Cornerstone Building Planned For Spring

Talbot Real Estate plans to build a 100-unit apartment building on the open plot of muddy grass on 3102 Newmarket Street. The 1.4-acre property between Sloane Lane, Barkley Boulevard and Newmarket Street is the future site of the Cornerstone Building, which, in addition to apartments, will feature 10,000 square ft. of space for commercial use.

According to Stowe Talbot, Vice President of Talbot Real Estate, the Cornerstone will mix studio apartments, with single- and double-bedroom units available for occupants to own or rent. If the permitting process goes according to schedule, builders will break ground in spring of 2013 and aim to finish construction within 10 to 12 months. The completed Cornerstone will have two additional underground floors for parking, accessible from an eastside service road, according to a September building proposal.

The City of Bellingham has already approved the Design Review Permit for the project. Next, Talbot Real Estate will have to submit an application for a building permit, which will be reviewed by various offices in the city, including the Public Works and Building Departments, said Brian Smart, who works for the Planning and Community Development Department.

Georgiana Huddle, who works at the Barkley branch of the Bellingham Public Library, said she hopes more people come to the library after the Cornerstone is built. Right now, she says, about 300 people visiting the library per day is normal.   

Despite her optimism about more library activity, she said, “I’m sad about losing my view.”   

The Barkley library sits on the ground floor of the Drake Building, the only other residential property owned by Talbot Real Estate, which has condominiums as its only housing option. When the Cornerstone is built, the two housing units will face each other, and Huddle isn’t the only one concerned about the view.

A Drake Building resident who wished to be identified only as “an elderly lady” said she thought Barkley was a “beautiful and convenient place to live” but that the scene outside of her window will be marred by the larger-than-life apartments in the Cornerstone.

“As I understand, it’s gonna be very large,” she said, “I hate to see it come, but that’s life.”

She said she had little power to change the building plans. “I’m a renter, and nobody talks to renters.”

Barkley resident Kathy Hennessy said she was uncertain about what would happen to traffic and parking as a result of the new apartments. “But the area’s zoned for high-use,” she said. “The City’s done a traffic analysis and they think the area can handle it.”

Geralyn Reinart, a Seattle-based professional engineer, compiled that traffic analysis to in 2010. Among its findings were that commercial development in Barkley would increase the influx of people at a rate of 3000 more trips per day. The report also estimated that the City of Bellingham and the Barkley company would fix roads, add traffic lights and other improvements at a rate that would keep the area manageable.

Although the Design Review has passed, Smart said that obstacles to building could arise when Talbot Real Estate submits their building permit.  The City’s main concern about the building, Smart said, is how much the Cornerstone will add to light pollution. Bellingham prioritizes keeping its skies dark, he said.

To combat that worry, Talbot said, builders would direct all exterior lighting downwards. The building will have normal sidewalk streetlamps around it, and he said safety on the streets wouldn’t be a huge concern since the area has so many businesses and people surrounding it.

Whenever Talbot Real Estate submits their building application, Smart said, the city will take from 21-28 days to process it and either approve it or require changes.

“If they make any major changes to the infrastructure,” he said, “they might have to start all over again with the Design Review Permit.”  

But as long as they maintain the Cornerstone’s planned “architectural integrity,” Smart said, Talbot Real Estate won’t face any more official obstacles to building. There was a 14-day period in which citizens could appeal the building plans, but that ended Nov. 2.

Barkley Haggen Celebrates Northwest Fresh Remodel

On the afternoon of October 31, cars and people moved through Barkley Village in a crowded, chaotic ballet after the ribbon-cutting ceremony for Haggen’s Northwest Fresh remodel.  Adding to the event’s theatrical mood, a quarter of the shoppers were in costume.

It was the first of two “community celebrations” to commemorate the facelift of Haggen at Barkley Village, according to Haggen’s website. The second event, a grand opening, will take place on Nov. 3 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

According to store manager George Feldman, Barkley Haggen added about 1200 new items to its shelves in the update to Northwest Fresh. The arrangement of the aisles and products has also changed, leaving a design that Feldman called “much more central.”

“The whole idea behind Northwest Fresh is to open things up,” he said.

The product additions and new layout are meant to draw attention to local, organic, and gluten-free foods, Feldman said.

            However, food isn’t the only prominently displayed item on Haggen shelves: there’s also a plethora of beer, wine and spirits, about which some customers are critical.

“The alcohol has become the focal point,” said Anna Maxwell, who said she enjoys an occasional drink but doesn’t want booze in the center of her shopping experience.

Gina Urcuyo, who represents Barkley in the Mayor’s Neighborhood Advisory Commission, echoed that sentiment: “I don’t like the placement of alcohol at the front entrance of the store,” she said.

Feldman said that alcohol sat in front while Haggen during the rearranging process, but that it is now in a less-visible “permanent position.”

Kids and adults dressed as witches, fairies, superheroes, hillbillies and more roamed the aisles in search of purchases and samples. Offerings of free food included mussels, candied smoked salmon, donuts, chocolate, sausage, granola, grapes, and garlicky spreads. Local farmers stood behind the sample tables, handing out food they’d grown or slaughtered.

Another Northwest Fresh update is the addition of a wooden gazebo-like structure in the center of the store called “Discovery Bay,” where Keith Paddock of Penn Cove Shellfish fried mussels and chatted with shoppers.

Paddock, who lives in Anacortes, said that “Discovery Bay” would be used in the future to showcase events such as wine tastings, wine classes, and cooking classes.

He said he was surprised to return to Bellingham after a year of absence to find that Barkley had grown so much.

            “It’s like a whole new town now,” he said.

Feldman said that the response to Northwest Fresh has been positive so far. “The ambience is warm, open and inviting,” he said. “The employees and guests love what’s been done here.”

Not everyone at the Wednesday celebration shared that opinion, however. While she praised Haggen for always having “exotic” ingredients if she was looking for them, Maxwell said that she thought things were fine before the change to Northwest Fresh.

“I think it’s really nice, but I’m having a hard time finding things now,” she said.

Shoppers’ facial expressions varied from enthralled to bewildered to downright angry as they navigated Haggen’s new layout. One woman paced agitatedly in circles, inquiring to no one where they had moved the pharmacy.

“I’ve got very little time, and this is taking too much of it. I live out in the county, close to this store, and I’m going to start doing my shopping somewhere else,” she said.  She would not provide her name.

A spokesman for Monster Energy Drinks, David, spent the afternoon observing the parking lot and handing out free beverages. He didn’t see any accidents, but remarked, “This parking lot is too small. Too many cars, too few spots.”

Haggen has 14 stores open in Washington and two in Oregon. Feldman said that the Northwest Fresh model is only at Barkley right now, but he expects that the Meridian and Fairhaven Haggens will undergo similar changes.

Regal Cinema Plans Barkley Opening for December; Generates Mixed Public Response

By mid-December, construction on the 16-screen Regal Cinema in Barkley Village will have finished and the theater will open its doors, says Rachel Lueras, marketing manager for Regal Entertainment Group.

Although a sign in front of the construction zone reads, “Opening fall 2012,” Lueras said that the project has gone according to schedule.

Theater plans were announced in a Nov. 2010 newsletter from the Barkley Company. Workers and residents in Barkley have seen construction since last spring.

Eric Brown, who manages the Orient Express at Barkley Haggen, looks forward to the projects’ completion.  “I’m hoping that the area gets busier,” he said, but expressed concern about circulation around the theater.

“Even now, the traffic from the Alabama light gets completely backed up after 5 p.m.,” said Brown.

Abbe Rolnick, owner of Robek’s Fruit Smoothies, has spent the last eight years running her business in Barkley and anticipates more activity when the movie theater comes in. 

“That kind of expansion brings in new people who wouldn’t normally come through,” she said.

Her staff, she said, is excited for the theater to begin showing films. 

“They’re looking for somewhere to go as a treat. They see it positively.”

            Some in Barkley are more critical of the theater’s progress.

Karen Sheldon said of the theater, “I think it’s terrible.”

            “The city can’t see problems in places that need work…they are leaving lots of empty buildings,” she said.

            At least two empty buildings will result from the Barkley Cinema: the Regal Cinemas in both Sehome and Sunset Square will be closed, said Lueras. The Sehome location has already been put up for sale for $1.4 million.

            Sheldon thinks the cinema would encourage an atmosphere similar to a shopping mall. “It’ll be your typical Subway and nail salon,” she said.

            For Rolnick and her smoothie shop, however, the potential for the area’s expansion was why she opened her business in Barkley eight years ago.

            “It was considered a risk in the beginning,” she said.  But opening a business in the then-fledgling Barkley Village, “turned out to be a wise decision.”

            “If you look at the long term,” she said, “Everyone in the area will benefit. And after the recession, people like to feel the community growing. After the recession, there’s security in growth.”

            When finished, the Regal Barkley Village Stadium 16 will feature seats with headrests, a computerized box office, all-digital projection, and retractable cup holders, according to the website. It will also have an IMAX theater, the first in Bellingham.

Lueras offered no guarantees that current employees at Sunset and Sehome would be provided a job in Barkley, but Regal has already posted job applications on its website for new managers and floor staff.

“When the other movie theater comes up, people are ready to get fired,” said a 19-year-old Whatcom Community College Student, who has friends and peers employed at the Sunset location. She asked not to be identified because she plans to apply at the Barkley Regal Cinema.