No sale yet on Lighthouse building

Despite a sealed bid auction held last week, the former Palmer’s at the Lighthouse Restaurant on La Conner’s First Street has not sold.

“We didn’t receive anything that was acceptable,” said Tim Reinertsen, senior vice president and partner with Realty Marketing Northwest, the company handling the auction.

“We’ll continue to market the property and respond to inquires,” he said. Meanwhile, he said, La Conner resident Dick Nord of Windermere Realty’s commercial division in Mount Vernon is still the listing agent.

Built in 1916, the building is owned by Columbia Bank and has been vacant since 2010, except for the Scott Collection Gallery, which occupies the street side of the 7,300-square-foot waterfront building.

For the auction, the published reserve price was $415,000 — an amount considerably lower than the building’s last asking price of $499,000.

Although none of the bids were acceptable to the bank, Reinertsen said there is considerable inter-est in the building, which is right on the town’s new boardwalk.