The Bend City Council has agreed to a deal to sell the “Bulletin property,” home of this newspaper between 1966 and 2000, for $1.9 million.

The 3.1-acre property, on Northwest Wall Street across from Pioneer Park and backing up against the Bend Parkway, was once envisioned as the site of a future city hall or mixed-use development. Near the height of Bend’s real estate boom, the city bought the property in 2005 for $4.8 million.

Under the terms of the deal agreed to by city councilors Wednesday evening, buyer Getz Properties LLC will have until late this year to back out of the deal, but would sacrifice $50,000 in earnest money were it to do so.

Getz Properties, headed by Mel Getz, is best-known locally as the developer behind The Forum, the east-side complex anchored by Costco, Safeway, Pier 1 and other major chains.

Councilors said Getz approached the city with a proposal for a mixed-use development incorporating a combination of housing, retail and office space on the onetime Bulletin property. Under current zoning, structures up to 55 feet tall may be built on the site.

Announcing the sales agreement Wednesday, Councilor Scott Ramsay lamented the past council’s decision to purchase the land.

“They bought it at a time when the market was high, paid way too much money for it, for a purpose it turned out was not feasible for that site,” he said.

Ramsay said though the city will take a sizable loss on the sale, he’s been impressed by the illustrations shared by Getz, describing his proposal as “really well-designed” and “an attractive addition to the city.”

“We certainly will not recoup what was invested, but for many years we haven’t collected property taxes on that site, and it’s been kind of an eyesore and a blight,” he said.

The city bought the property in 2005 from Taylor Brothers LLC, which had purchased it from Brooks Resources Corp. in 2002. Brooks Resources acquired the property in a 1999 trade with Western Communications, The Bulletin’s parent company, for the land on Southwest Chandler Avenue, where the newspaper’s offices are currently located.

Finance director Sonia Andrews said last week the city still owes $2.1 million on the property. A principal payment of $700,000 is due in June, she said, along with an interest payment of roughly $75,000.

Mayor Jim Clinton, the only councilor who was on the council when the city purchased the property, said that while the purchase seems foolish in retrospect, it made sense at the time.

At the time, property values for office and retail space in downtown Bend were higher than in any other downtown in the state, Clinton said, and there was pressure to find a way to expand the downtown corridor. The Bulletin property appeared to be worth taking a chance on, he said, one that could spur the redevelopment of other properties along Wall Street between Greenwood and Portland avenues.

Clinton said with the real estate market showing signs of recovery, Getz’s development could get that redevelopment process moving again.

“Always the idea was that this property was deserving of a really good project. So now, we have a buyer that’s committed to doing a good project,” he said.

— Reporter: 541-383-0387, shammers@bendbulletin.com

Editor’s note: This story has been clarified. An explanation of how the city of Bend acquired the property has been added.