Flurry of Bellingham building applications submitted in January, mostly for housing
Bellingham received a flood of residential building permit applications at the end of January, as developers saw continued demand for housing as well a chance to avoid paying higher costs.
On Monday, Feb. 1, a new set of building and energy codes went into effect, with the goal of improving energy efficiency but potentially adding more upfront expenses.
The result was plenty of applications to the city prior to the deadline. According to the planning department website, Bellingham received 265 building permit applications last month; in January 2020 the city received 48 applications.
Many of last month’s new applications were in the form of residential projects, particularly apartments and townhomes. If those projects make it through the permitting process and get built, it should help ease Bellingham’s low vacancy rate, said Kurt Nabbefeld, development services manager for the city.
To really help, more units need to be created than the number of people moving into Bellingham, Nabbefeld said. That’s something that’s been happening in recent years, and it appears to be increasing the vacancy rate.
Bellingham’s residential vacancy rate was hovering slightly above 2% at the end of 2020 according to city data, although it should be noted that the COVID-19 pandemic has led to some changes in data collection. In 2015, the vacancy rate was just above 1.5%
“The takeaway is that Bellingham has a consistent year-over-year rising trend since 2015 and that we are seeing steady progress towards healthy vacancy rates when compared to the rest of the state,” said Chris Behee, an analyst in the city’s planning and community development department, in an email.
While improving, Bellingham’s vacancy rate is still well below what’s generally considered a balanced, healthy market vacancy rate of 5-7%.
So where are the residential units going? A detailed map showing the different projects can be found on the city’s permitting dashboard website.
▪ As of Monday, Feb. 8 the dashboard notes there are 1,555 residential units under review (of which 205 are single-family homes).
▪ 1,261 units are under construction (of which 145 are single-family homes).
▪ 446 units were completed in the past six months (of which 72 were single family homes).
Here are some of the neighborhoods in Bellingham that are seeing, or will see, some major residential and commercial projects:
▪ Samish: Hundreds of units are being planned in this area. Along with the work already under way with the Samish Commons project by Boomer’s Drive-In and phase 3 of the Samish Station project by Taco Time, several big buildings are being planned or are already under construction on the east side of the Samish overpass.
That includes the Samish View apartments, which are two six-story buildings on the 700-800 blocks of Samish Way and as well as the Elwood Edge apartments on the corner of Lincoln Street and Elwood Way. Elwood Edge will have a mix of hundreds of apartment units, town homes and some commercial space.
▪ North Bellingham: This area continues to add residential units. Many are already under construction, including the 177-unit residential complex Park Place on Northwest Ave., the 114-unit Crescent apartments on Stuart Road, and an 84-unit apartment building on Prince Avenue.
One unusual project for that area is putting apartments on top of a commercial building. Last month a building permit application was filed to put a 68-unit apartment on top of the former Super Buffet space in Cordata Place, near the Cordata Community Food Co-op.
▪ Fairhaven: Along with several apartment projects that are under construction in the retail district and the recent completion of Fairhaven Towers, a large work-studio project is making its way through the permitting process. At 10th St. and Douglas Avenue design review permits were approved for two buildings that will each have 25 work studios. According to the planning documents, these are small, affordable work spaces for industrial and commercial small businesses.
▪ Downtown: There are more than a dozen large residential projects either under construction or going through the permitting process. Some new ones that have entered the permit process include a 121-unit apartment building proposal at 1815 C St., near the Bellingham Police Department, and a 40-unit apartment building at 1100 N. Forest St., near the YWCA.
▪ King Mountain: More than a dozen single family homes are either under construction or in the permitting stage in the area.
