City/port committee selects this plan for redeveloping the waterfront Boardmill building
A committee that includes staff from the Port of Bellingham and other city officials has arrived at a recommendation for which proposal should be used to redevelop the Boardmill building on the waterfront.
The committee is recommending to Port of Bellingham commissioners that the agency start negotiations with the Whatcom-based BoardMill Group LLC, a team that includes Raymond Faber, Faber Construction; Sean Hegstad, Haven Design Workshop; Michael Watters, developer; and Elie Samuel, developer.
The group’s proposal involves converting the Boardmill building into a boutique hotel and convention center, but also building residential housing and a food hub using sustainable building systems.
Under this proposal, the Boardmill building near Waypoint Park will be converted into three levels, with the upper two having 74 hotel rooms and the first level being an event area. The food hub could have a variety of options, including restaurants with a greenhouse roof, cafes and brewpubs to create gathering areas. The separate residential buildings on the property could either be condos or apartments, with the goal of creating different price points.
The proposal scored higher than the three other proposals, which included ideas like adding a nearby soccer stadium, an aquatic center and other hotel ideas.
The recommendation was disclosed on the Tuesday, Aug. 9, agenda, which is on the Port of Bellingham’s website.
At the Aug. 9 meeting, port commissioners can choose to accept the recommendation, which would start a period of negotiations with the BoardMill Group. If negotiations are successful, it will go back to the commissioners for a vote on whether to sell or lease the 3.42 acres of property to the group. If the negotiations are unsuccessful, the port would resume discussions with the three other groups that submitted proposals.
According to the proposal submitted by the BoardMill Group, the plan is to spend about a year going through the design stage, with construction starting in January 2024. A completion date is slated for the end of 2025.
The BoardMill Group was the unanimous choice of the selection committee, said Mike Hogan, spokesman for the port. It scored the highest in all of the key selection criteria, including the ability to meet schedule requirements, preserving the historic character of the Boardmill building, the use of sustainable strategies and a strong financing plan.
“Given the financial challenges of renovating historic buildings such as the Boardmill building, the Boardmill Group creatively used part of the property offered in the RFP (Request for Proposals) to include a residential and commercial component which allowed them to meet the Port’s requirement for Fair Market Value,” Hogan said in an email.
The Bellingham Herald asked readers which proposal they liked. Here’s the result.
This story was originally published August 4, 2022 at 2:57 PM.
