Pine City Council sets Sept. 1 deadline for 315 Main Street transaction

The Pine City Council voted to set a Sept. 1 deadline for the 315 Main Street property transaction at Wednesday's meeting.

According to city administrator Marcy Peterson, purchaser Solutions Real Estate Group was given a request last week to have the purchase agreement brought back to the city in 14 days.

Peterson also said city staff have started title work in preparation for council and attorney review of the purchase agreement.

Council member Kyle Palmer advocated for setting a hard deadline after expressing concerns about having to potentially heat the building after the summer.

"The concern I have is that we're coming up on August," Palmer said. "If this gets dragged out into the winter, we're not planning on heating it, and there's no budget for it."

Mayor Kent Bombard said he had a conversation with economic development coordinator Lezlie Sauter, who relayed that Jacob Kruse from Solutions Real Estate Group is confident that the agreement will come back to the city in the agreed-upon window.

"If they don't meet it by Sept. 1, then the agreement in my mind would be null and void," Palmer said.

Bombard mentioned a caveat that, if the transaction fell through, the council would be back to "square one" in regards to making determinations about heating or keeping the water on at the property.

Kruse's confidence was reiterated after council member Gina Pettie asked if he's given the city any reason to doubt his willingness to fulfill the agreement.

"We should have had a timeline, a due date for this when we first issued it right away," Palmer added. "Sept. 1, you could look at heating and keeping the water on real fast."

The motion to set the Sept. 1 deadline passed 3-1, with Pettie voting no. Council member Dan Swanson was not in attendance at the meeting.

In April, the council voted 3-2 to move forward with a boutique hotel project proposed by Solutions Real Estate Group for the 315 Main Street property.