Retail Tipsheet: Lynden’s Waples building nearly ready

Opening day is still a moving target for the tenants of Lynden’s Waples Mercantile building, but it’s getting close.

Dawson Construction made a major push in the last week to get the building at 444 Front St. ready, said Teri Treat, who along with architect Jeff McClure is remodeling the building that was nearly destroyed by a fire in 2008.

The first tenant to move in will be Village Books, which is occupying 3,000 square feet and will have Paper Dreams gifts in the store along with books, said Chuck Robinson. A lot will depend on what happens in the next few days, but Robinson is aiming for a Saturday, Nov. 21, opening.

Drizzle, Avenue Bread, The Inn at Lynden and Overflow Taps will follow, with the first three possibly in place in December and Overflow planning for early 2016.

A newly signed tenant, Bellingham Baby Company, will take about 750 square feet and is expected to be in place in January. This will be the second store for the company, the first being at 2925 Newmarket St., Suite 108, in Barkley Village.

Construction is a few weeks behind schedule because some previously unknown issues surfaced at the beginning of the project, Treat said. That shouldn’t come as a surprise, since the owners were dealing with a more than 100-year-old building that had fire damage. At the beginning, the owners wanted to honor and enhance many of the building’s original elements like the wood beams and other architectural design, but they soon discovered some were too far gone to be restored.

The 35-room inn will feature many of those original elements, Treat said, with many furnishings coming from Bellingham’s Greenhouse. Room prices will range from $149 to $269 a night. Treat expects the demand will be a balance between the leisure and business traveler. The inn also will have a meeting/celebration room overlooking Fifth and Front streets that Treat hopes will become a popular spot for family celebrations.

Robinson said the Lynden Village Books store will have many of the same book topics as the Fairhaven store, but Paper Dreams products will be integrated into the retail floor. For example, toys will be with books about games. In 2016, the store will begin hosting author events, and store owners are working to put on events at other nearby venues, such as the Jansen Art Center.

Bellingham Baby Company owner Shelly Allen said the quality of tenants and the work being done convinced her to open a Lynden store in Waples. For years, her Lynden customers had asked her about establishing a store there.

“I’m excited to have so many established local tenants around the business,” said Allen, who owns her business with husband Jeremy.

Allen’s store focuses on items for infants to 2-year-olds, with about 80 percent of the products locally handmade.

“We have so many talented people in this area that I’ve never had to search for items,” Allen said.

CHUCKANUT TO BUILD SECOND BREWERY

Chuckanut Brewery has started construction of a production facility at the Port of Skagit, near the Skagit airport.

The new Skagit facility will brew larger quantities of Chuckanut’s most popular beer styles, according to a company news release. It also will have a beer hall and be able to sell kegs, growlers and bottled beer.

The current Bellingham brewery at 601 W. Holly St. has been at capacity for a while, producing 2,500 barrels of beer annually, according to a news release. The nicknamed “South Nut” brewery will eventually make 13,000 barrels annually. The “North Nut” facility in Bellingham will continue in its present form and be used for specialty beer production.

The company estimates a spring 2016 opening date.

OTHER TIDBITS

Alice’s Pies announced it is donating one pie for every 15 pies purchased to the Lighthouse Mission between now and Dec. 31. “This is something I can do, and I’m happy to be able to make those who are experiencing tough times a little happier with a homemade slice of pie,” said owner Alice Clark. Details about the company can be found on her Facebook page. ... A new grocery liquor license application was submitted for a business called Meridian Superstore, which would go into 1873 Main St., Suite 5, in Ferndale. The application is to sell beer, wine and spirits and the applicants are Karmjeet Kaur and Baljinder Singh.

This story was originally published November 14, 2015 at 5:40 AM with the headline "Retail Tipsheet: Lynden’s Waples building nearly ready."