Sunday, May 19, 2013

Time to reopen Laurel St to the Boardmill?

I recently took a very detailed look at the old Boardmill building on Bellingham's waterfront.  After my own inspection, I now believe that we have at least three buildings that can readily be put to use with modest investments: the Egg Co-op/Granary, the Boardmill and the Lignin building.



The Lignin building (gray roof, pale walled in the upper right of the image above) is partially used now, has great access to Cornwall Avenue with 53 thousand square feet of prime, dry, free span warehouse.  It needs the sprinkler system tested and electricity re-installed    There is debate about the railline moving back to the bluff but until that happens, which I have no reason to believe it will happen in the next few years if ever, that building sits ready for service.

The Egg Co-op/Granary will need a few millions to properly meet visual and code standards, but at least 2 local groups stand ready to make that happen.

The Boardmill is particularly exciting, however.  In the image above, the Boardmill is the long, low building just below the very tall, skinny Digester in the center.  Now, it looks a little rough to the untrained eye but is in need of only simple cosmetic upgrades and repairs. Those upgrades will by no means be cheap, potentially running above $1 million.  Those upgrades will, however, be unbelievably lower in cost than constructing a new building.

The Boardmill sits adjacent to the Laurel St. right of way.  The building is not out of place in any future development scenario if we choose to keep it.  The structure is solid, dry and the best part is the incredible second floor that is wide open to ceilings approximately 30 feet over head.  The building is so stout that the original gantry cranes on the second floor can still be used from one end of the building to the other.

Also, the structure originally had huge windows in the upper floor walls that are filled in with wood framing and plywood.  These windows, approximately 18 feet by 18 feet, once replaced, will flood the upper floor with so much daylight there would be almost no need for artificial lighting.  The structure could also produce a nice return on an energy investment with a solar array on the roof  from local Itek Solar (itekenergy.com), including awnings utilizing panels from Marysville based Silicon Energy (silicon-energy.com).

The value in the Boardmill building stems from its location, its high adaptive reuse potential and the simple fact that it is a neat structure with a unique form that we can use to attract high tech research and development type companies. There is a working railway crossing and ample parking adjacent to the building.

The Egg Co-op can be the initial anchor on the north with the Boardmill anchoring the south while the spaces between can be carefully filled in.  The key is in ensuring that we get a through street constructed right away to connect Roeder to Cornwall - this would be Granary to Bloedel to Laurel. While the Granary/Bloedel/Laurel corridor provides basic public access as a throughway  it also opens the area for development and access to the industrial land around the shipping terminal - there is no reason to wait.

We need anchor buildings in service, we already have them and we need them right now, not in three years when the rest of the region has eaten our lunch in the economic upswing.

As for Laurel St to the Boardmill?  It can happen in weeks if we choose to make it happen.