The epilogue of the ill-fated Flying Lark horse race gambling venture is nearing its end after the Board of Josephine County Commissioners voted Wednesday, Dec. 4 to approve the sale of the property to River Valley Church for $9 million.
Dutch Bros. co-founder Travis Boersma commissioned the facility’s construction with the vision of turning it into an entertainment venue centered around gambling on legacy horse races via gaming machines. The state of Oregon, finding the business model too closely resembled that of a casino, would not allow it to operate, and Boersma then donated the Flying Lark to the county.
The county commissioners opted to pursue a sale of the facility to River Valley Church rather than utilize it for government purposes. Revenue from the sale will be put into a fund to support Fairgrounds operations.
At the Dec. 4 meeting, held at Anne G. Basker Auditorium in Grants Pass, county legal counsel Wally Hicks gave a brief recap on the process of selling the Flying Lark property to River Valley:
“I know that the sale (was) announced some time ago, but really what has occurred heretofore is that the county and the buyer have entered into a purchase and sale agreement, a very common practice, especially in commercial property transactions, that has allowed the buyer especially to look into various questions that they have about the property to make sure it’s one that they actually do want to follow through with and buy. And so we’ve gone through all that process.
“The buyer has formally confirmed that it’s a property that they want to buy. And so we’re now at the point where the sale itself is actually on the verge of occurring. This is going to be the formal vote of the Board of County Commissioners pursuant to state law. And board order is required in order to authorize the sale – Order 2024-071 is that order.”
Hicks went on to summarize the specifics of the purchase agreement, saying, “Cash sales – $4.5 million less broker fees, title and escrow fees and any other related fees – will be immediately provided by the buyer. Subsequently, the installment sales of interest only payments will be made until the promissory note of the remaining $5,000,000 is paid in full, which brings the total amount to the full purchase price of $9.5 million.”
“The finance director is authorized by this order to take 5% of the total gross proceeds, which is $475,000, and assign that to, for accounting purposes, to the property management fund for administrative costs, brokerage fees, ongoing legal fees, closing costs, and other costs related to the transaction,” Hicks added. “The brokerage fee here was 2.5% of the total sale. So that sale price, that’s going to be half of that $475,000. That’s going to be provided to the broker by the escrow company and then after that reimbursement to the fairgrounds property reserve for expenses incurred for the maintenance and upkeep of the facility.”
The county legal counsel reiterated that the vast majority of the sale proceeds will be put into Fund 54, or the Fairgrounds Permanent Fund. “This was a fund authorized by ordinance by deliberate action of the board to confirm that the the corpus of the proceeds $9 million will remain as a permanent fund and the fairgrounds would then be authorized generally speaking, to expend the interest gleaned off that money that would be maintained in the fund going forward,” Hicks explained.
Another notable part of the purchase agreement is that River Valley will have control of one parking lot to the east and one to the west of the structure through a lease agreement ending Dec. 31, 2028, at which point they will have the option to purchase them for $150,000. Hicks estimated 300 vehicles could fit between the two lots.
Recreation Director Tamara Martin, whose department oversees the Fairgrounds, said past and present members of the fair board were in attendance of the meeting and “we are just thrilled that we are at this point right now and know that this is going to be a historic moment in the fairgrounds.”
“Our fairgrounds were purchased by the county in 1927, so we are just shy of 100 years old and we have a lot of projects, infrastructure, as well as making sure that our fairgrounds stays relevant to our community in the future, whether it’s education, entertainment, economic development, or being there for the community in time of crisis,” Martin remarked. “So I just wanted to take a minute to say thank you and we really appreciate the work that you have put into this. And we’re just really thrilled to see it finally reaching this phase.”