Sinking floor could doom historic warehouse

Over the past year, a horrible eyesore on La Conner’s southern waterfront has been quietly turning into something that will make the town proud.

But it may prove too costly to save the property’s biggest structure, the 70-foot warehouse, from burrowing animals, substandard soil and the ravages of 117 years.

Triton America took control of the old Moore Clark property last April and has already refurbished three of the five buildings on the three-acre site.

Last week Triton CFO and Controller Ron Halterman met with the La Conner Planning Commission to bring the commissioners up to date on the plans for the property.

So far, buildings on the eastern side of the property, which lies along the Swinomish Channel between Caledonia Street and Maple Hall, have been restored. Those buidings presently provide workspace for 10 employees in Triton’s aerospace engineering company and that workforce will grow to 25, Halterman told the commission.

Next in line to be fixed up are the buildings on the waterfront. First is the old “refrigerator building” next to Maple Hall. Halterman said his company plans to move quickly on that — before the roof deteriorates further — in hopes of attracting a tenant. “I’d like to see a brew pub operation in there,” he said.

The building is large enough for a brewery to make product in the back and have a pub on the waterfront side, he said.

Less certain is the eventual fate of the massive circa 1898 Moore Clark warehouse on the waterfront. “Big Blue,” as the warehouse is known to people who can remember when it had paint, has been in a state of decay for decades.

The worst part, Halterman said: the concrete floor is sinking.

Estimates on restoring the that building range as high as $10 million, and none of it can be done unless the floor can be stabilized. Halterman said Triton’s desire is to save the structure, which is a landmark on the La Conner waterfront. It is also architecturally important, as it is one of only a few such buildings still standing today.

He said if the property can be saved, Triton’s vision is to enhance La Conner’s artist community by having work space and apartments for artists in the upstairs portion of Big Blue and a weekend indoor farmers market and art gallery below. Big doors on the waterfront end of the building could be swung open in warm weather.

But, the concrete floor “could be a deal killer,” he said. If the floor can’t be stabilized, the building will have to come down and never replaced. The company will know in the next three to six months whether the structure can be saved.

The building actually encroaches eight feet into what is S. First Street. Should it come down, the town would be able to extend First Street south to Caledonia.

Triton bought the property after a bank foreclosure three years ago for $2.34 million. For more than 15 years, Vaughan Jolley had been trying to develop the land, but when the economy tanked, he lost the land.

To give Jolley another shot at fulfilling his dream, Triton bought the property from the bank, paid up three years in back taxes, and leased the land back to Jolley for two years. The two years were up last March.

Once Jolley vacated, the first order of business was a massive cleanup of the land. For years Jolley had subleased the land to Alpac Components, a manufacturer of walls for buildings.

Alpac apparently seldom took out the trash. Instead the 70-foot tall Big Blue was packed almost to the rafters with refuse. Triton cleaned up the land semi truckload after semi truckload over several weeks. Halterman told the planning commission that the cleanup alone cost $150,000.

Triton, which owns Pioneer Point Marina at the southernmost end of La Conner’s waterfront, has a long reputation as being a good neighbor in La Conner. The company used to operate its’ Bayview Industries windmill mold manufacturing business out the La Conner Pier property on Caledonia Street before the Upper Skagit Tribe bought the property.

The windmill molds were so huge, they couldn’t be loaded on trucks in town, and had to be pushed on wheels to a waiting semi near the roundabout. Triton was considerate of the residents, and always gave plenty of notice on mold moving days and did its best to prevent traffic snarls.

At the Moore Clark property, there won’t be any manufacturing taking place, Halterman said. There will be no smells or noises to annoy nearby residents. The restored portion of the land is an engineering think tank.

And while the waterfront side is still a work in progress, Halterman said the company wants to make it something that will be an asset to the town and help enhance tourism.