SEQUIM — The historic Sequim Opera House is getting a face-lift — and the commercial complex in which the building sits will get a new name.
Owners Gary and Carol Zellmer are about to rename what has been known as Town Square, which is off Washington Street between North Sequim Avenue and Seal Street, to Sequim Trading Co. Plaza.
The name harkens back to 1902 when merchant and pioneer businessman Charles Franklin Seal opened Sequim’s first mercantile, Sequim Trading Co., where Hurricane Coffee Co. is located today, Carol Zellmer said.
While other improvements on the plaza have been completed, the focus now is on the opera house, where age and dry rot have taken their toll.
“Our intention is to preserve the building as best as we can,” Carol Zellmer said of the 1907 opera house, which Integrity Builders is outfitting with new siding.
“It’s a money pit, but a grand old lady.”
The building was reroofed last year, and Gary Zellmer said adjoining buildings will be painted to match the opera house.
The Zellmers said a new Sequim Trading Co. Plaza sign will be installed in the coming month fronting the plaza on Washington Street.
The plaza has eight businesses and an adjoining 38-space parking lot at Seal Street with driveways off Washington and Cedar streets.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
