Built: 1890 by C.W. Waldron
Cost of original building: $33,000
Unfinished business: When Ken Imus purchased the building in the 1970s, workmen went into the upper floors and found window frames neatly stacked, just as they had been left in 1891.
Construction: The first floor walls were covered with Chuckanut sandstone blocks. The bricks came from the Far East and were originally used as ship ballast.

SOURCE: “AN ILLUSTRATED INVENTORY OF HISTORIC BELLINGHAM BUILDINGS, 1852-1915,” DANIEL E. TURBEVILLE III

A STORIED HISTORY

The Waldron Building was an older building that Bellingham city planner Jackie Lynch was most concerned about when she became part of the city’s Historic Preservation Commission.

“It almost brings me to tears that they are saving something so special. You can’t find those kind of buildings that are unique to the community both in design and history,” Lynch said. “The history of it alone just hits you right in the face and I’m glad we won’t be losing it.”

The history Lynch refers to has been an unlucky one, according to “An Illustrated Inventory of Historic Bellingham Buildings 1852-1915,” by Daniel E. Turbeville III. Construction began in 1890 by C.W. Waldron, who intended the building to be home to his bank of Fairhaven. At the time, Fairhaven was blooming.

It cost $33,000 to build the exterior shell, roof and the first floor interior. However, when the Fairhaven economy collapsed in 1892 after it was announced a major railroad terminus wasn’t coming to the area, the bank collapsed and the building was never finished.

After the bank’s demise, the first floor of Waldron building was occupied by a department store. In 1894, but the first floor was restored.

That floor has had different tenants over the years, including a feed store and a photography studio, but the upper floors were never completed.

FINALLY TO BE FINISHED

Ken Imus purchased the building in the 1970s and had a vision of constructing a sky bridge over the Sycamore Square building.

“It would have been quite a project, but it was going to be very expensive and after a few potential tenants changed their minds, the project just kind of fell apart,” said Ken’s son, Brad Imus.

In 1975, Ken Imus didn’t renew the leases of two taverns that occupied the first floor so he could work on renovations. He became frustrated with trying to fix the building and turned his attention to other old buildings in Fairhaven. He sold the Waldron to Dave Ebenal earlier this year for $566,000, according to records at the Whatcom County Assessor’s Office.

“I had been after Ken to sell that building for years, because I thought it was out of our league,” Brad Imus said. “The building was haphazardly built and there was just too much work that needed to be done.”

That Waldron Building’s haphazardness is something Lynch hopes will be remembered.

“It (the Waldron Building) certainly speaks to the boom and busts this community has seen over the years,” Lynch said. “It has taken another Fairhaven boom several generations later to get it completed. It’s a project that could only be done by another private developer. Otherwise, it would have become just a pile of bricks.”

Instead, when completed by the spring of 2007, the Waldron Building will be part of a larger project that includes the planned Young Building nearby, Weed said. The result will be 20 condominiums, as well as retail space, an underground shopping area (the entrance stairs go under the sidewalk on 12^th Street) and underground parking. The plan is to keep as many of the significant fixtures as possible, including the original vault of the Bank of Fairhaven, which still sits on the first floor.

“It’s one of those projects that I think we’ll be very proud of when it’s done,” Weed said.

“A few years from now the people working on this building will be driving by, showing their kids.

Reach Dave Gallagher at 715-2269 or dave.gallagher@bellinghamherald.com.

Construction is wrapping up on the $11.6 million Lightcatcher located at the Whatcom Museum in Bellingham. When it opens on Nov. 14, Lightcatcher will add 42,000 square feet of gallery and other space to the museum.

Designed by Jim Olson of Seattle-based Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects, the Lightcatcher is named for its 37-foot-tall and 180-foot long translucent wall. The curving wall forms an exterior courtyard and bridges the museum’s interior and exterior spaces. During the day, the wall floods the halls and galleries with light and helps ventilate the building. The wall also reflects light into the courtyard, which is called Garden of the Ancients.

At night, the walls glow with the changing colors of the building’s interior illumination. Olson said it provides a beacon for the community, as well as an attractive new civic feature downtown.

“The lightcatcher wall celebrates the Northwest glass movement and glows like a yellowish agate from a nearby beach,” Olson said in a prepared statement. “I wanted to soften light like our clouds and create a sense of mystery like our mist and fog.”

The colors of the exterior and galleries reflect the bark of the region’s trees and the rocks on area beaches. The ceilings are intended to reference weathered driftwood, and silver metal details reflect what Olson called the Northwest’s “oyster light.”

Landscape architect Charles Anderson Landscape Architects of Seattle designed the 5,000-square-foot Garden of the Ancients. It contains glacial rock that echoes the geology of the region and Bellingham’s rock outcroppings. The garden also contains native plants, such as ferns and a gingko tree.

The Whatcom Museum is a nonprofit organization that the city of Bellingham and the Whatcom Museum Foundation jointly operate. Old City Hall and Syre Education Center are part of the museum. It is located in new downtown Arts and Cultural District, which includes the restored Mount Baker Theater.

Ebenal General of Bellingham was general contractor on the project, which was managed by the city’s Department of Public Works.

Other members of the team are Magnusson Klemencic Associates, structural engineering; TAC Engineers, mechanical; Wilson Engineering, civil; Sparling, electrical and acoustics; Candela, lighting; David Nelson & Associates. LEED consultant; Robinson Co., cost estimating; Eskilsson Architects, specifications; and GeoEngineers Inc., geotechnical.

The Port of Bellingham and developer Bellwether Gate LLC last week unveiled a design concept for as any as five mixed-use buildings on the Bellingham waterfront at Bellwether Way.

The second phase of the Bellwether on the Bay development would include retail, offices, businesses and between 10 to 40 residential units.

Concept plans show four buildings: one at four stories and 86,300 square feet, and three at three stories and 12,000, 13,200 and 25,000 square feet.

The developer and port are negotiating a deal that would pay the port nearly $3 million for an 80-year land lease. The developer would also have to build more underground and above-ground parking. The construction schedule is being negotiated.

Grinstad & Wagner Architects is the architect and Ebenal Construction is the general contractor.

Bellwether Gate LLC includes the same principals as Bellingham-based Ebenal, which has completed several major developments in Bellingham’s Fairhaven District and is restoring the historic Waldron Building.

Two neighborhood meetings will be held on the project, including one tonight at 7 p.m. in the Harbor Center Conference Room, 1801 Roeder Ave. The other will be held July 10 at the same time and location.

Once input is received from the neighborhood meetings, the port will submit an application for city review. Pending the outcome of the city’s permit process, the port will conclude negotiations and present a final lease and development agreement to the port commission. The final transaction likely will be presented in the next three to four months.

The first phase of Bellwether on the Bay opened in1999. It includes two mixed-use office buildings, a hotel and several restaurants.