Clear Lake council approves purchasing property as part of Surf District project

CLEAR LAKE — The Clear Lake City Council this week approved purchasing a home near the proposed Surf District redevelopment project for potential future use. The property at 141 Beach Drive is currently owned by Lorna Leerar.

City Administrator Scott Flory says Leerar recently asked the city about purchasing the property. “The city was approached by the owner with the request of interest on whether or not the city would be interested in acquiring that property in the context of an overall redevelopment of that particular area. I had a conversation with that person and indicated I would speak with the council about that. At our November 20th meeting, we had a closed session to talk about the parameters of that. There was consensus to have negotiations with that property owner.”

Flory says negotiations led to a purchase price of $235,000. Flory says the property would be utilized in the future for some sort of development as part of the Surf District.  “At some point we would likely be issuing a RFP for development proposals and seeing what we get back in terms of response for future redevelopment projects there. Definitely adds some additional property there to the footprint and make it a lot attractive for future potential private developers that might be interested in redeveloping that parcel.”

The property is adjacent to land that the Hilltop Motel stood on before being acquired by the city for the project.