Hawkins, county discuss options

Hawkins Companies representative Jeff DeVoe, who met with county commissioners here Jan. 27 to assure them the company is still interested in pursuing development of a shopping mall on the Washington side of the state line, met with County Administrative Director Gary Petrovich Feb. 18 to talk about possible financing for the development.

DeVoe informed Petrovich he hired a Seattle firm, Pacifica Law Group, to research funding options for the county.

They also discussed financing and what arrangements would be allowed by the state.

The Boise-based company proposes a 714,000-square-foot shopping center.

Petrovich said DeVoe is trying to be more engaged with the county about the project after not updating county officials for close to a year.

DeVoe requested the Jan. 27 session with the county commissioners and at that time said Hawkins was still strongly committed to the project.

He said they are continuing efforts to sign tenants for the mall site. The project sustained a setback when the recession hit shortly after the agreement was signed.

DeVoe told the commissioners Hawkins has invested more than $10 million in the planned project to date.

Hawkins and the county in May of 2008 signed an agreement which called for the county to provide infrastructure for the shopping mall at a cost of $9.1 million. One condition of the agreement calls for Hawkins to sign a major tenant, cited as Lowes in the original agreement, before the work starts on the site.

The agreement was later amended to $15 million which began to generate objections from county residents and was a big factor in the election defeats of two commissioners, Greg Partch and Pat O’Neill.

At the Jan. 27 session, DeVoe acknowledged the extension agreement on the project had expired.

The $6 million amendment to the original contract expired Jan. 30.

“The original agreement is still in play and we’re still liable,” Petrovich told the Gazette last week.

He also added he and DeVoe last week discussed the pending lawsuit filed against the county by the Organization to Void Illegal Conduct, a group of county residents.

The OVIC suit asks the court to declare the agreement void. One allegation questions Hawkins status to act in the role of a contractor in development of the infrastructure. The suit contended Hawkins is not certified as a contractor in Washington.

Tim Esser, the Pullman attorney who represents OVIC, said Monday morning the suit is still pending in court.

Petrovich last week also said the county’s application for a loan from the state’s Public Works Trust fund had stalled because the trust fund had been tapped by the legislature for education funding. The county over three months last spring had worked to upgrade the loan application with the state.

The county had planned to pay off the trust fund financing with anticipated sales tax revenue generated by tenants at the mall once it was developed.

Petrovich said bonding through the trust fund would have provided the county savings on interest and executing the bond agreement.

He said the county and other trust fund applicants around the state are now waiting to see if some form of the trust fund program emerges from the current session of the legislature.