Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Bainbridge's Gateway development ready to welcome people to Winslow - Kitsap Sun

By Tad Sooter
Posted April 20, 2014 at 5:19 p.m.

BAINBRIDGE ISLAND — A familiar bakery and a new tavern are among the businesses setting up shop this spring on Bainbridge Island’s busiest street corner.

Contractors are putting finishing touches on the last building in the Island Gateway development at Winslow Way and Highway 305. Interior finish work, driveway paving, landscaping and signage are all that remain to complete the five-year project, said Andrew Lonseth of development firm Asani.

Photo by Meegan M. Reid, Kitsap Sun 
Andrew Lonseth talks about lights to illuminate the Eagle Harbor Market sign that is part of the Island Gateway development at Winslow Way and Highway 305.
Island Gateway already is home to the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, Kids Discovery Museum and tech firm Avalara. The final two-story building on Winslow Way is filling fast.

Bainbridge Bakers, a popular café in Winslow Green, will open a second location this week on the ground floor. The bakery will be joined in late June by the Ale House on Winslow, a planned craft beer taproom. Avalara expanded into the top floor of the building. A rooftop event deck will be available for rent.
 Photo by Meegan M. Reid, Kitsap Sun  Andrew Lonseth exits the rooftop Thursday of the Island Gateway development on Bainbridge Island.
Photo by Meegan M. Reid, Kitsap Sun
Andrew Lonseth exits the rooftop Thursday of the Island Gateway development on Bainbridge Island.
One street-front retail space in the building remains to be filled. Lonseth said he is in discussions with several potential tenants but nothing has been finalized.

“We’d like a tenant that brings interest and excitement,” Lonseth said. “It’s important to us that we have a destination community.”

Bainbridge Bakers owner Mike Loudon said he’d had his eye on the corner location since well before the Gateway project broke ground.

“It’s the realization of a pretty long dream,” Loudon said Friday.

The new Bainbridge Bakers has seating for 85. Like the original location, it serves coffee, baked goods and food. Beer and wine will be added to the mix later this year.

The café also can double as a venue for theatrical and musical performances. Loudon, an avid community theater booster, said seating can be rearranged to accommodate 150 guests.

“I’m so excited about having it filled with music and people and light,” he said. “It’s going to be something pretty special for the island.”

Bakery customers might well mosey next door after those evening performances. The neighboring Ale House on Winslow aims to fill a niche as a craft beer taproom and late-night hangout.

Andrew Lonseth talks Thursday about the remaining construction to take place in the space that will house the Ale House on Winslow in the Island Gateway development on Bainbridge Island.
Photo by Meegan M. Reid, Kitsap Sun
Andrew Lonseth talks Thursday about the remaining construction to take place in the space that will house the Ale House on Winslow in the Island Gateway development on Bainbridge Island.
Travis Samson, one of four partners in the venture, said the Ale House will be outfitted with 16 taps and a wide variety of bottled beer and wine. They plan to stock a large number of local brews, alongside a sampling of domestic brands and a few imports.

“I’d like to make Bainbridge more of a destination for beer geeks,” Samson said. “Our overall goal is to have a beer there for everyone,”

Samson, 27, worked at Silver City Brewery before deciding to go into business with a group of college friends. They still have ambitions to start a microbrewery in Seattle, but Samson said the chance to create a tavern in the Island Gateway was too good to pass up.

The Ale House on Winslow sign Thursday adorns one of the windows of the Island Gateway development at Winslow Way and Highway 305.
Photo by Meegan M. Reid, Kitsap Sun
The Ale House on Winslow sign Thursday adorns one of the windows of the Island Gateway development at Winslow Way and Highway 305.

“It’s literally the first thing you’ll see coming off the ferry,” he said.

The Gateway project rapidly transformed the island’s main entry over the past five years, filling the 5-acre corner with a cluster of distinctly modern structures.

The final building in the development was constructed on the site of the Eagle Harbor Market, a small grocery opened by the Nakata family in the 1940s. The new Gateway building now bears the same name.

“It’s a little historical gesture,” Lonseth said.

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Bainbridge Ferry Terminal Building Rehabilitation

PHC Construction was hired by Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) to renovate the existing Bainbridge Ferry terminal building to enhance earthquake safety, upgrade the public restrooms, and replace many aging building components. 

Here are some recent photos from the construction site and some additional information about the project from the WSDOT website.






Why is WSDOT rehabilitating the Bainbridge Island terminal building?
The existing terminal building was built in 1955 and does not meet current seismic design codes, other building codes and energy efficiency guidelines. The public restrooms are inadequate and do not meet American Disabilities Act (ADA) guidelines.

The End Result
The exterior walls of the terminal building will be stronger.  Customers will notice the following:
- The public restrooms will be larger, in a new location and meet current codes.
- The inside tollbooths will be demolished, improving passenger flow through the building.
- Space will be created inside the building for the WSF vendor Commuter Comforts presently operating outside.
- The building will have all new exterior windows and sliding doors, a new roof, a new electrical panel, new light fixtures, and a new heating, ventilation and air conditioning unit.

Project Benefits
This project will improve safety during an earthquake by retrofitting the building to current design codes. The main public restrooms will be enlarged to provide more capacity and meet design codes and ADA guidelines. The new roof will eliminate leaks. The new electrical panel will increase reliability and reduce maintenance on the panel, as well as allow a potential vendor to lease space inside the building. The overall energy efficiency of the building will increase with more efficient lighting and windows.

What is the project timeline?

  • Jan. 2014 - Began construction
  • Sept. 2014 - Project expected to be complete
For more information contact:
Nicole McIntosh
WSF Terminal Design Engineering Manager

Hadley Rodero
WSF Communications
206-515-3411
roderoh@wsdot.wa.gov