A multimillion-dollar legal barrier on the former Target property in Federal Way’s downtown core is preventing construction of a hotel at the site, according to an announcement July 3 at the Federal Way City Council meeting.

Located at 2141 S. 314th St., the vacant 1.86-acre property adjacent to the Performing Arts and Events Center will be repurchased by the city after owner Ottone-Salinas failed to meet contract requirements to start construction on a hotel by June 1, 2018.

The contract was originally purchased a year ago by the company at $2.18 million. After a unanimous council vote July 3, the city will buy it back for the same price.

One reason for Ottone-Salinas’ inability to begin construction was a lack of investors for the project, which city attorney Ryan Call suggested was because the project is not ready to be built. He said another possible reason for the lack of construction is an easement owned by Stan Rosen over the entire property.

An easement is defined as “the right to use the real property of another for a specific purpose,” according to law.com, and commonly applies to situations such as granting access to a property for utility and sewer lines.

And until the easement is purchased from Rosen, the property is useless to the city.

With the easement for the Target property, Rosen can legally use the property and control what happens to it, but he does not own it. The easement, which Rosen is reportedly asking for $3 million to $5 million, prevents any type of construction to occur on the property unless it is bought out. Call said the city and Rosen have been in talks to negotiate the easement, which is why he was uneasy speaking publicly about it.

The easement was mentioned publicly at the city council meeting July 3, but it is currently unclear how long the easement has been in place, though King County Recorder’s Office documents can date the easement back to 2005.

Rosen was not available for comment on this matter as of press time. Rosen’s company, Rosen Harbottle, owns the Hillside Plaza Shopping Center located across from the Target and PAEC sites on South 314th Street.

Deputy Mayor Susan Honda said she does not remember any mention of an easement when the property was first purchased in 2014, though she does remember buying out an easement for the former Toys ‘R’ Us property where the PAEC is now located.

“When we went to buy the Target property, I do not recall any conversation that we ever had on restrictions,” she said.

Tyler Hemstreet, communications coordinator for the city, said the city council was aware of the easement before the property was purchased. While unable to confirm the cost of the easement, Hemstreet said he was sure between $3 million to $5 million was being asked for but did not say how much the city would actually be paying for it.

Mayor Jim Ferrell also spoke about the easement, saying something like this usually wouldn’t be talked about outside of executive sessions. Ferrell said an easement also owned by Rosen over the Toys ‘R’ Us property was cleared for $300,000 around the time that property was purchased without an issue, which is why the city thought this easement wouldn’t cause as much of a problem as it has.

“The council has been briefed about this repeatedly,” Ferrell said.

The city is currently in negotiations with Rosen to clear the easement, Ferrell said. At this point in time, no updates are available.

However, Ferrell made it clear the city would not be paying millions for the easement during the July 3 council meeting.

“The city of Federal Way will not be held ransom.” he said, “[We’re] not going to pay three or four or five times what it’s worth.”

The property was originally proposed for purchase in November 2014 for $8.2 million, according to a Mirror report. The easement over the property has not surfaced in any past articles. More information and details about the easement will be reported when they are available.