Winthrop: More 'attractive' offer presented to AF Evans

Just got an email blast from Chester Trabucco of Citizens Hotel. Seems that there's now word of a more "attractive" offer that AF Evans is exploring in their Winthrop dealings. Seems Trabucco, Quigg and the Citizens Hotel group haven't given up hope and are certainly aware that this property may be more attractive than ever in the eyes of investors near and far. Here's the important parts of the email:

I received a call late Friday from Tory Laughlin-Taylor of A.F. Evans that they had entered into an agreement and were "under contract" with a party other than Citizens Hotel et al.

Our attorney had been in contact with Evans' counsel via email to begin drafting a Purchase and Sale Agreement on roughly the terms and schedule that we had initially understood them to be, including the provision for a 250K non-refundable earnest money agreement (without the special financing requirements), but apparently a more "attractive" offer was presented.

They (Evans) presumably either closed with Hanson or made arrangements to extend w/Hanson, but in any event, indicated it was a "short fuse deal" and that Evans would know whether the party was going to move forward by no later than Wednesday COB of this week.

I'm sure we will learn more this week; Tacoma is a small town in terms of its communications circles. I'm even assuming a number of you may have already been privy to this info by now.

For our part, we will stick with the mission until we are convinced the situation is dead. Tory and I agreed that we would talk on Thursday and that our team will be prepared to assess the situation if and when there is something to talk about.

Thank you all for your part in supporting this worthy endeavor to this point. In the final analysis, I believe the course that the Winthrop will take will be the right one for your community, regardless of who takes the helm.

From KFnet friend Erik Bjornson's perspective, the good news in this and about the Winthrop is:

1) The property is apparently highly sought after by many different entities each jostling for position. The Quigg group, myself, TNT editorial board and many others were right that the property had a higher use than what it was being used for and was desirable and commercially viable. The people who told us that the Winthrop Hotel could not be used for anything again but a high rise low income housing project have been proven wrong.

2) We will learn more [today]. However, it is very likely that the property will come back on the market again and we should know this very soon. For all we know, the new potential buyers may just want to sell to the Quigg group for a premium.

I'm sure there's more to come on this and, whoever the buyer, you can bet I'll still be skipping to the Quigg-inspired beat of helping expand affordable housing in Tacoma, re-locating current Winthrop residents, and turning that sucker into one heck of a hotel.

Previously on KFnet

Mon. October 30, 2006, 01:42pm PST

Hob-Nob damaged by fire

KFnet friend Dave just let me know about a fire over at the Hob-Nob restaurant and lounge on 6th Ave at the edge of Write Park [ map ]. He said he saw some shoveling of debris but a quick call over there and I learned it was a small electrical fire and that they'll be open again soon. The fire happened early this morning and was sparked in the ceiling above the women's bathroom. Employees are cleaning up and the restaurant should re-open this Wednesday. Since the fire was so early in the morning there weren't many people around and thankfully no one was hurt.

This reminds me of a day when I used to rent a house just off Sheridan and Division and I drove by the old El Toro only to see it burned out. It prompted me to want to take my camera out and take archival photographs of buildings and scenes of and around town. This sort of thing can lend a perspective of what our city's like today to folks looking us up in the future. When considering something like a fire, you never know when a little piece of history may be gone forever.

Looks like that was avoided with the Hob-Nob but here's a speedy recovery (and some better electrical)!

Thanks Dave!

Mon. October 30, 2006, 09:47pm PST

Carving in phases

Lazy was the word this weekend since we barely left the house except to grab dinner with a co-worker and her husband Saturday. Sunday was sleeping in a bit and making use of some pumpkins for Halloween. As Sarah noted, we gutted and roasted a serious bounty of seeds before carving two of four pumpkins last night and the other two tonight. After our decorations last year I felt okay with this years rather paltry Halloween spirit. Nevertheless, I carved a simple moon and starry comet design in my two pumpkins while Sarah opted for one bearing the symbol pi and the other a duo of eighth notes. There's always something relaxing about carving through these large gourds and it even makes me think of how sculpture with some kinds of stone would be.

Anyway, have a safe and happy Halloween! Here are links to Halloween entries from past years here on KFnet. Boo!

2005
10/26 - Pumpkin Carvefest
10/29 - Parties
10/31 - Rainy Halloween

2004
10/30 - Birthday party for Matt

2002
10/27 - Pumpkin art
10/31 - Impromptu Jedi

2001
10/31 - Brak!

1999
10/31 - Laundry Monster