By Pepper Fisher
PORT ANGELES – The Port of Port Angeles will host a groundbreaking ceremony on Sunday, June 9 for the new $11 million Marine Trade Center on the Port Angeles waterfront.
The repurposing of the 18-acre property, former site of the K-Ply mill, is expected to create over 400 direct and indirect jobs when it becomes fully operational as a center for boat maintenance and repair. The jobs created by this project are forecasted to have an average wage of $55,000, almost twice the median wage in Clallam County.
Port Commissioner Connie Beauvais says the next step will be to get all the underground infrastructure in place, such as water, sewer, drainage and electrical utilities. She says the site is planned to be a modern industrial park that will allow for a variety of options for interested businesses.
“We’re really excited about this. We’ve got a number of companies that have looked and are considering taking in a space over there to do some of their work. But this is very important to get this phase of the work done and to get the utilities in so it will be easier for a company to come in and say, “Yep, we want to build here”, or, “Port, we want you to build for us and then we’ll lease the building from you.”
Beauvais says Port officials already have some structures in mind that, once built, will be available for short-term or long-term lease.
“If they just need a soft-sided building to do work, that can be arranged. If they were going to be working on a building that will just be a paint booth, so that when boats are ready to be painted they can just go into one particular area and get that done. There will be space for at least one building that is as large as the Platypus building. That’s the big blue building down there, so that they can get several vessels in there that are of good size. And so, we’re staying really flexible.”
There are plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the potential success of this new Marine Trade Center. Beauvais says the Port Angeles waterfront is one of the last, best options for this kind of facility in our region and beyond.
“This area is vitally important. As you look across all of the different ports, not just in this state but across the country, the footprints of the working waterfronts and ports are getting smaller and smaller as the areas are gentrified. This is one of the last areas that can be developed to do, really, across-water work. And so this is really important to develop.”