PORT TOWNSEND — Bids on a long-awaited Northwest Maritime Center project are expected to be opened today, and that could lead to a contract to begin construction this year.
Building one or both of the proposed multi-million-dollar maritime heritage and education buildings is a decision the maritime center board could make in the next two months, said Stan Cummings, executive director of the center and the Wood Boat Foundation.
“This is a pretty exciting process,” Cummings said.
“The next 60 days are going to be wild.”
“There are a number of options that will come back to us,” Cummings said of the bids, “and these options will be considered.
“It will be a board decision ultimately, and that decision will probably be made at our April board meeting.”
Cummings said the general consensus among board and staff members and project architectural consultants Mill/Hull was to construct both buildings of the 27,000-square-foot waterfront facility to save on construction costs.
After more than a year of delays, the Northwest Maritime Center and Wooden Boat Foundation in late November committed to make a call for bids on one of two maritime heritage center buildings planned at the Hudson Point Marina end of Water Street.
With the project’s capital fund-raising campaign burdened by skyrocketing construction costs, Cummings said the time was right to move ahead.
Cummings said that, for awhile, construction costs exceeded the money raised.
The cost of the first building, which includes the purchase of the former Thomas Oil property and the Maritime Center dock, is $12.5 million.
The second building could bring the project total cost to $17.5 million, Cummings said in November, leaving the maritime center with about $5 million to raise for the second building.
The actual cost of the project will be unknown until all the bids are in, he said.
Cummings said he believes once existing donors see progress, they might stand up to contribute to the project once again.
Cummings, who came on board more than a year ago, has been reluctant to set a date to break ground for the project.
