Rapid City is putting the entire "Wally Byam" site up for sale.

A small sliver of the 100-acre parcel, located south of the intersection of S.D. Highway 44 and Elk Vale Road, has been on the market for months - with no bites, City Attorney Jason Green said.

"The real issue right now is it's a difficult market for real estate," Green said.

In hopes of luring more interest in the property, the city's Legal & Finance Committee voted unanimously Wednesday to approve selling the entire parcel, which was once considered for the proposed 25-field soccer complex now moving forward on North Elk Vale Road.

"I'm comfortable with that - whatever it takes to get some business on there to create tax revenue," Alderman Ron Weifenbach said. "The city's not in the real estate business."

Under the committee's action, a real estate broker would be brought on to help with the sale. As part of that process, the property will be posted on the Multiple Listing Service, a central database for real estate listings. The 1.6-acre piece already on the market was advertised only in newspapers and the city's Web site.

"Commercial sales have been fairly slow," Alderman Ron Kroeger said. "That's one reason why we need to get it out to everybody. Not a lot of people know it's out there."

The city must still prepare and approve a formal request for proposals for real estate brokers, Green said. The land's value also needs to be reassessed.

The expected proceeds from the sale of the smaller portion were included in the 2009 budget, but City Finance Officer Jim Preston said the city's cash balance will make up the $250,000 difference.

And before any sale goes through, aldermen agreed the city needs to decide what it wants to do with the floodway that cuts through the property.

Growth Management Director Marcia Elkins said the city could either maintain the floodway as a major drainage easement or plat it off from the rest of the parcel and maintain that piece.

Landscape architect Pat Wyss emphatically asked aldermen not to give up the land adjacent to Rapid Creek.

"Someday, we might be able to connect our bike path and greenway," Wyss said.

The parcel is named for the 1996 gathering of the Wally Byam Caravan Club of Airstream trailer owners.

In other action, the committee sent lease agreements with Soccer Rapid City and the Alliance of Tribal Tourism Advocates onto the full council without recommendation. Public hearings will be held on the 2012 project leases Monday.

The city has set aside $3.8 million for Soccer Rapid City's proposed 25-field soccer complex and $812,000 for ATTA's Native American art market and powwow gardens.

Contact Emilie Rusch at 394-8453 or emilie.rusch@rapidcityjournal.com.