Medical company bids $700,000 for MLK library
KAREN MILLER
A medical company made the only bid on the city’s Martin Luther King Jr. Library building, but there have been no offers so far on the Swan Creek branch, the other library that the city shut down last year because of budget cuts.
Lizotte P&O LLC bid $700,000 for the building located in Tacoma’s central area, at 1902 S. Cedar St. The company plans to use part of the building for a clinic specializing in the fitting of prosthetics. It also plans to operate a nonprofit Diabetic Foot Health Resource Center for the prevention of limb loss.
Assuming the City Council approves the bid, Lizotte would have to use the building for those purposes for at least five years.
Lizotte was the only company to bid on the MLK library branch. The City Council must accept the bid for the sale to go through; the council is scheduled to consider it at the June 26 council meeting.
A five-member advisory committee has recommended approval.
The committee determined the bid makes sense because a medical practice fits the Allenmore Hospital area, the company is interested in the community and the committee doesn’t want the building to sit empty any longer, said library director Susan Odencrantz, who sat on the committee.
“It was hard to imagine a better fit (for the area), other than the library,” Odencrantz said.
There were no bids for the Swan Creek Library and Literacy Center property on Tacoma’s Eastside, at 3828 Portland Ave. The minimum asking price was $400,000. The proposal and minimum asking price will be revised, and the building will be up for bid again later this month.
The Fellowship Bible Church near the library building and the Puyallup Tribe of Indians both had expressed interest in the Swan Creek site but did not bid.
Out of the $700,000 bid by Lizotte, $653,526 would go to the city’s general fund and $46,474 to the Community Development Block Grant Fund.
The libraries were closed in January 2011 because of budget cuts. Both buildings were put up for sale this year.
