Gas station planned for controversial Pierce Co. property. Locals have other idea
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Fire district accepted $1.055M tentative offer from Taechang, LLC for Calahan property.
- Residents urge prioritizing community uses for Calahan parcel if sale fails.
- Commissioners await outcome of 90-day feasibility study.
Some residents are pressing the Key Peninsula Fire Department to make one of its long-vacant properties in Key Center into a community hub instead of selling it to a developer with plans for a gas station, should the sale fall through.
The News Tribune reported in September that the Board of Fire Commissioners accepted a tentative offer from buyer Taechang, LLC, “pending a feasibility study and some financing factors,” for the corner parcel at 15610 Olson Dr. NW. The agreed-upon price was $1.055 million.
Known locally as the Calahan property, it was previously owned by a couple by that name and housed a restaurant called O’Callahan’s Pub & Grill. The Key Peninsula Fire Department bought the property and two other adjacent parcels in 2021 for $2.1 million with a low-interest bond, setting off a prolonged community dispute as some residents raised concerns about the amount paid for the properties and what they saw as a lack of public input in the decision-making process.
The board of commissioners voted in January to list the Calahan property for sale, but discussions about what to do with the property had been ongoing. At one point a resident wanted to open an early learning center on the site, but the fire department decided her bids for the property were too low, fire commissioner Stan Moffett told The News Tribune last year.
Pierce County permit records indicate the applicant wants to turn part of the old restaurant building on the Calahan property into a convenience store and lease the remaining space to a restaurant or “some other commercial occupancy.” The applicant also proposes adding fuel pumps and an overarching canopy, a mobile coffee stand and formalized parking spaces to the site.
John Park, the registered agent for Taechang, LLC, told a reporter in September that he was mulling possibilities for a new restaurant at the site such as a Teriyaki and Chinese restaurant, or a Japanese restaurant.
Fire Commissioner John Pat Kelly shared an email with The News Tribune from a dozen residents who expressed disappointment that the parcel was sold to a gas station developer. There are three service stations within five miles of the site as well as a grocery store and convenience store already in Key Center, the residents noted.
“Key Center is our one true town on the Key Peninsula, and we envision a town that is a pleasure to be in and around,” the message, addressed to all of the district fire commissioners, read. “A gas station smells, attracts noise and garbage, has high potential to pollute rainwater runoff, and sends the message to everyone who lives here, and those who visit, that cars, not people, are at the heart of this community.”
Park, the buyer, confirmed that he’s “still working on the feasibility study terms” in an email on Nov. 14. He is also waiting to complete a pre-application meeting with the county regarding permits for remodeling, he wrote.
Residents encourage fire department to reconsider if sale falls through
The residents wrote in their message to the fire commissioners that they understand the fire department is under contract to the current buyer, and waiting for the 90-day feasibility study window to pass. If the sale falls through, they have a strategic plan, the residents wrote.
“We have a working group of local citizens who are adamant about envisioning that property as a hub designed with and by community members to enrich our community, and ensuring that it becomes a space formed around and by community needs,” the message read.
Residents shared similar views at a fire department town hall Saturday. The meeting was standing-room only, said Matt Hildreth, a resident who’s long been following the controversy surrounding the fire department’s three Key Center properties.
Hildreth was one of the dozen residents who put their names on the email to the district fire commissioners Thursday. Speaking to The News Tribune as an individual and not on behalf of the working group, he said in a phone call that he observed “pretty much universal disagreement around how this has all played out ... nobody at the meeting ... said this is going really well.”
Residents stressed at the meeting that the fire department’s responsibility isn’t to sell the property for the highest profit, but rather ensure the property is managed in alignment with the taxpayers’ wishes, he said. Attendees threw out ideas at the meeting such as selling the site to the local park district, leasing the site to a local community nonprofit, turning it into a green space, selling it to a local business to open up a restaurant or putting in an electric vehicle charging station. The department could also put the property on the market but stipulate the kind of buyers they’re looking for, he recalled a resident suggesting at the meeting.
Residents recognized that such alternatives are dependent on the outcome of the current sale negotiations.
“People said, ‘OK, well if (the buyer is) going to come back and have any amendments to the contract, we just want you guys to walk away and we want local folks to come up with a little bit more of a say,’” Hildreth said.
Hildreth told The News Tribune he personally drives past the Calahan property “just about every day” and regularly visits Key Center to buy groceries and take care of other business. He said he personally sees a need for more public spaces on the Key Peninsula, describing his constant search for spaces to host Madrona Fest, an annual music festival that he helps organize. Currently, they’re limited to only two options, the Longbranch Improvement Club and the Key Peninsula Civic Center, he said. The latter requires reservations a year in advance.
The Calahan property is already serving as a public community space, he added. People use the empty lot as overflow parking during events like the annual art walk in Key Center. It’s also one of “only so many places you can actually develop” because of limitations with septic and water service on the Key Peninsula, he said.
“ ... what really came out at the meeting is (the Calahan property) is the front porch of the Key Peninsula,” he said. “This is the center of Key Center, which is the center of the Key Peninsula.”
Future of property depends on feasibility study
Randy Takehara, the chair of the Board of Fire Commissioners, said in a phone call Tuesday that the department signed the purchase and sale agreement in early September, and he expects they’ll hear back about the 90-day feasibility study around the first or second week of December.
“We’re treading very lightly on what to do next,” given that the feasibility study to determine if the property meets the buyer’s conditions may or may not work out, he said. So far, he’s had “zero feedback” so far from the buyer on the feasibility study and didn’t have any updates to share.
The department is aware of a septic issue identified by the county during an inspection, but the fire department will need to have that fixed regardless of how the sale goes, said Takehara.
The purchase and sale agreement legally binds the fire department to follow through with the sale or pay certain damages. The fire department would need to return the buyer’s earnest money, and could be held liable to compensate the buyer for other expenses or lost profits. If the buyer backs out, the fire department could earn a couple thousand dollars for the time they kept the property off the market, he explained.
Asked if the fire commissioners would consider another use for the property, should the sale fall through, Takehara stressed that no decisions have been made. Speaking only for himself, if the buyer does back out, he’s “totally fine with hearing out exactly what these (residents opposing the gas station) have to say, what they want and what their long term vision is, before we accept another offer,” he said.
He also denied the allegation that the fire commissioners are “out to make the maximum profit” from the sale at the expense of the community.
If there are two offers on the table and one is at full price and the other significantly less, “it makes absolute sense” to go with the full-price offer in order to make the best decision for the taxpayers, he said. But if the existing buyer pulls out and a nonprofit makes an offer that could enhance the community if the department sells at a loss, “that’s probably fine,” he said.
“I don’t want us to take a bath, though,” he went on. “Again, I want to be the best shepherd of the taxpayer dollars that we can.”
Takehara also said that the proceeds from the sale, if it goes through, don’t have to go directly toward paying back the loan they took out to buy the parcel. The department will have to pay back that loan regardless, but money earned from the sale can go toward more immediate needs if they choose to use it for them. Takehara, speaking for himself and not the other commissioners, said he’d like to take the proceeds from the sale and put down cash for a new fire truck that the fire department is planning to buy next year.
Asked how the fire department decided to accept the offer from the gas station developer, Takehara declined to comment on what was discussed in executive sessions but said that this offer was one of two and “was the only viable offer on the table.”
After hearing a chorus of voices pressing the department to sell the Calahan property as soon as possible, Takehara said it would have been helpful to hear from this new group of opposing residents earlier.
“We’re stuck in a no-win situation here,” he said. “ ... It’s almost like we have these two competing camps at this point, so we’re going to tick one of them off either way.”
This story was originally published November 19, 2025 at 9:00 AM.
