the property,” he wrote. “We support their efforts because we want the deal to close on time.”
Kathleen Cooper: 253-597-8546
kathleen.cooper@thenewstribune.com
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