PORT TOWNSEND — For the Northwest Maritime Center, this has been a week jammed with exhilaration. The Seventy48 race from Tacoma to Port Townsend wrapped Sunday. The WA360 race started Monday and saw its first finishers Thursday.
And by Friday, Executive Director Jake Beattie had announced a sweeping expansion plan: leasing of a 5,350-square-foot lot for a new Community Classroom and purchase of the Swan Hotel next door.
The Northwest Maritime Center campus, since opening in September 2009, has become home to dozens of youth and adult classes, camps and workshops, the Northwest Maritime Academy and the Maritime High School. The nonprofit center, in its 24,750 square feet of buildings on the nearly 1-acre campus, hosts regattas, races, swap meets, the “She Tells Sea Tales” night of storytelling and the Girls’ Boat Project.
Northwest Maritime Center Executive Director Jake Beattie has announced the purchase of the Swan Hotel from co-owner Cindy Finnie. (Diane Urbani de la Paz/Peninsula Daily News)
The center has outgrown its building at the foot of Water Street, Beattie said. During the pandemic year, he and his board of directors and staff — though reduced — started planning for different times.
On July 1, the center’s 30-year lease from the Port of Port Townsend will take effect on the piece of property where it will build a 3,000-square-foot building for new programs and classes.
The port is renting the parcel, a parking lot where the Landfall restaurant once was, to the center for 25 cents per square foot: $1,337.50 per month.
Fundraising is underway for the future structure there, Beattie said, and for the $2 million purchase of the Swan.
“We have a little over half secured” for the hotel, he said. The acquisition happened thanks to the proverbial aligned stars: owners Cindy and Joe Finnie are about ready to retire, and the maritime center is ready for a revenue generator.
“The secret about programs is they never make money,” Beattie quipped. So the maritime center will operate the Swan as a hotel for a good while, and perhaps bundle educational programs and lodging at some future time.
“We’re an odd nonprofit,” he said. “We’re pretty complicated,” with numerous programs that fulfill the educational mission plus money-making operations such as the boat races, the center’s 48° North magazine and its Wooden Boat Chandlery retail store.
The Northwest Maritime Center hosts boat races, classes, camps, workshops and the Wooden Boat Festival from its campus at the foot of Water Street in Port Townsend. (Diane Urbani de la Paz/Peninsula Daily News)
Swan Hotel income “will allow us to grow our programs,” Beattie said.
“And one thing we talked about with the Finnies: We want to make sure we’re good stewards of that iconic structure,” he said, adding the Finnies’ asking price was less than what they might have gotten on the open market.
“By selling to the maritime center, this is a way to give back to the community that’s been so good to us,” Cindy Finnie said Friday. The Finnies have owned the Swan since 1996.
“We knew it was a property that could enhance the maritime center even before they did,” she added.
Cindy had spent the morning taking reservations for the hotel, which has four vintage cottages and a main building that dates to the 1980s. With the cottages plus eight rooms and a two-story penthouse, the hotel has a loyal customer base, she said.
The Finnies also owned the nearby Bishop Hotel until last October, when they sold it. The sale of the Swan won’t be final until Jan. 1, Cindy noted.
“We have a busy summer ahead of us, but that’s good … I’m happy we weathered COVID,” she said.
“We did a lot a lot of maintenance. We made it through; we made it sparkle.”
As for the leased lot, which is just northwest of the center, the port’s agreement stipulates completion of the new classroom building by 2026.
“We want to be ready,” Beattie said, but fundraising can start relatively slowly. The center is in the process of recovery from the pandemic; last year its annual budget of some $5 million shrank toward $2 million, he said. With summer on the near horizon, the center is adding new positions to its 40-member staff.
Northwest Maritime Center Executive Director Jake Beattie has announced the purchase of the Swan Hotel from co-owner Cindy Finnie. (Diane Urbani de la Paz/Peninsula Daily News)
And with the summer boat races finishing up, the Northwest Maritime Center can continue preparations for its flagship event, the Wooden Boat Festival. The largest festival of its kind in North America is set for Sept. 10-12, with information for potential participants — from boaters to musicians — at woodenboat.org and NWmaritime.org.
________
Jefferson County senior reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-417-3509 or durbanidelapaz@peninsuladailynews.com.
