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Clackamas County officials are playing land speculators as they work out a deal to purchase 7.47 acres just south of the city of Milwaukie to be used for a future development.

Clackamas County announced Tuesday that officials are in negotiations with the local chapter of the social club the Elks to purchase its McLoughlin Boulevard lodge, which is for sale. It’s a site the county has determined could meet goals for a mixed-income and transit-oriented development.

According to a release from county spokesman Tim Heider, the most notable feature of the site is its proximity to the planned Park Avenue Station, the southern terminus of the planned Portland-Milwaukie light-rail line. Proposed uses for the property, according to Heider, include a combination of mixed-income housing, public space and commercial development.

The parcel has a fair market value of $6.5 million and the county has already had $4.1 million offer rejected. But the negotiations continue.

If a deal is worked out, the Clackamas County Housing Authority will own the property. Potential funding for the purchase has been secured through a Section 108 loan from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grant.

On the property is a three-story, 61,340-square-foot building that the Elks chapter currently uses. If the property sold, the organization would move to a smaller lodge within close proximity to the current lodge.

Once the county has site control, Heider said, the specific design will be developed through a community-led process.

The site is located at 13121 S.E. McLoughlin Blvd.