Port Huron Twp. weighing $400K offer for long-vacant Mallard Creek property

Port Huron Township officials are considering a $400,000 offer for undeveloped property along the Black River referred to as Mallard Creek.

Tom Blount, of DeLacy Real Estate Exchange, presented the offer to the township board last Monday with the hope to explore a residential development project for the site, which covers more than 30 acres off Water Street north of the Interstate 94 exchange and Stocks Creek.

He told officials plans to develop the property weren't finalized. If the township moves forward with the offer, he said they would take roughly a year for due diligence before completing the purchase.

Township Clerk Benita Davis said the agreement included a deposit of $10,000 to be paid within five days after the effective date to be held in escrow. The board agreed to table the offer, however, until its next meeting.

“I just wanted to have a stipulation in the agreement if they don’t perform within X amount of time, even after the fact after they say, ‘Yes, we’re going to go ahead with the project,’ (that it would) revert back to the township,” Supervisor Bob Lewandowski said. Such a stipulation would mean the township would pay back any funds put down for the property if development doesn’t move forward.

“I just don’t want someone to buy it and sit on it for 10, 15 years, speculating that the value property is going to go up,” Lewandowski said.

Rather, he said they’d prefer the tax base.

Blount said they hoped for a project that sticks within the guidelines of how the property is already zoned with single-family homes or condominium units.

He estimated they could fit 20 homes on the site, “which would be beautiful out there on the water,” or a higher number of residences if condos. The offer also includes one small parcel on Water Street adjoining the larger site.

Whatever the project becomes, Blount said it would be simple, adding, “Just to give you an idea, we’re building a very basic home. We’re not about bells and whistles.”

“I'll be honest with you and upfront because that's what due diligence is all about — trying to find out the answer,” he said. “My attorney flat out told me. He said, ‘Are you prepared to spend 75,000 to 100,000 dollars, and then, decide you can't do it and make any money and walk away?’ I said, ‘Let me get back to you on that?’ So, we waited a few weeks on that, talked to a few of the other people in the industry.

"We believe because of your community and the water, we believe it's a project that we want to take that risk on and venture and invest in this.”

Condos, a marina, a casino? How past Mallard Creek proposals fell short

In the late 1980s, high-end condos and a marina were proposed for the site.

The Times Herald reported the then $40.3 million project would have included 177 units, encircling a marina bluff. State agencies issued permits, the site was cleared, and a marina basin was dug.

According to a sales brochure from former owner Relleum, Inc., the residential marina community would have also included a two-story clubhouse, a heated swimming pool, jacuzzi, sauna and tennis courts.

In the early 1990s, however, Relleum put the project on hold amid a flat condo market. Relleum, spelled backward for Mueller, was a real estate development company headed by John Scott Mueller, a Blue Water native and descendent of Oscar B. Mueller, the founder of Mueller Brass Inc.

By 1994, the Mallard Creeks site was wrapped up in another proposal.

The Bay Mills Indian Community of Sault Ste. Marie proposed a casino on the property where the Port Huron Best Western sits. The casino would’ve overlooked the Mallard Creek bluff, where a 177-slip marina was proposed.

The township board put the proposal before voters who rejected the idea.

The township purchased the Mallard Creek site in December 2013 for $350,000 from Talmer Bank and Trust, which had foreclosed on the property.

At the time, it was a potential spot for a future township RV park if the existing 20-acre RV park west of Water Street ever sold. That’s still for sale, officials said.

Given its history, Lewandowski said he understood DeLacy’s need for a long due diligence period, particularly “to study what it’s going to cost to put infrastructure in,” and because “they have to make a few dollars themselves.”

Lewandowski said they haven't had any other recent offers on the property. 

The township board meets the first and third Mondays of each month.

Contact Jackie Smith at jssmith@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @Jackie20Smith.