For years, the Bel Lago Condominiums have been a source of frustration and contempt for Juanita neighbors.
The second-largest building in Kirkland, standing seven-and-a-half stories tall, towers over the neighborhood and Juanita Beach. It was built in 2008 just outside of the Kirkland city limits in unincorporated King County prior to the 2011 annexation and has sat unfinished – until now.
Bellevue-based Legacy Homes of Washington purchased the building on April 20 for $4.7 million and plans to finish the building located at 9115 N.E. Juanita Drive and sell the individual condos.
“We are a local company made up of a few local investors,” said Jed Murphy, general manager of Legacy Homes. “Bel Lago was in our backyard and we felt like we could do a good job finishing it.”
The building is missing decks, siding, some doors, windows and other things. The most recent addition came last year when someone tagged the building with obscene graffiti. The paint was eventually cleaned off days after the Reporter printed a story on the issues surrounding the building.
However, Murphy said his company has a development of single-family homes at the top of Finn Hill and has a stake in how the neighborhood looks.
“We saw an opportunity and it is nice to be able to also help the Juanita community,” said Murphy.
Murphy said that many of the investors live in or grew up on the Eastside.
“We want to add value back to the neighborhood we grew up in,” said Murphy.
Legacy was not the only company that bid on Bel Lago as the condominium sold in two weeks.
“We had it listed at the end of February and we only had a 14 day call for offers,” said Wes Falkenborg of the Cameron Group, the real estate group that represented First Citizens Bank, which sold the property. “There was quite a bit of interest. There is a lot of demand for well located, well priced real estate properties.”
But Falkenborg admitted that he was pleasantly surprised with the haste of the sale.
“We didn’t think it would sell quite that fast,” said Falkenborg. “It was a high visibility project and people were tracking it for quite awhile.”
The one big thing that sets Legacy apart from the other bidders is that they are local, according to Murphy.
Taxes on the sale came in at $83,665. The City of Kirkland stands to take in $23,500.
“The city receives .5 percent of the sale price as Real Estate Excise Tax (REET),” said City of Kirkland Intergovernmental Relations Manager Lorrie McKay.
REET revenues are used primarily to fund transportation and parks capital projects as adopted by the city council through the city’s Capital Improvement Program (CIP). A bill passed last year permits local real estate excise taxes to be used for maintenance and operation expenditures of existing capital facilities through calendar year 2016, according to McKay.
But what residents want to know is when the eyesore will become a habited building.
“We are still evaluating things but we are prepared to spend millions of dollars if necessary,” said Murphy, noting that there is no defined timetable for when construction will resume at the site. “We understand that some of the locals are upset and think it is an eyesore,” said Murphy. “But we have talked with some of the neighbors and they are excited someone is planning to complete the building to a high level of quality. We are not here to cut corners.”
Bel Lago Condominiums LLC applied for permits to finish the property on May 4 as they exist and as approved and inspected by King County, said McKay. “No significant issues have been identified” with the permitting process, she said.
Murphy said that when construction begins there will be no stopping until the building is finished.
“We do not anticipate any start and stops,” said Murphy, noting that the community will see a big difference with a local business finishing the building.
“There are a lot of out-of-state businesses that never see their projects in person,” said Murphy. “Our ownership walked the site themselves before we bought the property.”
Bel Lago was appraised in 2011 at $5.121 million and has 18 individual condos. The former owners of the building listed the condos for sale on a website before First Citizens Bank foreclosed the property. The cheapest unit at the ground floor was priced at $695,950 for two beds and two baths, while the top floor was priced at nearly $3 million for a three bedroom, three-and-half bath.
The land and a single-family home were sold in 2002 by a private trust for $1.4 million to Juanita Point LLC, according to King County tax records. It was then sold again in 2005 for $2.6 million to Eisenhower and Carlson PLLC and permits for the building were approved that same year.
The land rests right on the old border of unincorporated King County and the City of Kirkland. Bel Lago would not have been allowed within city limits under the city’s Shoreline Master Plan.
