The city is considering a local developer’s offer to buy two parcels of land northeast of the intersection of 48th and O, where they’ve been sitting idle for a couple of years since the city bought them.

The city recently received a verbal offer of $1.34 million for the land from a local developer who’s interested in bringing a bank and a “national retailer” to the corner.

Last summer, the city advertised the property for sale, with a minimum bid of $1.2 million. City officials also talked about auctioning off the property.

The north side of the street has not seen the kind of revitalization the city prompted on the south side of O Street (save for a Hy-Vee under construction) which was for years a concrete wasteland.

It’s prime property near one of the city’s busiest intersections, but access to the property has been a sticking point during negotiations with developers. The city public works department has, up until now, insisted on barring access to the property from O Street, due to safety concerns.

However, the offer is contingent upon allowing right-in, right-out driveway from O Street, and closing an access point north on 48th Street.

If the city sells the land for $1.34 million, that’s about half the price the city paid for the land a few years ago, in preparation for the widening of O Street. Although it’s not exactly the same property anymore, since the wider O Street trimmed about 9,400 square feet of it, buildings were razed and five driveways were closed.

The property has been controversial because of the high price the city paid for the land — $39.51 per square foot — during the Coleen Seng administration.

The city paid Realty Trust Group $923,000 for the corner property where an abandoned Amoco station was razed. And the city bought the old Blockbuster Music property at 4850 O for $1.85 million in 2005. The county’s assessed value of both properties was about half the sale prices.

After the purchase, several council members decried the price as exorbitant. City officials said the price was high because the city would have had to pay damages about equal to the value of the property if it had just bought a sliver of it for the street work, because it would have left the property virtually landlocked.

Last summer the property value was appraised at $1.2 million. More recently, it has been appraised at $1.9 million, with the O Street driveway.

Urban Development Director David Landis has recommended the city accept the offer, saying the price would be more on par with private purchases in the area.

“I don’t know where a higher offer from the marketplace will come,” he told the council in an informal meeting Monday. “We can hold this until we get back the amount but nothing tells us that’s the case.”

Landis, who was not working for the city when the property was bought, called the price the city paid a “remarkably odd number without precedent.”

Councilman Jon Camp, a developer, said the price the city paid for the property “distorted the marketplace.”

Councilwoman Robin Eschliman, a commercial real estate agent, agreed, saying the purchase “skewed” the market, and this sale might help correct it.

Allowing a driveway to the property would be an about-face for the city where the public works department is a stickler for such safety measures. Councilman Jonathan Cook said the city has had to sit on land for a decade because public works won’t allow access driveways.

Councilman Doug Emery agreed, saying the city has “selective angst” over such access issues. But he said it’s time to either take a loss on the sale or roll the dice that it’ll be recouped in the future.

Despite the angst over the past, the council indicated it would be OK with proceeding toward a sale.

Reach Deena Winter at 473-2642 or dwinter@journalstar.com.