GAYLORD — The Gaylord City Council Monday night approved a purchase agreement for a vacant 18-acre parcel of land in the city that borders I-75 and West Street.
Michigan-based developer Anthony Randazzo has agreed to acquire the land for $330,000, but has not completed his review of the proposed agreement.
Gaylord City Attorney Paul Slough said Randazzo is interested in building apartments or multi-family housing on the property. In order to do that, the zoning for the parcel would have to be changed. Current zoning only permits single-family homes.
According to the agreement, Randazzo or his group have until Oct. 15 “to apply for approvals, grants,and conduct inspections of the property.” The purchase agreement is subject to a “higher and better offers” clause until the expiration of a referendum period. Higher and better offers are subsequent offers that are in the city council’s discretion, more favorable. If the council accepts the new offer, the purchase agreement with Randazzo will be void.
This is the vacant 18-acre parcel of land owned by the City of Gaylord that borders I-75 and West Street.
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The property, which was sought at one time by the Michigan State Police as a site for a new Gaylord post, went back on the market after the Woda Cooper Companies withdrew from a purchase agreement for the land. Woda Cooper had planned to build 41 single family homes with three and four bedrooms that would have sold for a range of $215,000 to $295,000 each.
The property was originally valued by city assessor Holly Franckowiak at $337,000, but council lowered the price to $290,000 and again reduced it to $210,000 in a bid to move along the Woda Cooper project. The city acquired the land in the 1990s when a developer exchanged it for a city-owned lot on Main Street that now houses a Huntington Bank branch.
It is not clear if Randazzo is interested in an adjacent 11-acre parcel for sale that is owned by the Gaylord Fellowship Church.
— Contact Paul Welitzkin at pwelitzkin@gaylordheraldtimes.com.
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Gaylord City Council enters into $330,000 purchase agreement for vacant land bordering I-75
