Judge orders auction of Point Ruston parking garage property after subcontractor sues for nonpayment
A piece of the Point Ruston property was auctioned earlier this month to satisfy a lien placed against it by a subcontractor who sued for nonpayment.
Pierce County Superior Court Judge Jack Nevin ordered the sale, totaling roughly $3.3 million, as a way for Point Ruston to pay Serpanok Construction.
The 7-acre parcel of land is located off Yacht Club Road and is the current site of the Point Ruston 600-stall parking garage.
Serpanok Construction sued Point Ruston in 2016, alleging it was owed money for various work, including concrete work on the garage and work on the building that became the movie theater, condos and retail space.
Court records show Nevin entered a judgment for more than $5 million and foreclosure decree in March in Serpanok’s favor. Point Ruston has filed a notice of appeal.
The court entered an order of sale for the garage earlier this year. County records show that sale was to take place June 19, giving Point Ruston a year to redeem the property by paying the amount bid and other costs.
Property records on the Assessor-Treasurer’s website listed the property as in foreclosure as of Monday.
An attorney representing Serpanok did not return a phone call or email from The News Tribune as of Monday.
Point Ruston developer Loren Cohen told The News Tribune by email June 24 that the auction liquidated the value of Serpanok’s lien, but neither title to the property nor possession of the property has changed hands from Point Ruston Phase II, LLC, or PR II.
“Importantly, Serpanok — the party who was the high bidder at the auction — does not now, and will never, own or control the Parking Garage. PR II, the owner of the parcels Serpanok bid on at auction, has statutory redemption rights extending to June 2021,” Cohen said in an email. “... During this period of redemption and during the appeal, Serpanok will not have title or possession of these garage parcels.”
Cohen predicted the Court of Appeals would either rule in Point Ruston’s favor and vacate the sale, or Point Ruston would exercise its redemption rights, which allows the developer to redeem the property by paying the bid amount, and other costs and fees within one year, according to state law.
Cohen told The News Tribune that parking fees and validations will not change for Point Ruston visitors using the garage.
“This legal dispute will have no impact on the operations of the parking garage,” Cohen said.
To date, the Point Ruston project, a 97-acre residential and retail development that straddles Tacoma and Ruston along Commencement Bay, has engaged in more than $600 million in total project financing, according to Cohen, with currently $450 million in ongoing construction projects.
“This is the biggest privately financed construction project in Pierce County and will continue to move forward with additional projects including condominiums, apartments and commercial space,” Cohen said in an email.
According to information from the Pierce County Assessor-Treasurer’s Office, Point Ruston in May made payments of back taxes owed from 2017 for six parcels. The payments totaled approximately $176,000, removing them from foreclosure this year.
On the parking garage, Point Ruston paid the first half of 2020 taxes of $53,100 on May 1.
Pierce County Assessor-Treasurer Mike Lonergan told The News Tribune via email in response to questions that “Point Ruston still owes past and current (year 2018, 2019 and 2020) taxes of approximately $418,000 on these parcels in the Point Ruston development. However, this includes second half 2020 amounts that would not typically be paid until October of this year.”
Cohen said Point Ruston pays its property taxes in accordance with the law.
“Point Ruston pays millions of dollars per year in local improvement assessments and millions more in property taxes and millions more in sales taxes are generated from this project,” Cohen said.
This story was originally published June 30, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
