Bellingham port seeks to raze former GP mill buildings
The Washington state Port of Bellingham is proposing to demolish three red-brick industrial buildings that are part of a former Georgia-Pacific Corp. tissue mill site.
The port is hoping to redevelop the site commercial and maritime use, according to the Bellingham Herald.
The three buildings, connected to the tissue mill facility being demolished, were thought to be salvageable, according to a 2004 survey of the site. Port officials have since determined that the buildings would not be able to survive once the main tissue mill structure is gone.
'They are not standalone buildings. They are integrated with the whole project,' Fred Seeger, port facilities director told the paper Monday.
The port took possession of the 137-acre waterfront site in 2005 and under terms of the agreement, Georgia-Pacific is paying to demolish the mill structure. The agreement also removed any responsibility for the three adjacent mill buildings — a pulp storage building, a screen room and a bleach plant — from GP, and the port is financial responsible for their future.
The main mill building is to be fully demolished by December, according to the paper. Seeger said the demolition contractor has offered to raze the three additional buildings for less than $70,000 additional.
However, the port wants to make a decision on the three buildings while the contractor is on site, because recalling the contractor to remove the three buildings at a future date may cost upwards of $500,000, Seeger told the paper.
The port decision to raze the three buildings faces a 14-day public review, following which the port commissioners will make a final decision on the proposal during a public meeting. If the port board approves the removal proposal, the city would also have to issue a demolition permit.
Port officials told the paper there are no immediate plans to demolish the largest structure of the former GP mill complex, a 150-foot-tall digester building, and an additional GP building may also be saved.
However, several studies of the two buildings have indicated that it would be too costly to retrofit the structures for public use. Port officials told the paper that even if all the buildings are eventually demolished, some of the site’s massive concrete and iron structures may find their way to city parks.
At least one structure on the site will remain for the time being. In July, the port approved a two-year $1.4 million lease for portions of a 240,000-square-foot warehouse at the former GP site to a Canadian baby furniture manufacturer. The manufacturer will utilize 210,000 square feet of the warehouse and port officials have been considering the remaining 30,000-square-foot space for the development of a maritime 'innovation zone.'
