With completed bond sale, Pacific View purchase final

The Pacific View purchase is officially a done deal.

The city sold $13 million in bonds last week — $10 million for Pacific View and $3 million for a new lifeguard tower at Moonlight Beach. With the completed bond sale, escrow is expected to close next week on Pacific View, said City Finance Director Tim Nash.

A split City Council agreed last spring to buy the Pacific View site — located at 608 Third Street in downtown Encinitas — from the Encinitas Union School District.

“As soon as EUSD completes all the requirements of clearing the site of junk and unwanted materials, we will close escrow,” Councilwoman Lisa Shaffer said in her Nov. 20 newsletter.

The $13 million bond sale will add $810,200 to the city’s annual debt service over the next 30 years, lower than an estimate last month of $835,000.

Recently, Standard & Poor’s gave the bonds an AA+ rating and reaffirmed the city’s AAA credit rating, the highest ratings from the financial services company.

In the coming months, a council subcommittee will review proposals for interim uses at the property and get the ball rolling on developing a master plan. And city staff will gauge the condition of the property’s buildings, which once served as an elementary school.

A public cleanup party to celebrate the acquisition is tentatively scheduled for January.