Grand Avenue & Lottie Street, Bellingham, WA

| COURTESY J.W. SANDISON COLLECTION - NOT FOR SALE

"Right now we're just going to pull down the building, which is just not safe the way it is, fill in the hole, put in some additional parking and leave it at that," said Mike Russell, Whatcom County facilities manager.

The cost to renovate the building, at $325 per square foot, would be more than the cost of putting up a new building, according to a county resolution.

The building has a long, if not glamorous, history. Whatcom Museum historian Jeff Jewell said he doesn't know exactly when it was built, but it housed Cascade Laundry and Dye Works until the 1930s. According to Jewell's search of old phone directories, other uses of the building include:

-- Auto Rebuild, which occupied the building starting in 1933, after it was vacant for a couple years.

-- By 1954, Leroy Olsen sold Lincoln and Mercury cars from Bellingham Motors Inc.

-- By 1963, George Simon owned Grand Central Autobody there, and he shared the building with Farmer's Insurance Group.

-- By 1977, General Business Services, a consulting firm, took over the autobody shop. Farmer's Insurance remained.

-- Whatcom County took ownership of the building and, in 1978, public employees moved in.

The building currently sits on about eight-tenths of an acre. Early in the 20th century, much of that land wasn't there, and the building directly abutted Whatcom Creek, according to a 1912 aerial photograph. Much of the creek has since been filled in.

The building, vacated two years ago, now provides storage for the jail and facilities and finance departments. The roof needs replacing, the inside needs to be demolished, the basement and street-level floors aren't level and the exterior walls are damaged, according to a memo from county Deputy Administrator Dewey Desler to County Executive Pete Kremen and the County Council.

"This is a prime piece of downtown real estate," Desler wrote. "The location on the river is an asset to the County if and when they choose to develop it. In its current state, it is more of a liability than an asset."

The property is a candidate for a new county jail, but not a good one, Desler said. Because of a required setback from Whatcom Creek, the county would have to build a 29-story jail to accommodate its space needs through 2050, Desler said. That's expensive.

Whatcom County has $297,000 to demolish the building and build a parking lot there. Russell said he hopes to seek bids and have a contract signed by the end of the year, with demolition in early 2009.