But port commissioners today, battered by local opposition to their plans and by a slowing economy, will take the first concrete step toward backing out of the ambitious deal.

The commission is scheduled to hire a real estate adviser to market the tract and to manage its eventual auction.

The port’s request for proposal calls for that real estate adviser to assemble a property profile including its potential uses, identify potential buyers, create a bidding package and manage the bidding process.

The port’s request notes that the real estate adviser should work closely with stakeholders in the area.

Potential buyers could include industrial companies, railroads and conservation groups.

The port originally planned to create a large rail storage and sorting yard on the site 12 miles south of Olympia. That rail facility was expected to attract rail-dependent businesses and warehouses.

But opposition from a local group, Friends of Rocky Prairie, torpedoed the port’s plans, and its partner in the deal, the Port of Olympia, pulled out in late June.

The port paid $21 million for the tract, which was formerly the site of an explosives plant.

John Gillie: 253-597-8663

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