This fenced vacant lot, at 817 Jackson St. S.E., is one of three lots the city is trying to sell.
The Albany City Council majority is still hoping to get at least $145,000 for three vacant lots it is trying to sell near the Pacific Boulevard overpass at Jackson Street and Ninth Avenue.
The council voted Monday night to keep negotiating for a sale of the properties.
On June 25, the council opened sealed bids for the lots and then rejected, 2-4, the highest bid of $125,000 from Van Vleet Meat and Food Services. The company would like to use two of the city lots, plus a third one it hopes to obtain in a swap, to move its parking lot there so it can expand its wholesale food distribution plant across the street, at 810 Jackson.
After rejecting the bid, the council then voted 4-2 to “negotiate” with Van Vleet for a price of $145,000, which an appraiser said the properties were worth.
On Monday, the council met for 30 minutes behind closed doors, then ended its executive session and voted without further debate to keep negotiating for the sale of the lots. Again the vote was 4-2. Ramycia McGhee and Marilyn Smith, who favor accepting Van Vleet’s original bid, voted no.
Discussions in executive sessions are supposed to be confidential. But the vote on June 25 suggests that the city staff then offered the lots to Van Vleet for $145,000 and the offer was turned down. Why that could not be said in a public meeting is a mystery.
The city acquired those three blighted lots for $30,640 in 1990, one for $6,000 and the other two for $24,640, for projects that never happened.
The whole block is zoned for industry. As the mayor said last month, though not in those words, the council’s dithering over a potential sale to a going concern that wants to expand is hard to understand. (hh)
The 800 block of Jackson Street: The Van Vleet company on the right; the city’ lots on the left. (June 27, 2025)
It would seem to me that if they City was not going to accept the highest bid that they should have stated “LOWEST ACCEPTABLE BID”.
I have been to auctions, and I think that is what this was, and unless a lowest bid is stated it goes to the highest bidder.
It’s just another instance of why they are considered untrustworthy. Who changes the rules after the fact except the morally corrupt? Wasn’t Michael Thomson going to go “against the grain” when representing his Ward? Why didn’t make a tie vote and force the mayor to actually show his opinion? Probably because that’s what the people he “represents” wanted the sale to go through and he wanted to do business as usual.
Leave it to the few city council members to bumble the sale to Van Vleet. This is just greed.
They are not worth that much. Sell them to Van Vleet for $25,000 each
Get them into the tax system.
If I had more money, I would buy them and make a pod hotel.
When they ask voters to approve a gas tax just remember how much money they have wasted and lost on terrible real estate and other transactions in the last few years. Then this, they could turn this back into tax revenue generating property. Remember this when they seek reelection. Get rid of these fools who spend your money this way.
Do not approve a gas tax, make them trim the fat and spend wisely, on necessities, not pet projects! Ridiculous!
The council seems to be trying to get maximum value for city-owned property. I thought that was their duty? I’m not sure how a sale like this works, but last time I bought property, the seller took offers and selected the one they thought met their criteria. They weren’t obliged to accept the highest offer, or any offer.
I think everyone wants to sell Van Vleet (a great company) the property, but selling for less than the property was appraised for would look pretty bad. I’m sure the whiners on here would be slamming the city for not getting enough for the property and for making a special deal.
After buying a bank property for $1.5million, spending another $300k to raze the building to make an empty lot, it’s ludicrous for them to argue over $20k for an auction that had no reserve. It’s simple extortion. Who was the appraiser? Some City Lackey?
No, an out of town firm that did a thorough job. Check its reports included with the city council’s agenda on June 25.
Half the current council wasn’t around when the WF deal went down, AND three of the ones holding out for more money this time are those who weren’t there for that deal. Stop blaming this council for something a previous one did.
Since the current council is so bad, Bill should run to replace them. He’d be a shoe-in. Or then again, maybe he’d just like to stay here and complain, and complain, and complain.
We need to be sure to elect people that represent the people of our city. This sale should go to the highest bidder.
The city did not pay a fair price when they bought the properties. They did not get an appraiser to make sure they paid the fair amount. The city just wasted our tax money to get them a better deal. If people are going to make judgments the city should have to be accountable for the property deals where they have screwed people over. It will serve the city right to get themselves in another big mess if they keep pandering people like the parasitic shelter and other pie in the sky projects. The property values listed did not consider having the homeless shelter reducing the property value. If I were Van Vleet I would pack it up, sue the city and leave Albany. Let the shelter take over the whole area and let the city choke on their mistake. Too bad all the people that support the city’s poor judgments do not have to deal with the consciences as well. You can’t fix stupid!
I agree Van Vleet took one when they had Marvins Garden et al across the street. People don’t want to do business in an area that looks like a slum. How many on the City Council actually know anything about business?
The Police stated they had too many calls. I thought they should have been thrilled with the one stop shopping aspect? Take a mini van & car pool.
So the City of Albany has three derelict properties that they haven’t been able to unload for a good 35 years and they have rejected the highest bid because they want to be greedy. Yep…sounds like government to me.
The saddest thing is that the homeowners that live on that block are totally excluded from any of the conversations concerning what they must live with. No one cared about the old guy when the city took his home and he passed away homeless or the man fined for making improvements on his new rentals to improve the lives of the previously abused renters. How can anyone claim that the city has goodwill towards the people that live in Albany.