Construction expected to start soon on Bellingham’s waterfront. Here are the details
It appears the big hole in the ground near Waypoint Park will soon be seeing construction activity that will result in waterfront condominiums.
On Tuesday, Oct. 19, the Port of Bellingham commissioners unanimously approved a revised plan with developer Harcourt to build the 94 condominium units, which will also come with underground parking and some commercial space.
In the updated agreement, Harcourt must have the first two buildings completed by October 2023, while the third and final building needs to be finished by October 2024.
Harcourt purchased the Granary Building and property for the condo project in March 2018 with the idea of finishing the condos by October 2019. In that time, designs for the project changed and there were delays in infrastructure and permitting. Harcourt began construction in the summer of 2020 by digging a hole, but no significant progress was made in the past 14 months.
In June 2021 the port issued a default notice to reclaim the property purchased by the company because Harcourt had not hit construction benchmarks. Instead of wading into what was expected to be a protracted court case that could further delay progress, port commissioners directed staff to renegotiate the terms of the agreement.
The new agreement reduces the developer’s exclusivity rights from 18.8 acres to 7.7 acres. Along with the condo project and the Granary Building, Harcourt would continue to have exclusive rights to develop a strip of land on the south side of Granary Avenue. Harcourt would no longer have the exclusive right to redevelop several other pieces of property, including the Boardmill building or the 3.3 acres that would eventually connect with Bay Street.
The deal in its current form would allow Harcourt to get exclusive rights back for the 3.3 acres near Bay Street if it meets the timetable in developing the 7.7 acres in the Granary Avenue area.
During the meeting, port staff noted the expectation is construction, starting with piling work, would start in the next two or three weeks.
Aside from the condominiums, it appears the Waterfront District is entering a quiet phase in terms of construction and redevelopment. Unless financing quickly comes together, construction of the workforce housing and the food campus by The Millworks LLC and Mercy Housing Northwest isn’t expected to start until 2023. Construction of the next phase of the Waypoint Park isn’t expected to get started until early 2023.
The port acquired the 137-acre waterfront property in 2005 from Georgia-Pacific, which shut its tissue mill, with the goal of cleaning it up and redeveloping it. Combined with the other properties the port already had, the overall size of the Waterfront District is 237 acres.
This story was originally published October 25, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
