Ketchum closes land exhange
City approves plan to use Giacobbi property for holiday events
By GREGORY FOLEY
Express Staff Writer
The city of Ketchum this week officially closed a deal to trade a piece of public land on Main Street for an equal-sized commercial parcel immediately south of the Giacobbi Square shopping center.
Ron LeBlanc, Ketchum city administrator, said the longstanding plan to transfer ownership of the city parcel at 411 N. Main St. to Wells Fargo Bank was finalized on Monday, Nov. 15.
The city traded the Main Street parcel for a piece of vacant Wells Fargo-owned land on the south side of Fourth Street, between Leadville and East avenues.
Pursuant to the land-trade agreement, the city cleared the Main Street parcel and paid Wells Fargo approximately $148,000, the difference between the appraised values of the two properties.
Wells Fargo has already submitted plans to the city to build an approximately 10,000-square-foot bank building on the Main Street parcel, which is the former site of the Sun Valley-Ketchum Chamber & Visitors Bureau visitor center.
Hours after the deal was finalized Monday, Ketchum City Council members approved a plan for an ad-hoc group of downtown retailers to organize two Christmas-related events on the Giacobbi site.
Members of the Ketchum Retailers Alliance were granted permission to hold festive community gatherings on the parcel on two Saturdays next month, Dec. 4 and Dec. 18. The events—which are designed to boost local business and promote a lively atmosphere downtown—will be conducted in conjunction with shopping promotions in the city center.
The gatherings are planned to feature Santa Claus, prize giveaways, Christmas carolers, a "community hearth," and warm food and drinks.
In approving the events, council members were informed that the managers of Giacobbi Square—who have leased the lot from Wells Fargo for customer parking—intend to terminate their month-to-month lease.
City leaders have not yet determined their course of action for developing the site, although they have discussed using it for a city hall annex or as a public park.
