PORT ANGELES — The pink building on Railroad Avenue next to the MV Coho ferry landing will be sticking around and should look better soon.
But it also will remain vacant for the foreseeable future.
Port Angeles Downtown Association Executive Director Arla Holzschuh said the building appears on an inventory of historic buildings conducted for the Port Angeles International Gateway Transportation Center project.
That historic distinction means the building must be preserved to pursue a three-year, $540,000 Rural Heritage Development Initiative Pilot Project grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
Holzschuh said the Downtown Association is collaborating with the Port Townsend Main Street program to apply for one of the two grants to be awarded nationally.
The grant application deadline is June 30 and the awards will be announced Sept. 19.
It’s easy going green
In the meantime, the Downtown Association will enlist some of its members to paint the building while the state Department of Natural Resources continues trying to lease it, Holzschuh said.
The Downtown Association has chosen the “downtown green” hue that gradually has been replacing the blue on buildings, she said.
But how long it will take the department to lease the building remains to be seen.
The building sits on state-owned aquatic lands. It was leased for use as an attorney’s office, but that lease expired in November 1998.
The former tenant was evicted and the building has sat vacant since.
Straits District Manager Martha Hurd said leasing the building is low on the agency’s priority list.
They also want to move slowly so that any potential renters understand the details of what uses are allowed, she said.
