An offer submitted four months ago by Safe Harbor of Grand Traverse to purchase a city-owned warehouse on Wellington Street still hasn’t gone before city commissioners for review – a delay that’s left the nonprofit in limbo.

Safe Harbor submitted a $50,000 offer to the city October 2 to buy the building at 517 Wellington Street with the goal of turning it into an emergency homeless shelter. The offer includes a deed restriction limiting the property’s use “to services for those experiencing homelessness” and attaches a $1 million commitment to renovate the property.

While city commissioners approved Safe Harbor’s request for a special land use permit (SLUP) for the project in 2014, the building sale itself requires a separate vote. Safe Harbor Chair Peter Starkel says he’s been in contact with city staff trying to get the offer placed on the commission’s agenda, but hasn’t received a clear explanation as to why it’s been delayed or when it will go before the board.

“(City Manager) Marty Colburn seems to have a process he’s following pertaining to the offer…I’m still trying to figure out exactly what that process is,” Starkel says. “I don’t really have an answer. Every time I ask, he has things he’s looking into.”

Colburn tells The Ticker there are “a host” of complex issues involved in potentially selling the property – issues he’s trying to identify options and solutions for with city staff before bringing the offer to commissioners. “Things like right-of-ways, easements, drainage issues, the possible need for a public street,” Colburn says. “There’s also a legal review (of the purchase terms).”

How property boundaries would be drawn as part of a sale – and the impact that will have on access – is a key aspect of discussions. The city parcel currently contains both the warehouse and an empty adjacent lot to the east, which the city uses for snow and boat storage. Safe Harbor is proposing only to purchase the building and some small swaths of land around it, not the storage lot. But dividing up the property would mean the city loses its Wellington Street frontage and address – turning the storage lot into a stand-alone, non-conforming parcel with no legal street access.

“The fire department requires you to have an address,” explains City Planning Director Russ Soyring. “You have to have (property) frontage on a public or private street.” The city could convert the alley just north of the warehouse into a public street, providing the required access to the storage lot and a connector down to Railroad Place. However, doing so would require installing curbs and gutters and other infrastructure. Figuring out how much that would cost – and who would pay for it – is another factor in the review process.

Traverse City Mayor Jim Carruthers says he understands city staff are trying to “cross their t's and dot their i’s” regarding project details, but adds that he's also been “talking to Marty and pushing him along” to get the offer in front of commissioners. “I’d like to see some progression, I’d like it to move forward,” Carruthers says. "I’m hoping it would (come to us) soon."

Starkel also notes Safe Harbor has the purchase money “sitting in a bank” ready to go, has collected sizable donations for renovations, and has in-kind trade offers on standby from local businesses for construction. The nonprofit is concerned about its SLUP expiring this fall – though it could receive an extension with city approval – and hopes it doesn’t have to miss out on another winter season of shelter operations, says Starkel.

“Opening is a big puzzle (of logistics), and it all starts with getting the building into ownership,” he says. Colburn, meanwhile, is not prepared to identify a timeline for bringing the offer to commissioners, but says he’s working diligently “in good faith” with Safe Harbor to move forward.

“This project has a tremendous amount of weight on it,” Colburn says. “It takes a lot of due diligence to make sure we have as many questions answered as possible going in.”