SEQUIM — It was a bright, sunglasses-demanding December day, nearly a year ago, when developer Bret Wirta broke ground for his Holiday Inn Express. But hard rains and other delays have pushed its opening back a bit.
Originally scheduled for a November debut, the three-story inn at 1441 E. Washington St. won’t be ready for another few months, Wirta said last week.
“We are currently shooting for February,” he said in an e-mail to the Peninsula Daily News. “Yes, we had weather-related, scheduling and product-ordering delays . . . If you could make it stop raining so we could pave, that would be a big help.”
The $8.5 million hotel is to have 77 guest rooms and suites, a swimming pool, rooftop gardens, a fitness center and conference space for 250 — and an adjacent Black Bear Diner.
That last addition won’t happen until after the Holiday Inn is finished.
“We are still being affected by constraints in the commercial construction lending markets,” Wirta said. “We aren’t able to begin construction on the Black Bear Diner until the hotel is opened.”
Yet he said the prognosis for the inn itself is healthy: “We have 15 conferences already scheduled and many room reservations.”
IHOP
At the other end of Sequim, an International House of Pancakes is taking shape. Owner Mohammad Khadar of Lynnwood hopes for a March opening of the restaurant at 1400 W. Washington St.
The shell on the 4,400-square-foot building is just about complete, and Sequim architect Roy Hellwig is at work on the plumbing, electrical and mechanical systems.
Khadar said he had to work out a compromise between the city’s design review board and the chain’s corporate office. The result is a building that will look like a typical IHOP, with a birch-white and blue motif.
Another construction project — one that has had many in Sequim wondering what ever happened — is still on hold.
Sequim Cinema
The Sequim Cinema, a nine-screen, 1,000-seat theater planned for East Washington Street at North Rhodefer Road, became the talk of the town about five years ago, as Sequim was experiencing an intense growth spurt.
Phil Lassila, who owns the Lincoln Theater in downtown Port Angeles and the Deer Park Cinema just east of that city, had architect William Lindberg design the Sequim Cinema back in 2004.
It was to become part of his Sun Basin theater chain, which also includes a multiplex in Wenatchee.
A land dispute with neighbor Ruth McCord slowed progress on the Sequim site; that was resolved in April, but the country was still in the midst of an economic meltdown.
“We’ve put a stop to everything” in terms of new construction, Lassila said Tuesday.
“With the economy the way it is, it’s too scary to spend that kind of money.”
The last time Sun Basin gave a cost projection for building the Sequim theater, the figure was $6 million — back in 2006. Lassila didn’t give an updated estimate.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
