Wasilla considers Meta Rose sale

WASILLA — City officials will consider the sale of a centrally located, city owned shopping complex.

The sale of Meta Rose Square, 290 North Yenlo Street, was an agenda item for the city council Monday, but was somewhat overshadowed by discussions surrounding a potential all-terrain vehicle ban. The council voted 6-0 to approve the building’s sale, but amended it in order to have a discussion about placing conditions on the sale, beforehand, according to city planner Tina Crawford.

The conditions would be aimed at retaining a viable and vibrant downtown, according to Mayor Verne Rupright. Rumors surround potential future uses, he said.

“I’ve heard some of the potential buyers were going to turn it into low-cost housing, with a soup kitchen right in the middle of it,” he said. “I don’t know about you, but to me that’s a future slum.”

The building and property together were valued at about $2 million when the city purchased the lot in 2010 for about $1.5 million. Since the 2010 purchase, the assessed value has declined to about $1.9 million, while at the same time the value of the lease has almost doubled from about $78,000 in the first full fiscal year of city ownership to about $135,000 in 2013, the most recent full year for which revenue totals are available, according to a staff report. Leasing revenue goes straight into city coffers, and offsets expenses, according to the report.

The staff report lays out three possible scenarios: sell the building immediately, wait until the downtown city zoning overlay goes into effect and then sell the building, or retain ownership indefinitely. The city council’s action fits more with the second scenario.

“It should be noted that City ownership of this particular building provides an incredibly unique opportunity to the City and city residents,” the staff report reads in part. “Retaining ownership of this building in such an ideal location in the downtown core gives the City the ability to take an active role in creating a vibrant and thriving downtown area.”

Businesses currently using the property include Big Daddy’s Tobacco. Anthony Giovanni, the store’s owner, has leased a storefront at the property for about four months, and says the city has been a good landlord. He claims he was told when he signed the lease that the city was six months into the process of arranging the sale, so Monday’s meeting wasn’t exactly news.

He relocated to Meta Rose Square in part because it’s a better location than his previous location at Wasilla City Center.

“It’s all about location,” he said.

He said he was hoping to remain at the location in the event that a sale was made, and was told that new ownership would honor the existing leases.

“They had assured me that it’s in the contract that whoever buys it can not and will not change it from a mall, and they will honor people’s contracts that are here,” he said.

That’s important, in part because of a large walk-in-humidor used to display and sell cigars, Giovanni said.

“It’s made to move, but it’s not easy,” he said.

Like Giovanni, Sherry Maresca, who opened Clumsy Clove Teas and Treasures two weeks ago, was adopting a wait-and-see attitude toward the possibility of sale. She too, has known about a potential for sometime, though she heard about it through the Wasilla Chamber of Commerce.

“They (the city) treated me great,” she said. “I didn’t live here, and the city treated me great.”

Apart from attempting to pitch her experience-oriented tearoom as a meeting place for Frontiersman staff parties, Maresca was fairly ambivalent about the news.

“I don’t think it will affect us one way or the other at this point in time,” she said. “I hope it’s sold to somebody who loves it as much as we do.”

“You think Wasilla, you think of this place,” Maresca added.