Cherry Street Building
COMMUNITY NOTICE
Demolition and removal of the Carmel Building on Cherry Street is underway.
KD&S Environmental has started the demolition of the Carmel Building on Cherry Street.
- Before demolition begins all asbestos will be removed from the building.
- The contractor will be working between 8:00AM and 4:30PM.
- The project is expected to take approximately two weeks to complete.
- Dust control will be performed as part of the project.
- The contractor plans on recycling structural material and concrete.
FOR SAFETY: please avoid the area and help inform kids in the neighborhood to stay away as heavy equipment will be on site. THANK YOU!
For any questions or comments about this project please contact:
Scott Studeman Sarah Tiffany
360.302.2194 360.390.4115
sstudeman@cityofpt.us stiffany@cityofpt.us
The Department of Planning and Community Development and City Council are currently reviewing the future disposition of the City-owned parcel of land, commonly referenced as "the Cherry Street Building" or “Carmel Building.” For a brief history of the Cherry Street Building, see below.
History of the Cherry Street Building
In 2017, the City and the Homeward Bound Community Land Trust entered into an agreement to deliver affordable housing with the refurbishment of the Carmel building that was barged from Victoria, British Columbia. The City took out an $834,000 bond in 2018 to fund engineering, design, permitting, and pre-construction costs and then authorized a loan to Homeward Bound with anticipated repayment funded partly by the rent of those units. The project was plagued with unanticipated challenges and Homeward Bound agreed to exit the project. The City subsequently authorized the transfer of ownership to another party, Bayside Housing, to complete the project. Work was underway to proceed with the transfer, including advancing a number of land use actions including but not limited to work on easements, right of way dedication, and permit review. Due to rising costs of construction and labor, Bayside Housing determined they were no longer able to take the project on.
Since that decision in June 2022, the City has been working through a number of possible options and scenarios. Those were debuted at the City Council workshop on August 8, 2022. More evaluation was completed in October 2023, with demolition of the building as a result of options presented to Council. A Council decision was made to surplus the property at a Public Hearing on November 6, 2023.
The fraught history of Cherry Street makes it clear that the cost of developing affordable housing without strong cost analysis and public-private partnerships is infeasible. The City is acknowledging that the Cherry Street Building project was an error, but this does not mean that we stop working on affordable housing. As the City moves forward, cost analysis as part of due diligence is a critical matter in projects such as Evans Vista. Ensuring financial feasibility is a key criteria of the Evans Vista planning effort and is fundamental for project success.
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