Contact: Carolyn Casey
Port of Bellingham
(360) 676-2500 or
Dave Ebenal
Bellwether Gate, LLC
(360)738-1940
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 19, 2007
Commission Hears Update on Bellwether Development
Final Agreement Still in Negotiations
[Bellingham, Wash.] Earlier this year the Port of Bellingham's Board of Commissioners approved a Memorandum of Understanding with a local developer, which may result in new buildings, jobs, housing and activity at the port's Bellwether on the Bay TM waterfront development.
In today's work study session, port staff and the developers unveiled a conceptual site plan and building design concept for this project, which is in its final negotiation stages. To view development proposal images, click here.
The conceptual design includes the possibility for four to five new mixed-use buildings ranging in size from a three-story 12,000 square foot building to one four-story 86,331 square foot building. The concept showed three buildings that would be three stories tall and one building that would have four stories. The construction schedule is in negotiations.
If a final agreement is approved, Bellwether Gate LLC would pay the port nearly $3 million for an 80-year lease for the land. Bellwether Gate also would be required to construct additional underground and above ground parking.
Bellwether Gate LLC is a newly formed development company with the same principals as Bellingham firm Ebenal Company. The Ebenal Company has completed several major new developments in Fairhaven including the building housing Village Books and Fairhaven Square. The company also is restoring the historic Waldron Building.
The Bellwether on the BayTM development already includes two mixed-use office buildings, a hotel, and several restaurants. The first phase of this development opened in 1999. Today 40 businesses operate at Bellwether on the BayTM employing about 400 people.
Phase 2, if approved, would include retail shops, offices, businesses and between 10 to 40 residential units. The maximum height of proposed structures would not exceed 50 feet above ground, which is shorter than the tallest buildings already constructed at Bellwether.
Because the Bellwether Gate development is different than the initial planned concept for Bellwether on the Bay, approved by the city in 1998, the Bellwether Gate proposal will require a new Planned Development Permit.
Some of the differences between the Bellwether Gate proposal and the initial Bellwether on the Bay planned concept include a different site plan configuration and changes to proposed height limits.
Port staff and the developers met with the city this morning in a pre-application meeting and have scheduled two pre-application neighborhood meetings about this project. The neighborhood meetings will be at 7 p.m., June 27 and July 10 in the Harbor Center Conference Room, 1801 Roeder Avenue.
Once input is received from neighborhood meetings, the Port will submit an application for city review. Pending the outcome of the City's permit process, port staff will finalize lease negotiations with the developer and present a final lease and development agreement to the Port Commission for their consideration. The final transaction likely will be presented to the Port Commission in the next 90-120 days.
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