Port clears Mader land purchase

Commissioners of the Port of Whitman County at their July 15 meeting approved payment of $16,763 to the Mader family to wrap up a real estate deal in Pullman.

The port in 2007 purchased nearly 53 acres of land from the Maders for a new industrial park at the southwest corner of the intersection of Highway 27 and the Pullman-Albion Road.

The refund comes after an ownership mixup on more than 47,000-square-feet of land at the site.

The state Department of Transportation acquired a right-of-way easement in the 1950s when it rebuilt Highway 27.

The port used $333,000 from its $1 million Innovation Partnership Zone grant to pay the bulk of the $537,069.39 purchase cost.

While the ownership was cleared up, the port withheld $22,464 of the agreed purchase price from the Maders.

Final cost to buy the easement from the DOT was $1,875. Engineering and legal fees to clear up the ownership question amounted to $3,826. Deducting for both those costs led to the $16,763 payment out of the withheld funds.

The innovation zone grant was awarded with the intent of developing private industries out of Washington State University research.

The new industrial park is intended to be used to site those businesses, as the port’s existing industrial park in Pullman is nearing capacity.

The new park will be divided into ten lots ranging in size from 1.67 to 4.79 acres.