PENDLETON — The city of Pendleton is the owner of three foreclosed houses in the Sunridge Estates development. The properties were among 21 lots in the failed local improvement district in Pendleton.

The Umatilla County tax department foreclosed on the lots earlier this year and set them for auction on Nov. 1, but just one sold at the time. That opened the door for the county to accept written bids 30 days later, including from the city.

The county at the auction tried to sell the lots for $49,960, $36,050 and $38,830. But the county board of commissioners last week approved the city’s bid to buy the lots for $34,724, $25,056 and $26,988.

Developer Dusty Pace also won one lot with a high bid of $36,100. The same lot, though, would have sold for $35,010 at the auction.

The county commissioners also approved the sales of a foreclosed house at 810 S.W. Sixth St., Pendleton, for $8,500 and another on the 300 block of Southeast Third Street, Pendleton, for $13,617.