PORT TOWNSEND — A Port Townsend developer who helped build the Swan Hotel in the early 1990s proposes a commercial building on recently cleared Port of Port Townsend property next to the hotel and the Northwest Maritime Center.
Doug Lamy, a former schooner captain who created and then managed the Swan Hotel until 1995, filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy that led to a trustee sale of the hotel, said he is working on financing to construct a building of up to 8,000 square feet where the Landfall Restaurant used to stand.
Restaurant and deck
He envisions a restaurant and wraparound deck on the second floor overlooking the port’s Point Hudson Marina at the intersection of Water and Jackson streets.
“I want a gracious thing,” Lamy said. “I’m going to do something that is tasteful, comfortable and makes money.”
Lamy gave a 10-minute project presentation to port commissioners last week.
Port officials, who wondered about parking and density issues as well as the city’s limit on restaurant square footage in the Point Hudson historic district, said the project will be considered in the fall after the Wooden Boat Festival at Point Hudson.
Other proposals that might crop up for the 5,000-square-foot former Landfall Restaurant site will also be considered.
The port last month demolished part of the former restaurant building and cleared the site — all but a 500-square-foot former World War II-era military shed deemed historic — to make way for a fish-and-chips stand inside the remaining structure and a small park to the south and west.
The site will remain as a food stand and park until the port commissioners can define the site’s future uses, port officials said.
Former proposal
Tony and Betty Harriman, former owners of The Landfall, proposed a two-story restaurant and lounge overlooking the marina in 2005 but later dropped the proposal and sold the business.
Lamy said his $1.6 million development would include a bank on the ground floor and other commercial space.
Other marine trades-oriented businesses could locate there if the bank chose not to use the ground space.
“I’m a half-fast architect and integrated thinker,” said Lamy, who was the last developer to be granted a building permit before the Port Townsend City Council in 1991 called a moratorium on all waterfront development, which was lifted after city leaders adopted more stringent shoreline development standards.
Lamy, who today at 63 is legally disabled, suffering from spina bifida, said he was an active participant in the city’s waterfront development plan in the 1990s.
Lamy said he awaits how the port commissioners will respond to his proposal.
“It’s going to be interesting,” he said.
Lamy has brought in a team to help him bring the project together, including Rod Mager, an architect for 40 years who lives in Chimacum; Michael Hale, a Port Townsend artist and illustrator; and Rob Gruye, a Port Townsend builder for 30 years.
Commissioners balk
Port commissioners were reluctant to endorse the project, saying it was too soon and other proposals would be considered for the site.
Port Commissioner Dave Thompson said the building’s design was attractive, but he shared the port’s concern that the restaurant proposed could be limited to the city’s square footage requirements for Point Hudson restaurants.
Already, four restaurants are located at Point Hudson.
“It’s just seems terribly premature,” said port Commissioner John Collins, when asked for his impression on Lamy’s proposal.
“I can’t get a fix on it. It did seem pretty massive for that site.”
Thompson also said the city’s shoreline master program for waterfront development would also be a factor in considering such a project at the site.
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Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
