Just a few years ago, the former Vashon Island Realty building at the north end of the island was a tidy, well-maintained structure. Now, four years after county officials red-tagged the building because the hillside was giving way, the county has ordered it torn down, believing it to be a hazard. The owner is appealing the order.

Next month, Gretchen Miller, an off-island real estate agent who bought the building in 2012, and officials from the King County Department of Permitting and Environmental Review (DPER) will attend a hearing to determine the fate of the building, according to DPER’s Sheryl Lux.

“I believe we have enough evidence that it should be demolished,” Lux said in a recent interview. “Our main concern is the structure falling away from the hillside.”

However, Miller, who has had the property on the market most of the time she has owned it, says she believes there are many possibilities at the site and that she has envisioned a bright future for the property, which sits just off Vashon Highway and has a sweeping eastern view.

“I would love to get input from the community to find out what they would want to see there,” she wrote in a recent email to The Beachcomber. “A Welcome Center? Viewpoint? Restaurant? Retail/gift shop? Live/work lofts? Motel? Campground?”

The hearing is scheduled for April 15, and Lux said the hearing examiner will make a final determination about the property either at the hearing or within two weeks.

For 30 years, the cottage-like structure, which is supported by stilts on its east side, served as the office for Bill and Lynne Chunn, owners of Vashon Island Realty. During their tenure, the building always appeared freshly painted, with vibrant blue trim, and in warm months, flowers bloomed in red flower boxes. One day in 2011, however, when Bill arrived at the office, he had to reach up for the doorknob, which had always been at his waist.

County officials soon came out and red-tagged the building, posting a sign that forbids anyone to enter.

That spring had an extremely wet spell, Chunn recalled recently, as he explained that groundwater had exerted too much force on a bulkhead supporting the building. When the bulkhead partially gave way, the building sunk about a foot.

The Chunns had no choice but to leave the building, and the bank eventually foreclosed on it. Despite its state, public records show that it was purchased in 2012 for $4,900 and sold to Miller later that year for $24,464. Miller, in turn, put it on the market for $100,000. Over time she dropped the price to $70,000. It came off the market last fall, but when Miller returned it to the market in December, she bumped the price up to the current asking price, $149,950.

Its online real estate description notes that it is a two-bedroom house that was built in 1940 and sits across the street from a state waterfront park.

“Excellent storefront or residential sitting on 2 parcels. Remodeling underway, still have time to choose your own finishing touches,” the description says.

In her email, Miller also said she would appreciate help with creative planning, engineering and construction lending.

“I’m looking for more people that want to invest back into their community, by improving this space to the best use, so it can give back to Vashon,” she wrote.

Lux, at the county, however, stresses that the building is unsafe. DPER officials have kept an eye on the property since it was red-tagged, she said, and have noted that the situation is worsening.

“It had gotten to the point where it was of concern for us,” she said. “The cracks are getting larger. There is evidence that the structure was moving.”

Last spring, DPER was in touch with Miller, notifying her of code violations at the property and the need to seek a demolition permit. They then sent her a legal notice to demolish the structure, which Miller appealed.

Bill Chunn said he can see that the situation at his former office is deteriorating and raised concerns about the safety of the highway in front of it, should the cracking bulkhead in the hillside give way. He said he fears that if the bulkhead goes, the roadway will go, too.

For her part, Lux said that a code enforcement officer routinely checks the site, and if an area of concern is found, a county geologist and/or King County Roads would be contacted to investigate.

Several concerns that would prevent future development exist at the site, aside from the moving hillside, including zoning limitations, Lux said. The site is zoned as primarily residential, and the building sits on a county right-of-way for the highway.

“There is no way we would allow a structure to be re-built in that specific location,” she added.

Several of the windows have been broken over time and are now boarded up. Just a few weeks ago, the front door was wide open until a county official contacted Miller to close it. Still, the window of the door is missing, providing access to the inside.

“We do not know what the attraction is,” Lux said. “We encourage people to stay out of the building.”