PORT TOWNSEND — Traffic was detoured Thursday around the route of a two-story apartment building as the structure that was floated on a barge over the Strait of Juan de Fuca from Victoria was moved through town to its permanent site.
Work is scheduled to start immediately on the two-story apartment building settled on the corner of Cherry and Van Ness streets in Port Townsend to be used as affordable housing.
The four-unit building arrived in Port Townsend on Wednesday afternoon and a crowd of community members, including Mayor Deborah Stinson and a number of city council members, watched from the Pourhouse, a taproom, as it was unloaded.
After sitting in the Pourhouse parking lot on Washington Street overnight, the building was trucked through town starting at 9 a.m. Thursday.
The Port Townsend City Council approved a loan to the Olympic Housing Trust for the moving expenses — expected to be $210,000 — at a meeting in late April. Last week, the council declared the property at Cherry and Van Ness streets as surplus.
Mark Blatter, volunteer project manager for the Olympic Housing Trust, said movers started the day on schedule.
Trucks from the Jefferson County Public Utility District, Wave Cable and CenturyLink were sent ahead of the truck hauling the apartment to take down some of the low-hanging power lines on the route through town.
There was a slight delay on the corner of 19th and Landes streets just before noon. A fiber-optic cable wasn’t accounted for and proved to be difficult to remove. It was eventually lifted up and out of the way, and the truck carrying the structure proceeded down Blaine Street.
It was placed on the site just before 3 p.m.
Blatter said the building will be moved off the wheels it was hauled on and onto cribbing, a wooden base that will allow workers to work underneath it.
The plan is to build a base for the building and frame a lower level for future units, which would be added to the existing two-bedroom, one-bath units in the apartment building, Blatter said.
Blatter said once the structure is off the wheels, workers can begin basic rehabilitation of the units.
He expects the apartments to be ready to rent in three to four months.
The 900-square foot units will be rented for no more than $1,100 per month including utilities and will be open to households making roughly $36,000 to $52,000 per year.
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Jefferson County Editor/Reporter Cydney McFarland can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 55052, or at cmcfarland@peninsuladailynews.com.
