Squalicum firms define new waterfront era
More than just maritime businesses

by Christopher Key

 

Our monthly community focus feature has occasionally given us the opportunity to define new business communities. On other occasions, we have unintentionally redefined existing ones. The latter is the case this month as we expand the boundaries of Squalicum Harbor to include everything between Georgia-Pacific and Mt. Baker Plywood.

This is somewhat justified by the fact that the area we defined is currently undergoing sweeping changes as Bellingham forms a new vision for the waterfront. When the subject came up during an interview with Port of Bellingham officials, there was general agreement that perhaps the term North Waterfront might be more accurate.

Peter Paulsen has done as much to reshape that area as anyone. Paulsen tried to retire several years ago but found the lack of stimulation not to his taste. Sticking his neck out with the Bellwether development got the adrenaline flowing again.

“Everything’s a risk,” Paulsen said. “Sometimes you just have to make things happen. I’m more pro-active than most, I suppose. We started with the hotel. This city needed a waterfront hotel and I wanted one with an upscale European image.”

The big gamble is beginning to pay off. Paulsen’s Hotel Bellwether just scored four stars in the latest edition of Northwest Best Places.

“The complex is taking longer to fill up than I anticipated,” Paulsen said, “but new leases are being negotiated all the time. Part of the attraction, of course, is the underground parking, which is unique to downtown Bellingham.”

Paulsen would like to see more pedestrian friendly activities on the waterfront.

“We need more little shops,” Paulsen said. “Those and the hotel can feed off each other.”

He is not bashful in defining Bellwether as separate from Squalicum Harbor.

“We promote it separately and the Bellwether community has its own merchants association,” Paulsen said. “We need to concentrate on Bellwether right now. There’s a lot happening here with the restaurants, deli, coffee shop.”

Paulsen said that the whole thing would not have happened without a good relationship with the Port of Bellingham.

“If you can create jobs,” Paulsen said, “then the Port is interested.”

Paulsen takes on one development at a time because of his personal commitment to a vision.

“I want to create quality projects,” Paulsen said, “because they make happy tenants. I always remain personally involved, constantly watching so that it will go the way I envisioned it. It’s just the way I like to do things.”

His company reflects that approach. He doesn’t hire a lot of vice presidents to oversee things for him.

“I have good people,” Paulsen said, “but not a lot of them. I can do most of it myself thanks to new technology.”

That new technology is very much a part of his vision for Bellwether.

“We have to be pioneers,” Paulsen said. “That’s why we we’re completely wired with fiber optics here.”

Once Paulsen gets a project running smoothly, he plans to take it easy for a year or two. Usually, though, he gets bored and goes back to work dreaming up new ventures.

Things are about to start happening in the Bellwether complex again. The Port of Bellingham has received four responses to its recent request for proposals. The project is to develop the area between the Marina Restaurant and Anthony’s and the area between the Coast Guard and the Paulsen Building. Two of the responses came from Vancouver, BC, and two were local. Proposals will be reviewed by the staff and commissioners and successful bidders will be called in to make a presentation. The Port hopes to make a decision by the end of this month.

The Port has also signed a joint marketing agreement with Paulsen for the existing Bellwether development. The campaign will be aimed at attracting new businesses and is targeted to Washington, Oregon and Idaho.

“We’re looking to raise awareness of the Bellwether area with lots of events this summer,” said Shirley McFearin, real estate development manager for the port. “We’ll have four full moon concerts in cooperation with the Mt. Baker Theatre. The Bellingham Festival of Music will present some of its programs at Bellwether.”

McFearin is bullish about Bellwether.

“The occupancy rate is higher than we expected,” she said, “and the caliber of tenants is very high. The north waterfront is now much more than just a maritime district.”

One of the businesses helping redefine the area is Town and Country Jewelers. Owner Gary Dietz has been a jeweler for 28 years. He’s been in Bellingham for 10 years and the store was established seven years ago at a Holly Street location.

“It’s a risk, moving to a newly developed area,” Dietz said. “I signed the lease right before 9/11 and had no choice but to forge ahead.”

At Bellwether, he has a much larger storefront and a freestanding location.

“Our first year here matched our best year on Holly Street,” Dietz said. “However, our expenses are higher, so we’ve had to do some belt-tightening.”

Customer service and quality are the top priorities at Town and Country.

“We have exclusivity with all of our vendors in the area north of Seattle,” Dietz said, “and we can compete with Internet businesses in our pricing.”

Dietz also claims he can beat the big jewelry chains.

“The chains can generally get higher prices for their merchandise than independent jewelry stores,” Dietz said. “Unfortunately, their customers are usually not as well informed as those who shop at the independents.”

The business is beginning to benefit from its proximity to the Hotel Bellwether.

“Out of town people who stay at the hotel are always very taken with the area,” Dietz said. “We recently had our first customers who came to the hotel for a romantic weekend, got engaged and bought the ring here.”

Foot traffic is not as high as it was at the Holly Street location, but customers tend to buy bigger ticket items.

“We’ve been affected by 9/11, the economy and war jitters,” Dietz said, “So we’ve had to be more aggressive at seeking out new business.”

One of the more successful ventures is a contract with the US Navy.

“I do all the goldsmithing for the bases at Everett and Whidbey,” Dietz said. “I also do diamond setting and jewelry repairs for the post exchanges.”

The markup on diamonds has declined steadily over the past five years, so Dietz tries to make up for that by doing lots of custom work.

“We can offer comparable quality, style, uniqueness and customer service to anybody in Seattle or elsewhere in the nation,” Dietz said.

Just a couple of blocks down Roeder Avenue is a business ubiquitous in Whatcom County, Sanitary Services Corporation. It was founded by Gus Razore, who began picking up garbage with a flatbed truck in 1929.

“The fact that service is our middle name is far more than just a cliché,” said Rodd Pemble, who manages the company’s recycling division.

Under the state’s tariff system, SSC has exclusive rights to garbage hauling for the entire county, with the exception of Blaine, Nooksack and Lynden. The recycling part of the operation and the portable restrooms are unregulated.

“Our approach is that we succeed by doing what’s best for the customer,” Pamble said. “For example, there may be recycling opportunities that a small business may not be aware of. I want to be the first to talk to them and find out how we can help them save money. Some of those recycling opportunities aren’t profitable for us, but if we can gain a long term customer it adds to our stability.”

SSC employs 52 drivers and 25 more in the shop and office.

“I take a lot of pride in managing an exceptional group of employees,” Pemble said. “They do a great job under difficult circumstances. It’s hard physical work under all kinds of weather conditions. There’s a lot of customer interaction and problem solving required. The drivers have to have a Commercial Drivers License and be able to get the trucks in and out of some very tight spots. We have extraordinarily low turnover because our drivers get good pay and benefits. Some of them have been with us 20 – 25 years.”

SSC rotates routes among its drivers to help alleviate boredom and also switches them between heavy and light runs.

“Safety is the number one priority with our employees,” Pemble said, “and we have a great safety record.”

The garbage business is not subject to economic fluctuations, but recycling tends to increase a bit when times are tough.

“Demand for the portable restrooms goes up and down,” Pemble said. “We also rent construction boxes and that is somewhat sensitive to the economy. Whatcom County’s relative stability is reflected in our business. We’re delivering new residential boxes all the time. It seems like there are always new streets and subdivisions and we bend over backward to serve them.”

Hauling trash provides an interesting perspective on the economy.

“Our business turnover is not nearly as great as it was a while back,” Pemble said. “They seem to be sticking around longer.”

There has been a sea change when it comes to recycling.

“Recycling continues to grow, it’s not just a fad,” Pemble said. “The concept has been around long enough that it has become institutionalized. No longer does it depend on one fanatic individual in the home or office; everyone is on board. Recycling is now a habit that children acquire at a very early age.”

SSC has a reputation for community involvement.

“When you’ve been around for more than 70 years,” said Pemble, “you build a lot of relationships and become part of the community. We want to be a part of anything that is good for all of us — Ski to Sea, Lydia Place, the Jingle Bell Run, Sean Humphrey House, and the Human Race. Bellingham is not into spectator sports, but participation. So we look to sponsor events that help build community.”

The Boatyard at Colony Wharf has been around under various names since the Whatcom Waterway was dredged in the early 1900s. Twenty independent contractors, calling themselves The Pros, work at the facility.

“For years, we were the biggest ready mix concrete company in the county,” said president Pete Gaasland.

That business, Builders Concrete, Inc., is still reflected in the name of the parent company, BC Investment Corp.

“We’re applying for a name change right now,” Gaasland said. “Too many people assume that BC stands for British Columbia and we’re tired of the confusion.”

The old ready-mix business played a big role in the construction of Intalco and the BP Cherry Point refinery, but found its market share slipping in the 1980s.

“We decided to get out of that business,” Gaasland said. “We had developed a good business building marinas and had plants in California and Florida.”

The company sold off most of its businesses in 1995, but retained its land along C Street west of Roeder Avenue.

“We’re basically just a landlord now,” Gaasland said.

There are six employees at the boatyard, which was hit hard by the cutbacks at Georgia-Pacific and Gaasland says many boat owners are postponing maintenance work.. The company is now trying to develop a warehouse and office complex at the corner of C St. and Roeder, but is having to deal with some inherited environmental problems.

“We’re surrounded by what used to be the city landfill and the Chevron fuel storage facility,” Gaasland said. “There’s a lot of soil contaminated by methane and hydrocarbons. We’re essentially stymied until those issues get resolved. We didn’t create the problems, but we having to deal with them. It’s a very slow process. The government agencies involved don’t seem to be in any hurry. Meanwhile, we can’t even use the property for collateral until this gets resolved. Our property fronts on Whatcom Creek, a salmon stream, and that just makes things even more complicated.”

Gaasland said that the city and port have been supportive of his development plans, but that they can’t do much about speeding up a ponderous process.

When Gaasland’s project eventually gets built, it will be another step toward the redefining of Bellingham’s waterfront. As Gaasland can attest, it’s often a painfully slow process. But if the rest of the waterfront redevelopment turns out to be as successful as the Bellwether complex, Bellingham will truly have an area to brag about.