What’s next for the waterfront after WWU, Port scrap development project?
Western Washington University and the Port of Bellingham have decided to scrap the Western Crossing Development plan, which would have established the university as a key player in redeveloping the waterfront district.
Western Washington and port officials made the decision on Friday, Feb. 18, it was first reported by the Cascadia Daily News. The decision still needs to be approved by Port commissioners, who are scheduled to meet on Tuesday, March 15.
The Western Crossing development partnership was established in 2009 with the goal of WWU purchasing and developing about six acres of the waterfront district. Different ideas on what would be built on the waterfront were considered, with the most recent being an innovation park through a partnership with a private company. The focus of that innovation park would have included renewable energy research and development, cybersecurity and marine engineering.
While the development partnership is being dissolved, officials said it doesn’t rule out the possibility of Western eventually establishing some sort of presence on the waterfront. If another partnership were to happen, it would probably be something many years away as both the Port and Western are currently busy with other projects.
“We have a lot on our plate right now and we are focused on getting those projects done well,” said Port Commissioner Ken Bell in a telephone interview with The Bellingham Herald. “But we are still very interested in doing some public-private partnership with Western.”
Graduate programs or research-based industry partnerships where a private entity would build in the waterfront district is a possibility, said Donna Gibbs, vice president of university relations and marketing.
“I would characterize that as farther down the road as opposed to short term,” Gibbs said in an email.
While Western Crossing was slow to get going, Bell said the pandemic really shut down a chance to get something started. He said the pandemic did help bring some clarity to the situation, perhaps where Western could have some presence on the waterfront without having to spend a significant amount of money purchasing property.
“I think they realized this was a large bite to take on,” Bell said, referring to the purchase of six acres.
As Western and the port were unable to find a committed private partner for the innovation park, it became unclear what Western could put on the waterfront. It’s been addressing several needs on campus, including building more residential dorm units, a new science building and a multicultural center. Western is also in the design phase of building a computer science and engineering facility on campus, with the building expected to be the first net-zero energy/carbon-neutral structure on campus.
Waterfront development?
While certainly a disappointment for officials trying to redevelop the waterfront, freeing up six acres behind the Boardmill building near the Bellingham Shipping Terminal does create development opportunities, said Port Commissioner Michael Shepard.
Shepard noted that there is demand and interest for projects right now, albeit only one is currently under construction. He said there’s already been quite a bit of interest for bidding on redeveloping the Boardmill building while the workforce housing and food campus projects are moving along. The one major project underway is the construction of the condominiums near Waypoint Park. There’s also work getting more shipping container businesses in place near Waypoint Park for this spring and summer as well as a variety of events that are being scheduled.
Both Bell and Shepard said having some education-related development on the waterfront is important to them, whether it involves Western or some other education entity.
While it does open things up for new ideas, the six acres will probably sit on the backburner for a while as the port works on redeveloping other parts of the property, Bell said.
Port staff members have no plans on marketing the property until there is direction from the commissioners, said Mike Hogan, a spokesman for the port.
When the six acres is redeveloped, Hogan said it is expected to provide an important transition between industrial activities at the Bellingham Shipping Terminal and the housing, office and other uses planned near Waypoint Park.
This story was originally published February 24, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
