An agreement to extend the purchase and sale agreement by one year for the Summit Place property has been signed by the King County Executive Dow Constantine and YarrowBay Holdings.
The deadline for the agreement was Feb. 20, but through a series of negotiations as the deadline approached, the executive’s office, YarrowBay and the County Council were able to work out an agreement to extend the purchase and sale deadline to 2011, although there are provisions that could extend the purchase by another year.
The selling price of the 156-acre site at 22801 S.E. 272nd St. is $51 million with six payments over seven years. The property is located inside the city limits of Maple Valley, but is owned by the county.
The one year extension agreement calls for the Kirkland-based YarrowBay to add $1.6 million to the first two payments, with the amount subtracted from the final payments.
Sung Yang, director of government relations for Constantine, said, “this keeps the project alive. We are pleased with the outcome.”
For each payment a percentage of the property is transferred to YarrowBay. During negotiations YarrowBay wanted more property transferred for the higher payment, but the executive’s office would not agree.
Earlier in the negotiation the executive had requested a payment of $2.5 million for the extension, on top of the $51 million. The project appeared to be on the verge of collapsing when YarrowBay refused to pay the $2.5 million.
King County Councilman Reagan Dunn brought the parties together Feb. 13 and the deal was finally hammered out.
Brian Ross, YarrowBay CEO, said by phone Tuesday, “The important thing to me was the county agreed to the one year extension. It’s not perfect, but it is workable.”
An important issue for Maple Valley is for the land to be annexed into the city prior to development.
The County Council adopted an amendment approving the extension and stating the property is to be annexed and developed in Maple Valley.
“We’ve given up our right to vest in the county,” Ross said. “Whatever happens we are married to Maple Valley for a long time. We don’t want to set up an adversarial relationship…. Hopefully we can build some trust with the city.”
Ross wants the zoning of the property to be completed and agreed upon by the city and YarrowBay before annexation.
