La Quinta, a city that is pretty much all chain stores and yet more chain stores, is planning to buy the old Sam’s Club for a few million bucks even though it’s a total wreck. What a city!
The Desert Sun reports that the building, which was a Sam’s Club up until 2010 and has been empty ever since, will go up for bid in a live auction in Corona on February 6 and, unlike Suzanne Somers’ house, the highest bidder will take home a huge building that is basically garbage.
La Quinta City Manager Frank Spevacek said the property has had trouble finding a buyer in the past because of restrictions disallowing it from being used to compete with the neighboring Wal-Mart. And after years of vacancy and vandalism, the building has been emptied to a shell without wiring, pipes, fixtures or equipment
The city asked the council to move $5.5 million from the city’s unassigned reserves to the Land Acquisition Fund. Instead, council approved $2 million to be added to the Land Acquisition Fund on Tuesday night during a special meeting.
Spevacek said he could not say how much in total the city is willing to bid on the property as that figure was decided on during a closed session.
The Mayor says that if and when the city gets the building, their goal will be to sell it to someone who will either fix it up or tear it down. Who knows, perhaps they can sell it to someone who will make it a convention center with a Snoop Dogg concert?
Update: The city will not buy the property as a buyer has stepped forward.
