Port of Everett Signs Tenant to Restore, Reopen Historic Weyerhaeuser Building
Building to double as a whiskey and coffee bar/museum, along with hosting boating clubs
The Port of Everett and Weyerhaeuser Muse LLC, owned by Jack and Jin Ng of China City Property LLC, have entered into a 10-year lease to restore and reopen Everett’s historic Weyerhaeuser Building as a new community gathering space and commemorate the building’s rich history.
The agreement includes plans to renovate the 1920s-era waterfront icon to serve as The Weyerhaeuser Muse – a new whiskey bar and coffee shop, as well as provide meeting space for the valued boating clubs at the Port of Everett Marina. The Port is investing up to $1 million to get the building ready to accept tenant improvements anticipated to begin later this year.
The building is set to open on its centennial in 2023, allowing public access to this unique piece of history for the first time in more than 20 years.
“We are so fortunate that we found a tenant passionate about this building and has agreed to partner with us on the adaptive reuse of this building to get it back open for public enjoyment in a meaningful way,” Port of Everett CEO Lisa Lefeber said. “The tenant has also agreed to have the building serve as a museum of the rich history of the building and timber industry on the Everett waterfront.”
The ornate Gothic-style structure was designed by Carl Gould and built in 1923. Though it looks more like a house, the one-and-a-half-story building served as the timber company’s administration office. The Weyerhaeuser Building, which has moved three times and is in its fourth and final location at the Port’s Boxcar Park, still has the 160-ton safe that stored the mill’s payroll as well as the money from company local lumber sales.
The Weyerhaeuser Muse will soon offer a place where you can enjoy a beverage, lite bites, conversation, and waterfront views, all while taking a step back to an earlier time.
"It feels like it's meant to be,” said Jack Ng, owner of Weyerhaeuser Muse LLC. "This building has been waiting for me for 32 years – straight out of a story, "open sesame" and I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be. The Weyerhaeuser Building opened back on March 23, 1923. I immigrated to America on March 23, 1990, so this project is symbolic for me. As such, we are planning a grand re-opening celebration on the building’s centennial on March 23, 2023."
The Port will maintain ownership of the historic structure and is responsible for providing a useable interior space for the tenant while maintaining the exterior. It is estimated to cost approximately $1 million (for which the Port is seeking grant funding opportunities) to bring it to a condition to begin tenant improvements.
The work includes, but is not limited to, the repair/replacement of all windows to historic standards, interior renovations, ADA accessibility upgrades, utilities upgrades, modernization of restrooms, and exterior landscape improvements. The Port has structured the rent and profit sharing to cover the Port’s investments to this historic resource and allow this public access amenity to open to visitors.
The Port has future plans to redevelop the 2-acre park surrounding the building and is actively seeking a new partnership to add a waterfront performance venue off the west side of the building.
For additional information, contact Catherine Soper, Port of Everett Communications & Marketing Director, by phone at 425-388-0680 or via e-mail at catherines@portofeverett.com.
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About the Historic Weyerhaeuser Building
The historic Weyerhaeuser Building’s ornate Gothic-style structure was erected in 1923 at the Weyerhaeuser Company’s first Everett lumber and shingle mill. Architect Carl Gould was commissioned to design the 6,000-square-foot, one-and-a-half story building to showcase the company’s local wood products such as fir, cedar and hemlock. The Weyerhaeuser Company was Everett’s largest employer for decades. It’s now iconic building resided at two of its largest plants before finding its way to the Port of Everett’s waterfront. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. After Weyerhaeuser’s use, the building was home to the Everett Chamber of Commerce for many years. But the “local beauty” has been sitting vacant for decades since then. Today, the Weyerhaeuser Building serves as a reminder and tribute to Everett’s mill town roots and the once prevalent lumber and shingle industry on its waterfront.
Learn more @ http://www.historiceverettwaterfront.com/waterfront-special-features/the-weyerhaeuser-building