Development pace appears poised to increase

By Jack Kintner

One Bellingham developer, Joel Douglas, has long had his eyes on Blaine and there are strong indications that Fairhaven developer Ken Imus is also poised to move on downtown Blaine. It’s Douglas, however, who will be first on the scene.

“It’s a beautiful town,” Douglas said of Blaine, “a community based on transportation and fishing, oriented toward the sea, like Port Townsend or some of the places on the east coast. This turns out to be a wonderful opportunity to develop a nice place.”

Douglas, who also owns Bellingham’s Lairmont Manor, has plans for four different parcels that are in various stages of the permitting process. Only one, a 2,000 square foot four-plex on Cedar Street, is currently under construction.

The most ambitious project is Palisades, a 25,000 square foot combination hotel and condominium planned for land Douglas owns on the west side of the 900 block of Peace Portal Drive. Some of the 38 units will be for sale, and others will be operated as a hotel. Permitting is now underway and Douglas hopes to proceed through a design review process and begin construction in the spring.
Next week Douglas’ Harbor Lands Company will submit plans for a 21-unit condominium unit to be built on the Westview Motel site at 1300 Peace Portal Drive. As with all of the Harbor Lands projects, Douglas said that they will be designed according to the downtown décor motif city officials are promoting.

He also plans to build Cedar Court, an apartment complex on lots he owns north of the Bayside Motor Inn on Alder Street.