Bellingham Old Town development proposes 84-unit housing project on site of former landfill
Plans are moving forward for the redevelopment of a site in Bellingham’s Old Town that historically operated as a recycling facility and scrap yard into an 84-unit multi-family housing and commercial project.
The six-story, mixed-use development location is planned for Astor and Holly Streets, about one block from Maritime Heritage Park and Whatcom Creek downtown. In addition to providing middle-income, market-rate housing for between 90 and 130 people, it also would feature about 1,600 square feet of ground-floor commercial tenant space along D & Holly Streets, according to planning documents.
The project is the work of Capron LLC & Old Town Village LLC, with AVT Consulting and TRC Architecture contributing.
The project would include a total of 34 parking spaces, with 19 spaces in an underbuilding parking garage accessible from D Street and another 15 spaces in a surface lot accessible from C Street. It would also feature 56 bike parking spaces.
A private plaza and several roof decks are also proposed in the project to provide recreational opportunities for residents and their visitors.
The streets surrounding the project — Holly, Astor, D and C Streets — would all undergo improvements to support the development including new sidewalks, street trees and landscaping, planning documents show.
There is an existing one-story, 4,000-square-foot warehouse building on the property at the corner of Astor and C Street which is proposed to remain.
The $11.8 million project is currently moving through the permitting process, with construction expected to begin in the spring. Residents are expected to begin moving in by summer 2026, according to planning documents.
The Old Town Urban Village where the proposed project site is currently undergoing redevelopment in line with future city of Bellingham planning goals to create high-density housing and commercial space in the area. Sites nearby have already undergone redevelopment, and several others in the area are also planned for multi-story projects.
Soil mitigation plans
Underlying contaminated soil conditions exist on the proposed project site due to its historical heavy industrial activity and use as a landfill, “which have the potential to impact the project development if not appropriately managed during construction,” according to planning documents.
“Contamination exists in the existing soils on site,” planning documents state. “Environmental reports have been prepared which catalog and identify all contamination.”
The Washington State Department of Ecology granted clearance for the redevelopment of the site as long as it meets certain conditions and mitigation is conducted. One of the conditions is that no residential units be developed on the ground floor of the project.
Affordability and a ‘critical shortage’ of housing
Bellingham Mayor Kim Lund proposed several measures to increase housing affordability and availability across the city under an executive order issued late last month as a result of a “critical shortage of housing” in the city.
“We have yet to catch up from the deficit of housing that resulted from the 2008-12 economic recession, and we aren’t adding enough new housing today. We need more housing overall, and more options that are within reach for everyone,” Lund said in a statement.
The order directs city officials to:
- Diversify and expand housing options in all neighborhoods.
- Streamline the city’s permitting process.
- Incentivize, fund or create partnerships to develop more permanently affordable or transitional housing options like tiny home villages.
No affordable housing units are planned for the proposed multi-family project but it does fill a need for middle-income housing. To be considered affordable, housing costs can’t exceed 30% of a family’s gross income and must serve families making 80% or less of the area median income, according to the city of Bellingham.
The median household income in Whatcom County is about $74,884, according to the latest U.S. Census data.
The state established targeted housing goals for every county in Washington over the next 20 years. Between 2024 and 2044, Whatcom County is estimated to need almost 35,000 new housing units. About 22,000 of those units, more than 60%, need to be affordable, according to the City.
Bellingham makes up about 48% of the housing production in Whatcom County. So the city needs to produce almost 17,000 total housing units to help meet the goal. More than 10,000 of those need to be affordable. To stay on track, the city needs to build more than 500 affordable housing units every year.
There are 466 residential units — 198 multifamily units and 268 single-family units — currently under construction in Bellingham. Another 715 residential units — 446 multifamily units and 269 single-family units — are currently undergoing the application and review process for future construction in Bellingham.
Permits for 422 new residential units were issued in Bellingham in 2023.
