Bidder gets Kent West Hill liquor store for $125,000

The winning bid for a former state liquor store in Kent came in a lot lower the third time around.

Abaynesh Belachew submitted the winning bid Thursday of $125,000 for the Kent-Midway store at 23219 Pacific Hwy. S., in the La Plaza strip mall on the West Hill. The previous bids were $325,000 and $269,000, but neither one of those bidders put up the money to complete the purchase process.

The Washington State Liquor Control Board re-auctioned the rights to apply for a spirits retail liquor license at six former state-run liquor stores statewide, including the Kent location. The six successful bidders put up a total of $600,000.

The Kent store went for the second-highest price of the six stores. The other stores and the winning bids included Seattle-Broadway, $180,000; Bellingham, $80,000; Ocean Shores, $75,000; Bellevue-Kelsey Crossroads, $70,000; and Kennewick-Columbia Summit, $70,000.

The liquor board ran the auction in Seattle to re-sell locations whose winners had failed, for whatever reason, to complete the purchase process. A $25,000 bid deposit was required to participate in the auction, up from $10,000 at a previous live auction.

An online auction and two live auctions of the 167 former state stores, including four in Kent, generated more than $30.5 million for the state, according to a liquor board media release.

Successful bidders earned the exclusive right to apply for a liquor license at the current location within its current footprint. All state store properties are below the 10,000 square foot threshold established by the initiative passed by voters last fall that privatized liquor sales and got the state out of the business.

The new law took effect June 1.

Successful bidders will need to secure a lease with the property landlord. If they are unable to secure a lease, they may re-sell their right or request an alternative location within a one-mile radius of the existing location.