K2 building sells after more than a decade on the market

The K2 building, for sale for more than a decade after once serving as a manufacturing hub on the island, has been sold.

Public records show Sound Properties, LLC, of which islander Brad Middling is a partner, purchased the building and land for $1,230,000 on July 19 from the Sitca Corporation, the owner of K2. On Wednesday, Middling directed questions to his business partner, Mike Kirkland. Kirkland also owns MK Property Services, whose sign offering space for lease recently replaced the longtime for sale sign on K2’s lawn.

Kirkland said that so far there are no tenants lined up for the building or firm plans in place regarding what businesses will fill the 180,000-square-foot building and surrounding 17 acres. He added the owners will gauge interest from the community as they move forward.

“We are interested in talking to all comers. We have an open slate,” he said.

On Sept. 11, Middling and Kirkland will host an invite-only meeting to discuss possibilities for the site, with a public open house slated for the “near term” once the building is ready for such an event, he said.

Kirkland added, however, that the building is zoned for commercial business, and any tenants must fit in that category, such as restaurants, medical offices and clean, non-contaminating light industry.

The K2 building itself is on a 11-acre parcel of land, and Sound Properties also purchased a contiguous 6-acre parcel that is zoned light industrial.

“Interest will manifest reality,” Kirkland stated twice, stressing that the community will drive what transpires next at the iconic building.

The K2 site is known to be contaminated from its manufacturing days, with petroleum hydrocarbons, volatile organic compounds, pesticides and metals, among other substances. Kirkland said he and Middling have a voluntarily clean up plan on file with the Washington Department of Ecology and will be in charge of cleaning up the site in concert with the Sitca Corporation. The process is expected to begin later this fall. Clean-up costs will be “a seven-figure sum,” he said, but declined to say who will pay for the work.

The Middling family has worked with Kirkland for 25 years, and they have developed a “formidable portfolio of real estate assets in Washington and Colorado,” he said. During those years, he, Middling and their investment partners have considered buying K2 and negotiated on it “a time or two,” with their vision changing over time. Now, he said, they are not in a rush and are engaged in a “more pensive process” as they head toward site clean up and building repairs then bringing new business to the building.

“We consider ourselves stewards of a fairly visible piece of property,” he said.

This version corrects the last name of Mike Kirkland; it is not Kirkwood, as previously stated.

This story is developing and will be updated.