The historic Pier 39 is up for sale. (Jasmine Lewin/The Astorian)

After owning and managing Pier 39 for over 20 years, Astorian Floyd Holcom is ready to sell the historic property in order to retire and make time for travel.

Pier 39 was initially established as the site of the Hanthorn Cannery in 1875, the first and largest tuna cannery in Astoria and the oldest on the Columbia River.

It operated as a cannery for many years and is now the site of several local and regional businesses, as well as a museum detailing the history of the property.

In a statement posted to LinkedIn, Holcom announced that the property had been put up for sale and called it an “opportunity to take this iconic building to the next level.”

“It was a hard decision, but ‘Time waits for No Man,’” he wrote.

While on the market, Pier 39 hasn’t been listed at an official price — Portland-based realtor Wes Bochner said they’ll price the property depending on what interested parties want to do with the space.

For example, if someone were to come in with plans for a new hotel, the price would be higher due to anticipated increase in revenue. On the high end, he said, they’d expect a sale for around $6 million.

“So that’s going to skew the purchase price, you know, from an investment value standpoint, by many millions of dollars,” Bochner said. “Conversely, if somebody comes out there and is like, you know, ‘I’m going to kind of freeze the parts into their original condition and just sit tight,’ then that’s a whole different value. It really depends on what they’re trying to do with the remaining pieces. So that’s why, in this case, we’re out to market at a best offer asking price.”

But Bochner said that existing businesses on the property, such as Rogue Brewery and Coffee Girl, shouldn’t worry about being ousted by a new owner.

“It’s very, very difficult for a landlord to get out of leases with tenants like that,” he said. “And those are also sort of the cornerstones of the property. So I think the most likely play of a new owner is going to be to add value around the existing tenants.”

Bochner was connected to Holcom through their military ties — Holcom is an Army Special Forces veteran and Bochner served in the Navy before going into real estate. The two teamed up to spread the news about the Pier 39 sale, hoping to cast a wide net for potential buyers.

“Timing-wise, summer is always better for real estate in the northwest and particularly in Astoria,” Bochner said. “So that kind of led to us getting on the market back in early June.”

There are some renovations to be done — a warehouse portion on the eastern side of the property has sustained significant storm damage to the roof. Bochner predicts that a buyer might demolish that portion, which is about 35% of the property at 40,000 square feet.

“There’s a concrete floor above the pilings on that section, and that’s kind of where there’s so much variability in what they do with it at that point, because then you just have a 40,000 square foot footprint,” Bochner said. “You could start constructing a hotel, apartments, you could put RVs out there and have it be a high-end overwater RV park.

“Somebody suggested getting Airstream (trailers) and putting them out there for Airbnb, kind of a glamping experience. And the upfront capital of those different things are wildly different.”

Bochner said there has been more interest in the Pier 39 property than any other property he’s listed, with a rich history and unique views.

“I think the challenge is, the buyer pool for a property like this is small,” he said. “Of similar properties on the West Coast, there’s less than 10 that are privately owned, mixed-use over water commercial properties.”

He added that a lot of people like to daydream about working on a pier, but few have the financial means, time and knowledge of operating a pier to actually execute it, which is why he and Holcom went for a very wide marketing approach.

Since purchasing the property decades ago, Holcom has put a lot of work into Pier 39 as an on-site, hands-on manager.

“He just gets his hands dirty and is involved daily, and I think it’s brought him immense satisfaction,” Bochner said. “But he also wants to be able to travel. He could hire a property manager, but I think he recognizes that with how much foot traffic has increased to the pier since he bought it when it was vacant.”

“It really needs somebody who’s going to continue the redevelopment of those unused portions versus just keep it as is, and that’s where just hiring a property manager is not going to do that. We need somebody to continue being very engaged.”