By KATHERINE LJUNGQVIST and QUINTON SMITH
WALDPORT – What happens when a regional bank walks away from property valued at more than $600,000 and gives it away for free?
The city of Waldport is trying to figure that out.
Umpqua Bank closed its 3,200-square-foot branch along Highway 34 last spring because of declining business and the move to online banking.
As it has done elsewhere, it wanted to give the building to a nonprofit or local government.
Umpqua representatives met with several groups last winter, raising some hopes that it would simply turn it over to one of them. But because of the interest, the bank decided to approach the city of Waldport – and let them figure out its best use.
Since July the City Council and Waldport officials have been struggling with a seemingly simple issue — if someone were to give you a nice building to repurpose as you saw fit, how would you proceed?
But coming up with a plan for the property has not been easy or straightforward since it officially transferred hands in October. Council members are taking cautious steps to determine the best use of the property, including discussion during council meetings, a November community meeting and two reports from City Manager Kerry Kemp.
Mayor Dann Cutter hopes the council can find the perfect fit for the building.
But “more importantly,” he told YachatsNews.com, “it must cover the costs of maintaining and operating the building. Our fallback is to move City Hall there for a few years while we look at a new City Hall or Fire Department building out of the tsunami zone.”
And that’s what complicating the issue – the city owns five properties in downtown Waldport and they are all either inadequate for current needs or need repair, according to Kemp’s report.
In a city with many vacant commercial buildings, the appeal of the former Umpqua Bank stems in part from its well-maintained condition.
How we got here
Historically, Umpqua Bank usually leased their buildings. That changed in 2014 when it acquired Sterling Savings & Loan, which owned properties across the West.
The rise in internet banking is resulting in less business for physical banking locations. In Waldport alone, there were four banks until Umpqua closed. In 2016, Umpqua closed 26 branches across four states. In many cases Umpqua was able to simply end lease agreements, but they had to find something to do with the buildings it owned.
When there is no commercial market for them, sometimes it just gives them away. Umpqua spokesman Kurt Heath said the bank has donated vacant buildings elsewhere – a branch in Port Orchard, Wash. became a community health center, in Winlock, Wash. it became a school district office.
“It’s something we can give back to a community that’s served us so well for many years,” said Cobi Lewis, an Umpqua community relationship officer. “We’ve had a lot of great partnerships (and) we want to be sure to provide as much as we can back to our customers.”
Just eight miles to the south, the city of Yachats was not so lucky. In 2015 Yachats purchased the vacant Bank of the West building and parking lot adjacent to its Commons building for $500,000. After the idea of moving the library there became too expensive, it now plans to move city offices into it next year at a cost expected to reach almost $200,000.
In Waldport, Lewis and Heath express enthusiasm over the future of the former Umpqua building. “We are really excited about the ideas they were proposing,” Lewis said.
But there are restrictions.
The bank gets to lease a portion of the property for 10 years for an ATM machine. It can’t become home to another financial institution for 10 years, and for five years the city can’t sell or transfer it to anyone but a local government or a non-profit organization.
Dreams for the building
The biggest push to take over the property has come the Waldport Arts Group, founded three years ago by City Council member Greg Holland. It would like the building to become the Alsea Bay Center for the Arts.
“Ever since I moved here I thought we needed a center for artists to meet up,” he said. “We needed a place in south Lincoln County so visual artists can have a gallery space and a place for productions, theater, dance, music — basically for all types of performances.”
Since April Holland and other members of the group have been developing plans how to financially support, remodel and operate the building.
“We’re already sourcing out grants,” Holland said. “We have a strong fund-raising team in place.”
Others interested include the Waldport Lions Club, which has no property, and the Waldport Museum, which sits on city land.
From looking at Umpqua’s costs, Kemp estimates a local organization would need at least $3,000 a month just to maintain the property.
The council has been discussing what to do since the summer and has two staff reports from Kemp. The council held a workshop in November where it and community members discussed possibilities, including putting out a formal “request for proposals” to see which organization comes up with the best-sounding plan.
The council was scheduled to discuss again Thursday how to proceed, but decided at the last minute to delay any more talks until January.
In his report, Kemp urged the council to first consider the needs of the city before turning the property over to someone else. Among the issues are:
- The library is 120 years old, has poor parking and should be twice its current size;
- The city leases a 5,000 square-foot portion of City Hall – it’s really just a shell — for the main station to Central Coast Fire & Rescue for $1 a year. The fire agency wants to move out of the tsunami zone, but doesn’t know how where to go or how to pay for that move.
- The current City Hall is 4,300 square feet, is 30 years old, poorly laid out, not very secure and probably not large enough unless Lincoln County Sheriff’s deputies move elsewhere.
- The Waldport Museum would like to move to a more visible space from its current city-owned property at 320 N.E. Grant St.
Kemp suggested three options for the council to consider:
A) Construct a new City Hall with or without the fire district and move the library to the vacated city hall/fire station. Estimated cost: $4.4 million.
B) Move city offices to the bank building, remodel the city hall/fire station and move the library into it. Estimated cost: $2.8 million.
C) Move out the fire district, remodel the existing city hall/fire station and share the remodeled space with the library. Estimated cost: $3.4 million.
Kemp said Options A and C would allow for public proposals for the bank building and allow the city to put the library property up for sale. But he said Option B is “the simplest, most pragmatic and cost-effective development and utilization of city assets.”
“… my recommendation is that the city consider the property in coordination with all its downtown properties,” Kemp said in his report. “This view is not intended to suggest that non-profits or other agencies are not important. They are indeed. But from a strategic and sustainable perspective the city should holistically evaluate and satisfy its needs first.”