Dismantling of historic Collins Building may go swiftly

Published 10:50 pm Wednesday, June 16, 2010

EVERETT — The Collins Building, a historic structure that has stood on the city’s waterfront since 1926, could be gone by Thanksgiving.

After the Port of Everett commission decided Tuesday to tear the building down, port officials said they expect to seek bids for the demolition next week.

The work will take three to four months because the building will be “deconstructed,” meaning parts will be removed so they can be reused by cities or historic preservation groups.

Valerie Steel of Historic Everett was still saddened by the decision Wednesday, saying that reusing pieces of the Collins Building is a poor substitute for saving it.

“It’s the last buffalo, for heaven’s sakes,” she said. “It’s gone. People see deconstruction as the vehicle when the real marker should have been the building itself.”

Steel said the building, on the state and national historic registers, will be torn down because no political leaders stepped up to save it. “Nobody stepped to the plate on this one,” she said. “Nobody.”

The Collins Building, last used to make caskets, was on the historic registers because it was the last of what once was scores of industrial buildings that lined the city’s waterfront after its founding.

Allyson Brooks, the state’s historic preservation officer, said she was disappointed by the decision because historic buildings are irreplaceable.

“You can’t grow another historic building, you don’t spawn another historic building, and you don’t breathe another historic building,” she said. “Once they’re gone, they’re gone forever.”

She said dismantling the building is always “a last resort.”

Brooks agreed with Steel that the building needed a political champion, and she said the area still needs one to help it preserve other historic buildings.

She said it was clear in talking with the people who wanted to save the Collins Building that there was a groundswell of support “but no pathway forward.”

“Which elected leader now is going to step up and say, ‘I’ve heard you, here’s what I’m going to do to make this happen’?” she asked.

Steel said her group will continue its efforts to save and promote Everett’s history. She noted that Historic Everett has a tour of historic places planned for July 17, and will visit Bellingham in August to see how it has blended historic buildings with new ones. It also has scheduled a historic home tour in September. “We’re not a one-string harpsichord,” she said.

In approving the demolition, port commissioners acknowledged the building’s history, but said state law prevents them from spending public money without intending to make a profit. And they said that numerous studies showed that no planned use for the Collins Building would ever pay for the cost of restoring it, which is estimated at $11.1 million.

Port director John Mohr, who was authorized to begin the demolition, said workers have already begun removing materials and other items from around the building “so we can get construction equipment in.”

He plans to meet today to decide whether to put the project to a public bid and expects to do so next week.

He said previous studies estimate about 90 percent of the building is reusable, and its materials are estimated to be worth about $200,000.

“I think the value of the material will offset the additional cost of deconstruction over demolition,” he said. “Plus, it keeps the product from going into a landfill.”

All the floors, which are too worn, and some of the walls were considered unusable, he said.

He said both Mukilteo and Everett have expressed interest in the salvaged materials from the Collins Building.