Former Kmart, Future County Hub: Supervisors Greenlight $5.75 Million Eureka Property Purchase

Aerial view of the county complex project site. [Screenshot from video]

Humboldt County is going ahead with the purchase of a property it will develop into a “one-stop permitting center” for multiple departments.  At its June 9 meeting, the Board of Supervisors voted to authorize the $5.75 million property buy but the vote wasn’t unanimous.

The cost of maintaining what’s blueprinted as a 55,000 square-foot complex led to one downvote.

But in a presentation, Director of Public Works Tom Mattson said the property buy will fulfill the long-envisioned goal of bringing the many facets of county permitting under one roof.

He described it as “the one-stop permitting center that we’ve been looking for a site for years,” including the county’s planning and building, public works, and environmental services departments.

Image from 2021 when Papa & Barkley opened a dispensary in the KMART building. [Photo by Emily Hobelmann]

It will be a place where “customers can come in to one place and get all the permits they need to move a project forward,” he continued, with enough space to allow other departments and staff to move in if needed.

The property is located at 4325 Broadway in Eureka, once the site of a Kmart store.

Walmart was interested in buying it at one point but then backed out.

During a public comment period, a caller identifying himself as a county employee noted that the property’s in the tsunami zone and said it’s a “bad location.”

But JB Mathers, a local real estate agent representing the seller, John McNellis, described the property as desirable.

“There’s been a fair amount of interest in the property from other tenants,” he said. “But Mr. McNellis definitely felt it would be in good faith to get back to the county and allow an opportunity for a location on Highway 101 that can serve the entire county.”

The tsunami zone issue didn’t gain traction in supervisors’ discussions but Supervisor Rex Bohn questioned the county’s ability to maintain the new complex.

“I mean, I got waste high grass at the Planning and Building Department,” he said. “I have to beg to get the front of the courthouse mowed and we let a veterans hall in Garberville melt around us, and so we took a minor problem and made it into a major problem until we had to tear it down and build something new.”

Bohn wants to see “a commitment that we’re going to take care of the buildings we have” and said “we don’t have staff, we don’t have money, we don’t have anything.”

Supervisor Natalie Arroyo supported the buy, saying developing the complex “has the potential to save us money” and allow more space for departments that need it.

She noted the project’s long planning phase.

“I just want to say for the benefit of the public, this has certainly been something we’ve had extensive conversation about,” she said. “The conversation you’re seeing here today is sort of the ending point of a long journey.”

She added that moving departments into the complex will open new opportunities for use of existing county spaces. “And, you know, there’s really no perfect property for us but this is about as close as we can get,” Arroyo continued.

Supervisor Steve Madrone said “continuing to lease properties as a solution is what’s part of part of what’s driving our budget into the negative.”

The board voted 4-1 to authorize the purchase, with Bohn voting no. He said he did so because staff hadn’t responded to his concerns about maintenance.

Development of the new complex has a five- to seven-year timeline.

The funding for the buy comes from the county’s 2020 Finance Plan, an internal borrowing mechanism.