While Newport Hills residents wait for the development they want to occur in their neighborhood, their community club is asking the Bellevue City Council to spare one property from the development they don’t.

Designed by Northwest architect Paul Hayden Kirk, the 1,800-square-foot single-story house sits on a 43,000-square-foot lot at the intersection of 119th Avenue Southeast and Southeast 48th Street. It will be sold at auction on Jan. 23 by the King County Sheriff’s Office. The property was foreclosed on several years after the death of former owner Valerie Bronson.

The council heard for the second time in as many weeks a request by the Newport Hills Community Club on Monday to attempt to purchase at auction the mid-century house and property for a potential park or public space at 4749 119th Ave. S.E.

“The timing is really tight, but we can’t do anything about that,” said Robin Bentley, who is leading the community club’s Kirk House Restoration Project. “We’re doing everything we can to make people aware of the fact that it’s a beautiful house. The city of Bellevue has a history of saving Kirk houses.”

Bentley said the property is large enough and zoned to allow for a multifamily housing development. With a nearby bus stop leading to Bellevue College, she added a developer could see the potential for housing on the property that caters to students.

But that is not what Newport Hills residents want to see happen to their single-family neighborhood, Bentley said, adding there are concerns what happened in Spiritwood — developers buying up properties and remodeling them for multi-room rentals — could happen in their community.

Bellevue City Manager Brad Miyake told city council on Monday that staff is doing its own analysis of the property and auction process to determine whether the city can bid for the property. That analysis is expected to be shared with the city council in executive session on Tuesday, Jan. 20.

Mayor Claudia Balducci said the sooner staff can inform the council, the sooner it can make a decision that could make a difference for Newport Hills.

“The neighborhood is very organized,” Councilmember Jennifer Robertson told the Reporter, “and has been very thorough in expressing its desires to the council.” She added she looks forward to hearing city staff’s analysis on Tuesday.

According to the King County Sheriff’s Office, the debt on the property was $412,565 at the time of foreclosure. The property was valued at 414,000 by the county assessor’s office in 2014.