By Jeff B. Flinn
Managing Editor

The city of Converse remains in negotiations with a San Antonio firm interested in purchasing the 110-acre Converse lake area site.

Negotiations with Salitrillo Creek Partners Inc. began in earnest in February when the city agreed to entertain offers from Salitrillo Creek, which was given a 120-day window to do a feasibility study, including a geo tech report, master plan and utility analysis. The work to be performed carried an estimated $50,000 price tag, council members were first told back in February 2007.

City officials have declined to comment on the current state of negotiations — including any asking price — with Salitrillo Creek, as the item was part of a two-hour executive session during the Nov. 6 council meeting.

According to minutes of the Feb. 20, 2007 meeting, City Manager Sam Hughes told council that it was in the city’s best interest, long term, to get the highest value of the property and the best stream of revenue. “If we really want to make this an asset for the city, then we ought to look at how it is to be marketed, rather than what the sale price is,” Hughes commented, according to the meeting minutes.

At that meeting, the council approved a “letter of intent” with Salitrillo, which agrees to provide Converse with: a site assessment designed to identify the zoning, location of utilities and services, and development risk; a high-level developmental plan, highlighting the location and description of intended projects and platting; and a Phase I environmental study.

Mark Luft, Converse Econo-mic Development Corp. director, told council of existing challenges to the area. The land in question is difficult to reach, with limited access, housing units on two sides, and a raised-level railroad track.

The city has owned the lake property, which currently generates no taxes, for several years. Luft, who has shown the parcel to several potential investors, was reflected in the Feb. 20 minutes as having said it is prudent to consider Salitrillo’s letter of intent “because there is value to it.”

Even if Salitrillo Creek was to withdraw from buying and developing the land, Converse would receive all documentation created in the task of evaluating the land, at no cost to the city.

A key in the sale is a statement in the February minutes attributed to Hughes: “If they choose to purchase the property, then we will sit down and negotiate a price for the sale of the 110 acres.”

The 120-day buffer expired this summer; the fact that the item was recently the topic of a two-hour executive session leads onlookers to expect a deal is in the works.

At the city’s Economic Development Corp. meeting Oct. 9, Luft told commission members that the lake deal “is a work in progress.” The meeting minutes have Luft saying that he and Hughes are working on an agreement for entry and exit to the acreage.