More time sought for Collins Building

Published 9:09 pm Tuesday, October 9, 2007

EVERETT — Officers of the Port Gardner Neighborhood Association aren’t sure who to believe in a squabble over preservation of the waterfront’s Collins Building, they just want to save the former casket factory from demolition.

The neighborhood’s executive board presented a letter to the Port of Everett commission Tuesday encouraging the port to make sure representatives of a redevelopment group get access to the building to show it to potential tenants and that it “negotiate cooperatively and in complete good faith with (the group), allowing them sufficient time to prepare their plan relative to market conditions rather than arbitrary deadlines.”

Port officials expressed frustration over the letter, saying that the Collins Building Redevelopment Group does have access to the building, that the deadlines set for the group to come up with a plan and the financing was the result of a negotiation, not a directive from the port, and that last month, the group was given a 60-day extension by the port.

Port Commissioner Connie Niva took exception with the phrase “arbitrary deadlines,” saying the negotiations set deadlines “agreeable to both groups.”

“This project doesn’t seem to have any limit,” she said. “There has to be some outline and some agreement.”

Charlene Rawson, a neighborhood association board member, called preservation of the 81-year-old building a “once-in-a-lifetime thing.”

“If we destroy this building, it’s the last of its time (period),” she said, adding later, “The neighborhood just needs to feel that at some level you understand their passion for this building.”

David Macarenes of Everett said the public perception is that the port isn’t “being fair” to the redevelopment group. “You’re just so anxious to tear it down,” he said.

The Collins Building is in an area where the port and its development partner, Maritime Trust of Chicago, plan a $400 million redevelopment for waterfront condominiums, offices, restaurants and retail shops. Many other buildings have been razed to make way for the project. The Collins Building is about the only building of historical significance still standing on the waterfront.

Gene O’Neil, chairman of the neighborhood group’s executive board, said he doesn’t have enough information to assess whether saving the building makes sense financially. But he said what the neighborhood wants to see is for the port to take a stronger role in making preservation happen if it makes sense.

“We want that building,” he said. “We want to see it saved. We want you to facilitate that.”

Of the redevelopment group, he said: “I think they’ve dropped the ball. Can we go a couple months to figure this out?”

The redevelopment group must report to the port next month.

Port officials noted Tuesday that the redevelopment group still hasn’t submitted an application to the city for a permit describing what it wants to do with the building.

Valerie Steele, a member of the group Historic Everett, said she didn’t think the redevelopment group had good information on how long such preservation projects take when it agreed to the negotiated deadlines.

Commissioner Don Hopkins said he wants to see progress before he grants another time extension.

“I guess I’m lost in this thing,” he said. “I’ve never had a firm figure on what it would cost. When they come to us next month and (the group) shows progress is being made … I’d say, ‘Yeah (to another delay).’ “

Herald writer Mike Benbow: 425-339-3459 or benbow@heraldnet.com.