Chelan PUD Moving Close In Property Sale To YMCA For New Center

Chelan PUD is getting closer to selling a portion of its former 5th Street campus headquarters to the Wenatchee Valley YMCA. 

The Y plans to build a $25 million facility on land it's purchasing from the utility. 

Chelan PUD Project Management Manager David Lodge says they're working with the city of Wenatchee to identify the land being purchased. 

"We're going through a process with the city called a boundary line adjustment," said Lodge. "And that moves the parcel lines and establishes a new piece that we're able to sell to the Y. Until that's finalized, we don't have a specific property that we can transfer ownership." 

The PUD is hoping to have work with the city wrapped up in time to finalize the land sale to the Y by the end of April. 

The agreement with the Y, known as a Purchase and Sale Agreement requires the establishment of a commercial owners’ association to manage common areas on the 5th Street campus. 

Lodge says the PUD recorded the covenants, conditions, and restrictions (CCRs) to cover all the property. The CCRs include the maintenance of the shared, or common areas of the property.  

The CCRs specify requirements for things like plowing the shared roadway and making repairs when there's shared property damage. 

Lodge said those documents also give the commercial owners’ association the ability to make rules regarding the property that are flexible and allow for changes over time. 

In addition, the CCRs establish voting rights for the different owners. 

The PUD will control the commercial owners’ association until the utility completes the roadway through the campus site to connect all the different parcels and construct other amenities. 

Once those amenities are complete, there'll be infrastructure for the commercial owners’ association to manage. According to Lodge, once there are multiple owners on the site, those parties will assume control of the commercial owners’ association. He said the PUD will have a strong role in the process until it's able to sell off most of the parcels and set the site up for success in alignment with the community vision. 

In addition to the sale of the property to the YMCA, the PUD is in negotiations with Music Theater of Wenatchee for another piece of the property.  Music Theater owns and operates the Riverside Playhouse, which is adjacent to the campus property. Music Theater has plans to expand into an adjacent building and construct parking spaces for its facilities. 

Lodge says the remaining land on the site, including the old headquarters building, could be turned into several different things.  

“Some of the ideas that fit really well could be residential, could be hospitality, could be some retail, and probably it’ll be some kind of mixed-use,” Lodge said. “But something that’s complimentary to downtown, and pairs well with the YMCA.”  

The PUD is still trying to recruit a developer to build out the remaining portion of the campus.  

Lodge said PUD staff would give presentations to the Chelan PUD Board of Commissioners in the coming months as more progress is made in the development of the 5th Street campus site. 

The YMCA is purchasing its portion of the site from the PUD for $1.2 million.