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A Tacoma, Washington-based developer has agreed to buy a 415-acre former mill site in Gardiner, an unincorporated Douglas County area north of Reedsport.

The buyer is George Heidgerken, through Industrial Harbor USA LLC 鈥� an entity registered in Washington.

Heidgerken owns both the former Blue Heron mill site in Oregon City (home of the Willamette Falls Riverwalk project) and a retired Olympia brewery site in Tumwater, Washington, that is also targeted for development.

The seller is International Paper 鈥� a publicly traded, Fortune 500 company based in Memphis, Tennessee. The company closed the paper mill and sawmill in 1998 after decades of service.

鈥淲e can confirm that terms of an agreement have been reached and we hope to close on the deal within the next several months,鈥� International Paper spokesman Tom Ryan said in an email Friday.

The sale is in escrow, and scheduled to close in the next 鈥渃ouple of weeks,鈥� said Tom Vaughn, executive director of development for Industrial Harbor USA.

The sprawling property includes a campground, water rights to the Tahkenitch and Siltcoos lakes, power from Bonneville and Douglas Electric substations on site, a permitted landfill, a 3-mile short line railroad and 10 shop buildings comprising 150,000 square feet.

鈥淭he site is unique on the Oregon Coast and probably on the entire West Coast,鈥� Vaughn said. 鈥淲e just recognize a lot of opportunity to make a positive impact to the local economy.鈥�

It’s not clear what Heidgerken and Vaughn intend to do with the site. Vaughn, an environmental scientist who works for Heidgerken, said he could not discuss plans in detail.

鈥淩ight now, I’m not comfortable saying, but it will definitely have an impact on the local economy,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t is jobs-focused. It will reflect the heritage of the area, and it will be environmentally friendly.鈥�

Neither the buyer nor seller would disclose the sale price. But the site was most recently listed for $6 million, including water rights. It was first listed at $10 million for the real estate, and an additional $12 million for water rights.

The Gardiner mill site has been on the market since 2009, said John Brown, a Eugene broker who has represented the property since that time.

Over the years, prospective buyers including a barge builder, a beer distributor and an RV park entrepreneur expressed interest in the site, Brown said. Google seriously considered buying the site about four years ago, but declined because it was too remote to quickly get service technicians to the property, he said.

鈥淚t’s a unique property that has to draw a very unique category of buyer,鈥� Brown said.

The southern Oregon coast has suffered economically from the decline in Oregon’s logging and fishing industries. In March, federal regulators rejected plans to open a liquefied natural gas export terminal in Coos Bay.

Jennifer Arnold, a Douglas County planner, said an electrical permit is in the works for the Gardiner mill site. Issuance of permits for the property has been on hold because it is located in a floodplain, she said.