PORT TOWNSEND — After four months under white plastic sheeting, a 140-year-old building’s facade was exposed to sunlight Tuesday, and the full extent of its renovation will be visible by the end of the week.
The Eisenbeis Building, at 830 Water St., contains nine condos and will have the capacity for two retail spaces, according to Michelle Sandoval, a Realtor and part owner of the building.
Sandoval also is a City Council member and former mayor.
One retail outlet, Jonglo, has stayed open throughout the construction.
The newly polished facade has received extensive waterproof testing, according to project manager Keith Livingstone, whose company, STS Construction Services, is completing the project.
The new facade is now visible through a web of scaffolding, which Livingstone expects will be removed by the end of the week.
The project was scheduled for completion in May but was delayed slightly because of some change orders and the necessity of traveling to Canada for some materials, Livingstone said.
One of these orders had do to with the molding along the outside windows.
During construction, the contractors acquired an old photograph that had a level of detail missing from the previous plans.
The new detail was added at the bottom and top of the middle row of windows, which comes out at a 45-degree angle instead of the 90-degree angle on either side.
“We wanted this to be as close to the original building as possible,” Livingstone said.
During the construction, the five-person crew stayed in the vacant condos, which are not currently on the market but which will be put up for sale in the near future.
Charles Eisenbeis, the first mayor of Port Townsend, constructed the building that still bears his name in 1873 as a 20-foot-by-60-foot single-story structure — the first stone edifice in Port Townsend, according to the Jefferson County Historical Society.
Since that time, the building has housed a clothing store, hotel, movie theater and hardware store.
The building was purchased in 2005 for $4.4 million by Marlies Egberding and Ritch Sorgen, operating as Cracker Factory, with wthe goal of creating a shared retail and residence space.
The renovation included the construction of nine luxury condominiums. None was sold during the economic downturn that began in 2008, according to Sandoval.
Egberding and Sorgen lost the building in 2009 when it was taken over by Frontier Bank, which was itself closed and absorbed into Union Bank in 2010.
The sale of the building was finalized Dec. 26 to a newly created corporation known as Port Townsend Associates LLC for about $900,000.
Kirk Lanterman, a Seattle venture capitalist, is listed as the principal of the corporation, and Sandoval is listed as a board member, according to the Washington secretary of state’s website.
Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.w
