The city of East Liverpool Community Improvement Corporation is contemplating selling the former Riverview Florist property to Georgia-based Riverview Equity, LLC. (Photo by Stephanie Ujhelyi)

EAST LIVERPOOL –The East Liverpool Community Improvement Corporation (CIC) has not signed on the dotted line again, but trustees did agree they will consider a purchase offer for the former Riverview Florist property.

Riverview Equity LLC, which is managed by John R. Woomer, sent a purchase agreement Friday, seeking to buy the 85-plus acres to create a business park. He had signed a partnership operating agreement in late February 2020 that seemed to go nowhere due to the pandemic hitting shortly later.

On Tuesday afternoon, the CIC’s property committee unanimously agreed to send consideration of a $500,000 offer to the full board, which agreed it deserved more investigation. Present for the the quickly scheduled meeting were Bill Cowan, Charles Payne, Pat Scafide, Ray Perorazio, Al Fricano, Mayor Greg Bricker, Lisa Blasdel, Jim Swoger and Scott Shepherd.

Scafide, who serves as board president, asked Payne, who is law director, to pore through the document over the next two weeks. Then the property committee can reconvene in to discuss the agreement in detail. Payne received the document on Monday.

The former Riverview Florist property is located near Parkway and Anderson. Woomer appears to be seeking closing on the property by Oct. 1.

Cowan, the city’s planning director who is executive director of the CIC, told attendees Tuesday that he wants to counter the proposal, as members offered a few possible suggestions, regarding zoning and the “earnest money” refundable deposit, which some felt wasn’t significant enough ($100).

Under the 2020 partnership agreement, Woomer received more than $500,000 in project shares based on the property’s appraised value unlike this agreement.

Woomer also detailed in this agreement he expects city officials to have zoned the property for a multi-use business park and to assist him with “creating tax free municipal bonds for the Riverview property.”