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An empty Oakland lot just sold for $10, but the million-dollar headache comes free.
A long-neglected vacant lot in East Oakland has officially changed hands for just $10, but the dirt-cheap price tag doesn’t tell the whole story. The new owner is also inheriting years of financial baggage tied to the property, including roughly $1.7 million in unpaid taxes, penalties and liens, according to KQED.
This week, Alameda County supervisors approved the symbolic sale of the 15,000-square-foot parcel at 8215 MacArthur Blvd. to the Black Cultural Zone Community Development Corporation (BCZ), a nonprofit focused on community revitalization and affordable housing.
“We’ve been waiting for this for a long, long time,” said Supervisor Nate Miley, per SFGate. “We want to have other tax-defaulted properties being made available for affordable housing; this is a strategy we earnestly want to pursue.”
The property has spent the better part of three decades collecting little more than weeds, illegal dumping and frustration from nearby residents. While an appraisal earlier this year estimated the land is worth about $900,000, the debt attached to it has ballooned far beyond that figure, making it nearly impossible to sell through traditional channels.
Because the debt now exceeds the property’s market value, California law allowed the county to sell it for a nominal amount instead of attempting another unsuccessful auction.
Previous efforts to find a buyer failed, and county officials said several nearby organizations declined to take on the parcel because of its size, development challenges and a large billboard that occupies the site.
“These properties will become productive and will generate economic benefit once they are rehabilitated, developed, and rented or sold to low-income taxpayers,” Treasurer-Tax Collector Henry Levy said a letter to the board, per SFGate.
The BCZ’s deputy CEO of real estate told KQED they eventually agreed to acquire the property after two neighbors had mentioned the empty lot to them.
“They also made the county aware of us, and that’s how we started working together,” Davis explained. “People bring things to us because they believe that we can make something happen that is both fair, equitable, and innovative.”
Exactly what will be built on the site hasn’t been decided. Organization leaders say affordable housing remains the long-term goal, but the immediate focus is cleaning up the neglected lot and putting it to use for the community.
For Alameda County, officials hope this unusual $10 deal proves that even the most troublesome properties can eventually get a second chance, provided someone is willing to take on the not-so-tiny fine print.
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