After a process that began last spring and included multiple votes and “wish lists” from Richland city councilmembers, only Tim Bush, a developer well known to Richland government, submitted a bid for the 5.85 city-owned surplus property at 24 Lawless Drive. Bush owns two acres adjacent to the property. He purchased that land, formerly part of Lawless Park, from Richland along with about an acre and a half on Duportail St. in a no-bid deal in 2018 for $333,669.60. If Bush succeeds in buying the property behind the Wellsian Way Fred Meyer, it would be his seventh property negotiation with the city in the last six years.
Before bidding began, Bush had erected a sign on his own property offering it for sale or lease. Richland sales contracts for surplus property usually includes a clause that requires that permitting for the agreed upon project commence within about nine months and prohibits sales to a third party without permission for at least 36 months. The city contracts usually include buy-back options.
Bush transactions with the city since 2018
In addition to the purchase of the two parcels in 2018, Bush has worked with the city on the following projects:
2021 – Bush ushered the property at 404 Thayer owned by Theresa Richardson’s Church, New Heights Church, through the rezoning process to change the single-family zoning designation to allow multifamily construction on the property. He then purchased the almost half acre parcel for $70,000 from the church.
2022 – Public records obtained by the Observer show that after working with the city to change the zoning on the Duportail property from parkland to multi-family, Bush negotiated with the city that allowed him to build 18 townhouse units on the property when the city fire code limited construction to 16 units on a cul-de-sac. After preparing the site for townhouses, Bush flipped the property to a builder for $1.8 million in 2023.
2023 – Bush had his property on Lawless Drive rezoned from parkland to commercial.
2023 – City paid Bush $299,900 for a 1,654 sq. ft. storage building at 300 Wellhouse Loop.
Bids submitted for 24 Lawless
At 3:00 pm, the deadline for submitting bids, Purchasing Manager Irma Bottineau and Purchasing Agent Barb Raney sat at a table in front of their computers in the city’s shop annex at 2700 Duportail St. They prepared to publicly accept bids by email or through a website, Public Purchase. Within minutes they announced that only Bush had bid.
No more information was provided.
Where does the city go from here?
The request for bids outlined how representatives of the city council, city committees and city staff would score the bids to determine which one best met the requirements for the mixed-use development that the city council had wanted for the site.
“SInce we only received one response, we won’t need to empanel a committee to review it,” City Manager Jon Amundson wrote the Observer in an email.
Amundson added that the proposal would “remain confidential” until the council had an executive session per RCW 42.30.110 to discuss the price and decide whether or not the city will negotiate with Bush.