Here’s what’s coming to the old Bellingham Costco building

Hobby Lobby, Home Goods and Sierra Trading Post are listed on a city building permit application for the former Costco building at 4299 Meridian St.

The retailers are listed as tenants on the permit application filed earlier this week. According to the documents, Hobby Lobby will occupy 61,640 square feet of retail space, Home Goods will take 27,185 square feet and Sierra will take 22,782 square feet. A fourth space of 21,551 square feet in the northwest side of the building does not have a tenant listed.

The entire remodel of the building is estimated to be $5.9 million, according to the documents.

Hobby Lobby is a national arts-and-crafts retailer with nearly 750 stores and about 32,000 employees, according to its website. Headquartered in Oklahoma City, the company boasts a 9.2 million square-foot manufacturing and distribution facility. The company started in 1970 with a $600 loan to David and Barbara Green, according to the company website.

Home Goods and Sierra Trading Post are operated by TJX, which owns a variety of national retail chains including TJ Maxx and Marshalls. Home Goods offers a wide variety of home decor products, including furniture, lighting, rugs, bedding, bath and outdoor products. The stores receive shipments every week for customers looking for something new, according to its website.

Sierra Trading Post offers discount prices for outdoor clothes and equipment. According to the company website it also offers home and pet products, as well as gardening and patio products.

Officials for all three stores could not be reached for comment on Friday afternoon.

The apparent addition of these tenants fills one of the few large empty buildings in Bellingham’s retail core after Costco moved into its new warehouse on Bakerview Road in November. Other large empty retail spaces include the former Albertsons store in the Birchwood neighborhood.

Attracting brick-and-mortar national retailers in this current climate is unusual, given the string of retail closures as companies adjust to changing shopping habits as more customers buy products online.

“Bellingham has been fortunate to keep many of its national retailers,” said Erin Sundean, a Bellingham commercial real estate agent and owner of The Bedford Group.

While there are smaller retail spaces available around Bellingham, Sundean said the area is currently experiencing a shortage of available industrial space.

This story was originally published April 7, 2017 at 5:00 PM with the headline "Here’s what’s coming to the old Bellingham Costco building."