Old buildings, plenty of changes: Three Bellingham spots will soon have new tenants
Three longtime buildings are getting major makeovers in downtown Bellingham and that means more places to eat and live.
The former Michael’s Books building, Bellingham National Bank Building and the smaller former JC Penney building are in various stages of remodeling early in the new year.
It’s the continuation of the many changes that have taken place in the district in recent years, said Bob Hall of Daylight Properties, which owns several downtown buildings. He noted that the arrival of new tenants like Camber, Mix, Jack’s and Herb’s Cider has created a different market, similar to the changes happening in downtown districts in Seattle and Portland, which also have added restaurants/breweries along with more residential units.
Here are some details on how those projects are going:
A whole new look at Michael’s Books building
Those who wandered through the building at 116 Grand Ave. when it was a book store may remember the cramped aisles stuffed with around 250,000 books.
It’s shockingly different today, as Daylight Properties has spent months opening up the inside, including removing false ceilings to expose skylights and wood beams.
With much of the interior cleared away, plans are in the works to put in two restaurants, said Bob Hall of Daylight Properties in an interview with The Bellingham Herald. It also will have three apartments, including two large units on the second floor. Hall said they are close to signing a couple of out-of-town restaurant tenants, but nothing they can announce yet.
The building, itself, started as a feed and seed store around 1908, Hall said. It’s had many businesses over the years, with each owner making some changes to the building. Hall decided to bring it back to as close to its original look as possible. That involved looking at two of the only photos he could find of the original building.
The front of the building has taken a fair amount of work, which included removing up to an inch of stucco and fixing the bricks, project manager Mike Talbott told The Bellingham Herald in an interview.
Bellingham National Bank remodel continues
Changing a former bank into a cafe is quite an undertaking from a permit and remodeling standpoint, but the owners of Blue Koi Coffee are making progress at the corner of Holly Street and Cornwall Avenue.
They plan on opening the Blue Koi Coffee Lab at 1306 Cornwall Ave. in a couple months, according to their Facebook post. The lab would be a place where coffee fans try new beans, roasts and baked goods. It will be a testing ground where customers can provide feedback for the future cafe that will be in the former bank space, said Jason Huff, who is partnering with Jamie Huff, Amy Eardley and Melanie Young.
The coffee lab also will provide another entryway into the cafe, something that is needed from a permitting standpoint, Hall said.
Chuckanut Bay Distillery is getting close to opening
Co-owner Matt Howell told The Herald in an interview that work is progressing in the mammoth project of converting a 108-year-old building into a distillery, tap room, event space and eventually a restaurant.
In an email, Howell said he expects to be open sometime in February at 1309 Cornwall Ave. Last fall they removed about 300,000 pounds of stuff, with about 65,000 pounds of steel going to recycling.
The 18,000-square-foot, three-story building was built in 1911 and has been home to a variety of businesses over the years, including the local chamber of commerce and a JC Penney store (Howell said JC Penney was there in the 1950s before moving across the street and then to Bellis Fair in the 1980s).
This story was originally published January 17, 2019 at 5:00 AM.
