BELLINGHAM, WA. – (KGMI.com) The Port of Bellingham is moving to further sideline the company it had contracted to lead redevelopment of Bellingham’s waterfront.
Port Commissioner Michael Shepard says they notified Harcourt Developments in early October that it was in default of its contract to complete residential buildings in the Waterfront District.
“They had a number of development milestones to meet for implementation of these condos,” said Shepard. “And we just haven’t seen them be able to do that.”
The Port picked Harcourt to be the Master Developer of 19 acres on the former Georgia Pacific site in 2015 but has since pared that down to nine acres as it struggled to meet deadlines.
Shepard says part of the problem may a lack of presence by the Ireland-based company.
“I’ve always been critical of Harcourt for not staffing a local presence with project managers and other professionals that have an office, that are on our time zone, that live and are staffed up here,” said Shepard.
He credits Harcourt with a successful renovation of the Granary Building and says it will still be able to bid on future projects.
But he does not expect that the company will retain exclusive options on waterfront redevelopment.