ILLAHEE — A property Port of Illahee commissioners have been eyeing for nearly two decades is finally theirs.

The Port of Illahee plans to transform the vacant Illahee Foods from a dingy, spray paint-tagged remnant of the past to a lively new community center.

The store was acquired by the port at a sheriff’s sale for $60,000 on Sept. 6 after sitting vacant since 2001.

Jim Aho, a commissioner for the Port of Illahee, has a vision for the decaying store. He wants a big window on the side of the building looking toward the waterfront and an area for port meetings, which haven’t been able to find a home that meets guidelines for the Americans With Disabilities Act for the aging attendees. Meetings used to be held down near Illahee Dock, but the steep grade proves troublesome for those in wheelchairs or using walkers or canes.

“It’d be nice to have a coffee shop where you could sit here and look out,” Aho said. “So that’s what our plan is, just make a really nice community center and coffee shop.”

Much needs done before the port can begin holding its meetings there or neighbors can stop in for coffee, though.

“It’s been tagged. There was an air-conditioner over there,” Aho said. “Someone stole that, so we got a big hole in the roof and it’s leaking.”

The building, though structurally sound, needs a new roof and to be gutted and cleaned. Aho said it's important to prevent further deterioration on what is now an asset to the Port of Illahee. After purchasing the property Friday, commissioners and Illahee residents began cleaning up the property that afternoon and all day Saturday. On Monday, commissioners began getting bids and estimates for clean up and renovation.

Dave Ditzler, a resident of Illahee who often attends commissioner meetings, said he's been encouraging the commissioners to do something about the derelict property for a long time. He was one of many community members to get the lengthy cleanup started on Saturday and is excited for Illahee Foods to no longer be "just an eyesore."

"I'm all for it and all for the community," Ditzler said. "I think all of us will benefit from the improvements, it'll just take time and money."

The property, at one time a gas station, holds underground storage tanks, and one is leaking petroleum. It will cost to clean up contamination is $540,000.

The Port of Illahee voted in August 2016 to purchase the Illahee Foods property if it became available, with the intention of creating an ADA-accessible community center. The port applied for a grant from the state's Pollution Liability Insurance Agency (PLIA) to help fund the pricey cleanup. The project was No. 16 on the list, meaning it will be funded. When the cleanup will occur is still up in the air, but the port notified the PLIA on Monday that it acquired the property.

Aho said obtaining grant money is key since the port is such a small taxing district. He said commissioners are looking at applying for more grants to fund the project.

“We get about $80,000 a year in taxes, that’s not much money to run a port,” Aho said.

Just one other party was interested in purchasing the abandoned Illahee Foods site. A representative from R K Mart was signed up to bid but didn’t when he found out about the contamination, Aho said.

The store was previously owned by David and Donald Krick, but when Donald died at age 43 in 1993, his brother David didn’t have much interest in the store anymore.

“We built it together in 1978,” David Krick said. “I don’t like to talk much about it, but what I told the Port of Illahee is I’m not going to fight you on any of this if you have his name involved in it somehow. So we’ll see how that works out.”