Historic building may be moved

Published 10:02 pm Tuesday, August 7, 2007

EVERETT – The man who rescued 11 Donovan district homes from the wrecking ball in Everett has a new plan to restore the historic Weyerhaeuser building now on the waterfront.

Developer Steve Hager is in negotiations with Port of Everett officials to buy the building and move it from its W. Marine View Drive site to an area along the Snohomish River targeted for major redevelopment.

“The plan is to put it on a barge,” Hager told port commissioners this morning. “It came down the river. Now I can take it back up.”

The building, constructed in 1920, was designed by renowned Seattle architect Carl F. Gould, who laid out the University of Washington’s campus plan in 1915 and designed the college’s Suzzallo Library. Gould Hall, which houses the UW’s architecture program, carries his name.

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the building was established to showcase the many wood building products then sold by Weyerhaeuser. For many years, it was used as an office at the company’s mill site in Everett.

The port purchased the property and is developing it into an industrial site. The historic building was moved to a location near Marina Village and was an office for the Everett Area Chamber of Commerce for several years.

The building has sat empty for the past six years as the port has unsuccessfully sought a tenant. Today, its exterior looks a little shabby, with fading, cracking paint and moss growing on the siding. Long-unlit Christmas lights still drape its frame.

Moving bits of Everett’s history isn’t new to Hager.

A $500 million hospital expansion project brought the razing of 11 cottage-style homes built around 1925 by Edward Donovan. The area’s Donovan District had been placed on the city’s register of historic places in 1998. Hager moved 11 of the homes to a new neighborhood and has been reconditioning and selling them.

He said he believes he can make money by moving and reconditioning the 6,800-square-foot Weyerhaeuser building, perhaps for a combination of office and residential space.

His new site would be along the river at the east end of Pacific Avenue on a 10-acre site he is negotiating to buy “at the gateway” to a property being redeveloped by Oliver McMillan.

Port property manager Eric Russell noted the port has tried to find a tenant for the building for many years with no success. He noted that the port is still committed to spending what’s estimated now to be about $75,000 to clean up an asbestos problem with the building.

While no deal has been set, commissioners were very interested in Hager’s plan.

Commission chairman Don Hopkins noted the building has been moved at least twice, perhaps three times. “It has more mileage on it than some people’s motor homes,” he said. I’m glad to see interest in keeping it in the community.”

Commissioner Connie Niva was also glad.

“It’s always been a puzzlement to me that it just sits there,” she said. “It’s been such an underutilized asset.”

Hager said he knows the project will be a risk, but he thinks it makes financial sense.

“I’m not doing this philanthropically,” he said. “The numbers lead me to believe I can make it work.”

Mike Benbow: 425-339-3459; benbow@heraldnet.com.