Auburn officials signed their name to the purchase and sales agreement July 7, and last week Stratford Company followed suit.

That opens way for the two to swap downtown properties and Stratford to launch a major redevelopment project in the downtown, by early next spring at the latest.

That agreement calls for the city to transfer the publicly-owned parking lots east and north of the Sun Break Cafe to the Seattle-based development firm. In exchange, Stratford cedes to the city the north half of the Crites-Huff block south of the Sun Break block. It also calls for the city to pay Stratford $507,595, the net difference between the purchase prices of the parcels.

The upshot is that the city’s parcels and Stratford’s will be lumped on their respective blocks, allowing the city to amass property that will one day become part of the four- to five-block Auburn Junction project proposed by Alpert International.

And with its new holdings, Stratford can proceed with its plans, which include an apartment building where the big parking lot that serves the Sun Break Cafe is today. The restaurant itself is still owned by Bruce Alverson, but he has announced plans to sell it.

Stratford also owns the Outlet and Charlie Wong buildings on the north half