Sale of historic Weyerhaeuser building OK, port says

EVERETT – Port of Everett commissioners unanimously approved on Tuesday the sale and move of the historic Weyerhaeuser building from the city’s waterfront.

John Mohr, the port’s executive director, will negotiate the building’s sale with developer Steve Hager, who has plans to move it from W. Marine View Drive to a site near the city’s major redevelopment project along the Snohomish River.

“It’s going to be pretty close to where it started,” said Mohr, referring to the building’s onetime home near the river.

The move, which likely will happen with help from a barge, is scheduled for early 2009. Hager said the building, constructed more than 80 years ago, has the potential to house offices or a retail business and even some residential space in its upper floor.

“My intent would be to leave it pretty much as is, just clean it up,” Hager said.

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the building for years showcased wood building products sold by Weyerhaeuser. It also was used as an office at the company’s mill site in Everett.

In 1984, the building was bought by the port and then moved to its location near Marina Village. It was the Everett Area Chamber of Commerce’s office for several years, but it has sat empty for the past six years.

Hager previously moved 11 of the Donovan district homes in Everett to save them from being razed.

Before the move, the port will spend money to clean up an asbestos problem with the building. The sales price for the structure is one of the issues to be settled in negotiations.

As part of Tuesday’s vote, port commissioners also called for the start of negotiations with the Stuchell/Kinzua Partnership, which has developed nearby restaurants and retail space, to lease the site where the Weyerhaeuser Building is now located. Mohr said the site could be ideal for a variety of commercial uses.

Reporter Eric Fetters: 425-339-3453 or fetters@heraldnet.com.