The city was preparing to close on another site for $3 millionwhen mall owner Wells Fargo put its mall acreage on the table for agrand total of $10. The fledgling mall, which has been unable tosuccessfully compete with other area malls, had gone throughvarious owners and had reverted back into the hands of the bank. "Ithink that Wells Fargo felt that working with the city to developthe new City Hall on the Lakewood Mall property would be acatalysis for redevelopment," says Bill Larkin, public worksdirector for the city of Lakewood. "And this has turned out to betrue."

Larkin says negotiations are currently underway between WellsFargo and Oregon developer MBK Northwest, which is consideringbuying the mall and spending as much as $30 million to redevelopit. According to Larkin, one of the plans being discussed is atwo-story, class A office building that would be constructed on a20,000-sf site that was reserved by Wells Fargo on the five-acreproperty it donated to the city.