The Federal Way City Council voted 6-1 on the $8.2 million purchase of the former Target property on Tuesday.

The 7.48 acre space is one of four properties the city is proposing for “Town Center,” 21 acres that will make up the core of Federal Way’s downtown. The area is already home to Town Square Park, the Transit Center and the future Performing Arts and Conference Center.

Several Council members echoed Mayor Jim Ferrell’s reasons for the purchase in that it will take away the city’s “blight,” revitalize the downtown and stimulate the economy.

“I think this is a really smart thing to do,” said Councilman Martin Moore. “One of the reasons I ran for office is we need to do something with downtown. This will create jobs in the future … We’ve all seen it here for the last several years, the empty storefronts and that’s a concern I hear. I think by investing and being proactive and being smart and strategic about this, it will allow us to start moving in the direction of filling up our storefronts, investing in our downtown and providing jobs for our community and the people in here.”

Scott Clark, a partner with Clark Design Group, presented a hypothetical plan to show the potential of the site during the Council meeting, which included buildings 3-7 stories high with apartment or condos on top and commercial retail on the bottom.

“You have the absolute luxury of opportunity” for the site, Clark told the Council, with the mayor adding it could also serve as a college branch campus.

While development of the site isn’t set, the Council agenda packet says the project may include a new City Hall.

“The city is in need of land for city purposes, which may include building a new City Hall (the ‘Project’),” according to the project’s description in the packet. “The City Council therefore finds that it is in the best interests of the city to carry out the project.”

Ferrell said they’re not contemplating putting a City Hall there “at this point” and it’s premature to be talking about a City Hall.

“We’re going to have a conversation in the future but we need to engage in the public,” he told the Mirror. “We’re not buying this property to put City Hall on it and that’s not the immediate purpose, there could be a branch campus, but City Hall is not what’s driving this conversation.”

What is driving this conversation is the price tag.

About four-and-a-half months ago, the owner of the former Target site was asking for about $6-6.5 million and had been since 2011, according to the Commercial Brokers Association.

But on July 14, the status of the listing price changed to $8.5 million, a little over a month after the Federal Way City Council approved the Performing Arts and Conference Center.

“To say the market drove the price is completely accurate,” Ferrell said in a recent interview. “The PACC is going to cost $32 million but the amount of money spent on the PACC and hotel will represent just shy of $60 million.”

Although the city had been interested in the property for years, Ferrell said there wasn’t a serious conversation about the acquisition until about seven weeks ago.

“We were very concerned and worried about losing this opportunity because in real estate, for decades, the property in the downtown core has been tied up and you see really the bi-product of that — this is stifled growth in downtown,” Ferrell said.

And the city may have lost that opportunity because Ferrell said there was another offer on the table.

Another company offered former owner Byung C. Park, the president of Pal-Do Company Inc., $8 million and had already signed up the papers, Ferrell said.

Chief of Staff Brian Wilson said during the Council meeting the city requested a rescission of the offer after their real estate broker informed the city that a “firm offer” was on the table and the buyer had signed an agreement with Park.

“That was a written offer that was signed and observed,” Wilson said about the rescission.

While Ferrell couldn’t disclose what company made the other offer, he did say they didn’t have immediate plans to develop that property or on other property they own.

To ensure the key piece of property didn’t sit idle for “10 to 12 years,” the city jumped at the opportunity, Ferrell said.

“But we didn’t know that,” Councilwoman Susan Honda said in an interview, adding that she’ll be asking to see the rescission documents. “Maybe the guy was going to do that, maybe he wasn’t.”

Honda cast the only “no” vote on the ordinance and said the rescission seems “unusual” and has spoken to community members who feel the same.

“All I can say is I haven’t seen anything written so I just have to trust … the mayor says it exists, it exists,” she said.

Ferrell asserts the city did not pay for the rescission and that it was “completely between the seller and the potential buyer.”

An agent with John L. Scott, the broker for the property, said there were actually three offers on the former Target site and one of the companies was a big, well known, prestigious company with assets worth in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Ferrell did confirm the company wasn’t interested in creating a downtown spa — the type of business the City Council banned in the downtown core at the same Council meeting the purchase was approved.

Chris Carrel, the city spokesman, said the city will pay for the project with cash reserves before they are able to acquire an $8.5 million bond from Key Bank. From then on, they’ll be faced with paying the 1.51 percent interest rate for three years, which could be up to $385,050. The city will make payments of $64,000 twice a year until the property is sold to a developer.

Although Ferrell alluded that there’s already an interested developer, George Petrie of Goodman Real Estate, he said taking the time for ample input from the community is key.

“This is going to set the course of direction for what our town will look and feel like,” Ferrell said.

The city will publish a request for qualification for the development and consider temporary leasing to cover the interest cost.

“I can see both pros and cons of purchasing this property,” Honda said at the meeting. “And my major concerns are we have some major commitments we have already made this year that cost quite a bit of money.”

Honda said the city is still looking for money to fund the rest of the $32 million Performing Arts and Conference Center and a 4.4 acre site where the city wants to put a “world-class park.”

Honda said she’s also had people ask her why the city would pay $8.2 million when the property was listed at $6 million in June and was appraised at the same amount by a third party the city hired.

When asked why the city didn’t put an offer in for the property when Park was still asking for $6-6.5 million, Ferrell said it’s “easy to look in the rearview mirror and ask why not do this, why not do that.”

“We had just gone through a lengthy process of green lighting the Performing Arts and Conference Center,” he said. “You immediately pivot, and it would have a been a real premature decision and it really wasn’t until we realized that the Target property was in play and there was a potential it could be land banked.”

Deputy Mayor Jeanne Burbidge and Councilman Bob Celski agree the time to act was now.

“This is a smart investment by the city,” Celski said in a news release. “This area of the city suffers from blight and underutilized properties. Securing the site now provides an anchor for the new Town Center and builds momentum for future redevelopment opportunities in partnership with the private sector.”

Ferrell said he’s confident in the future of this project, whatever that may be, because developers have seen Town Square Park and the investment in the Performing Arts and Conference Center as a “game changer” and “sparkplug” for the rest of the downtown core.

“’Where is Federal Way’s downtown?’ will no longer be a question,” Ferrell said.