When All-American Bottled Water Co. acquired it in 2004 from Miller Brewing Co. for $14 million, the property totaled 176 acres and included seven buildings totaling approximately 1 million sf including the historic brew house, as well as substantial water rights. As it comes to market today, All-American is no longer the owner, the property is now closer to 136 acres, the total built environment closer to 890,000 sf, and the water rights are in the process of being condemned by the cities of Tumwater, Lacey and Olympia.
"We will bring this to market in pieces; there's zoning in place for retail, office, light industrial and even multifamily," Tom Gorman, one of the listing brokers, tells GlobeSt.com. "The bottom line is it will get sold."
All American Bottled Water Corp. and its president, L. Eric Whetstone, purchased the property with financing provided by R.E. Loans LLC of Lafayette, CA, and Pensco Trust Co., which administers the retirement account of Barney Ng, a principal of R.E. Loans who also individually loaned money to All-American, according to multiple sources. Ng also is a principal of Bar K Inc., a private mortgage banking company also based in Lafayette.
Whetstone reportedly abandoned the property in June 2006, after the loans went into default and he was unable to refinance the asset following a story in The Olympian newspaper that brought to light Whetstone's felony convictions related to investment schemes. Creditors forced All-American into bankruptcy court in December 2006.
The filing halted the sale while bankruptcy trustee Michael Hitt tried to liquidate the property to pay off All-American's creditors, which included vendors in addition to the lenders. In February, 2008, after bankruptcy trustee Michael Hitt's unsuccessful attempt to sell the property to pay off creditors, which include vendors in addition to the lenders, a federal bankruptcy judge authorized Ng to go ahead and try to sell the property, according to the Olympian, prompting Ng to retain Colliers International. Hitt has reportedly filed a civil suit against Ng claiming fraudulent and improper business practices related to the loans.
"We're still in the discovery stage, getting our arms around the asset," Troy Dana, one of the other listing brokers, tells GlobeSt.com. "We're in the process of determining exactly how many legally recognizable parcels there are and what their zoning is, and then developing and formalizing a marketing plan."
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