Mayor says sale nears of Kent’s Riverbend par 3 property

A buyer and mixed-use development plan for the city of Kent’s Riverbend par 3 golf course property could be lined up by June.

“Five prominent development teams have formally expressed interest in purchasing the property,” Mayor Suzette Cooke said during her annual State of the City address on Wednesday at a Kent Chamber of Commerce luncheon at the ShoWare Center.

Cooke expressed excitement during last year’s speech that the Federal Aviation Administration might pick the par 3 property for its new regional offices. But the FAA last April picked a Des Moines site over Kent’s 18-acre site. The City Council decided to sell the property to eliminate debt at the golf complex and to pay for capital improvements at the 18-hole course. Riverbend faces a $2.6 million debt, capital investments of at least $6 million and operating deficits of about $300,000 per year.

“While we were disappointed that the Federal Aviation Administration didn’t choose Kent, we moved on and hired Jones Lang LaSalle (a commercial real estate firm) to serve as our broker for the Riverbend Gateway Property currently known as our par 3 golf course,” Cooke said. “We intend to work with a development partner who shares our vision for an iconic mixed-use development that brings energy to West Meeker (Street) and embraces the public spaces around it.”

Cooke said an advisory team of residents, council members and staff will narrow the five applicants – whose names she didn’t release – to two or three finalists with a purchase agreement secured by June.

The mayor also touched on the city’s $2 million sale of Pine Tree Park to a Kirkland developer who wants to build 64 homes on the 10-acre site as well as on 4 acres it bought from the Kent School District. The council has a workshop next Tuesday to discuss possibly backing out of that sale after neighbors strongly opposed giving up the park.

“The future of Pine Tree Park is the first of more tough discussions to be held,” Cooke said. “It is a symptom of a much bigger problem as we deal with limited resources.”

Cooke, in her 11th year as mayor and who has said she has no plans to run for a fourth term in 2017, said the parks system has a $60 million maintenance backlog.

The mayor also shared the large backlog of repairs facing other city departments with $11 million in maintenance needed for water and sewer projects and just $4 million coming in each year to pay for repairs. She said city streets face an annual repair cost of $12 million but just $7 million available for repairs.

In an effort to combat funding shortfalls, the mayor and council formed a Financial Sustainable Task Force of residents last year. The recommendations from the task force are scheduled to be released in draft form on May 3 with a final report due May 30.

Cooke also emphasized plans to improve city services to youth. She said a youth summit will be held in the fall to include youth and community leaders.

“As a city, we are committed to the well-being and safety of our youth,” Cooke said. “I look forward to bringing together our community partners to leverage resources by working with local businesses and seeking funding at the county, state and federal levels along with nonprofit support. I know we can bring so much value to the lives of our youth and future leaders in Kent.”