With a surge in homes, Cordata neighborhood is in for these changes to roads

A surge in home construction in Bellingham’s Cordata neighborhood, and a series of new projects, will bring new road construction and a park expansion in 2019.

Construction workers are expected to arrive this month to begin building a roundabout at the Cordata Parkway/Stuart Road intersection. The project is scheduled to last through the spring of 2019.

Bike lanes, car lane reduction, and pedestrian crossings are coming to Cordata Parkway, and work on the long-sought Community Park is expected to start next year.

The projects planned in 2019 are in response to a surge in residential development.

In September, Cordata had 2,914 residential units, nearly 70 percent of which were apartments or condominiums, according to housing data from the city of Bellingham.

The total number of residential units in the neighborhood has risen 12.5 percent in the past five years, according to city records. Today it has the second-highest residential-unit total among all the city’s neighborhoods, trailing only Happy Valley near Western Washington University.

Becoming one of the city’s largest residential neighborhoods wasn’t in the original plan.

Cordata was expected to develop into an industrial/warehouse area when Trillium Corp. was looking at redeveloping the fields and farmland in the 1990s.

That is why the city has undertaken many big road construction projects in the area. Cordata was originally designed to handle truck traffic, but current projects will make it more pedestrian friendly in the coming years.

More east-west roads are also being added to handle the residential/commuter traffic.

The Cordata Parkway changes couldn’t come soon enough for April Barker, who already views the street as an exercise highway, given the number of people walking the area. Barker represents the district on the city council.

“With the new bike lanes along Cordata Parkway, I think we will see more folks visiting the area to take a stroll and/or bike ride,” Barker said in an email to The Bellingham Herald.

What’s impressed Barker is how the neighborhood is adjusting to the change, with an active Cordata Neighborhood Association providing feedback.

“They’ve been very strategic and thoughtful working with the city to ensure Cordata gets the services and infrastructure needed,” Barker said.

“I think we can learn a lot from Cordata and its residents. They are flexible and understanding that infrastructure and support take time.”

Some of the challenges Barker hears about most from residents involve the housing market and access to some services such as libraries. The housing dilemma has led to some unbalanced growth in Bellingham.

While Cordata has plenty of retirement and assisted-living homes, the neighborhood also has a growing number of young families, eager to buy their first home.

With all the undeveloped land in the Cordata area, many of Bellingham’s homes that are priced for first-time buyers are being built there.

And since those first-time home buyers are typically young families, that puts pressure on the schools in the area, Barker said.

It’s also meant that Cordata has become one of the most diverse neighborhoods in Bellingham, in terms of age and race, Barker said.

“I think this adds to the sense of place that Cordata offers, a welcoming and inclusive community that advocates for their seniors, youth and environment,” Barker said.

More homes

Even with the construction surge in the last five years, plenty of residential projects are also in the planning stages.

▪ A new project making its way through the planning process is being proposed at 418 W. Bakerview Road, near Bakerview Square. The new building will be six stories tall, with 40 apartment units and under-building parking. It is currently in the design review phase and could be going in for building permits later this fall, said Collin Fuller of TRC Architecture.

There’s also a 24-unit apartment project planned nearby at 554 W. Bakerview Road.

▪ Larrabee Springs, which involves hundreds of homes in the north part of the neighborhood near the North Bellingham Golf Course, is nearly completed with phase 2 and is starting work on phase 3, said Rob Weston, a broker for Windermere Real Estate.

“We are basically building to the demand,” Weston said in an email to The Bellingham Herald earlier last month. “We haven’t had a home sit finished (and unsold) all year and feel the same will go with the next phase of homes.”

▪ Several projects are being handled by locally owned RJ Group. Founded by Rob Janicki, the company has been working on a steady stream of apartments and single-family homes in Whatcom and Skagit counties.

In 2019, RJ Group will begin work on 574 housing units in the north part of Bellingham, including 92 units in Cordata, said Peter Wheeler, a spokesman for the company, in an email last month.

One of RJ Group’s biggest projects underway is known as Trio at Cordata, which is along June Road, west of Whatcom Community College near Aldrich Road. The goal is to offer a mix of apartments and single-family townhomes at different price points in the 317-unit neighborhood.

The homes and apartments the company has built in the June Road area have filled quickly, with deals closing on many of them before the construction was completed, Wheeler said.

Nearby is Park View Village, which was completed in June by the RJ Group. All 83 units were initially leased, Wheeler said.

As Bellingham considers extending further north, Barker said city officials hope to learn from what has happened so far in Cordata.

For Barker, that includes thinking more about gathering places when it comes to planning.

People want places to connect in their neighborhood, whether it’s a corner store, a coffee shop or an elementary school, she said.

This story was originally published October 2, 2018 at 5:00 AM.