February 19, 2014 Issue 8/Vol. 125
serving Port Townsend & Jefferson County Since 1889
Signs all around Port Townsend tout “space available” for lease, rent or purchase. For now, people wanting space to start a business need to call each property owner separately to get information. Port Townsend Main Street Program is working to build a free online inventory system to list all options in one spot. In the works for several years, the system is expected to be up and running by April. Photos by Allison Arthur
SPACE: AVAILABLE, MOVING
Vacancy rate in PT: Hard to keep track of now; Main Street plans online inventory system By Allison Arthur of the Leader
Where’s the store?
For rent. Space for lease. Six months free rent. Space available. Drive slowly along Water Street in downtown Port Townsend and you’ll see a lot of orange-and-black signs advertising commercial property. Drive up to Sims Way and the signs for spaces are fewer, but still present. Do these signs mean there is more space available, more businesses that have gone out of business? Or is space available because businesses are on the move in Port Townsend and things are aflutter? You know, the annual winterspring Water Street shuffle? Those are hard questions to answer because no one has been keeping track of retail and commercial vacancies. One property manager who has a building with a 50 percent occupancy rate calls the space situation “pathetic,” with few people interested. Another property manager tends to 14 commercial spaces and 52 residential units, and has all but two basement units filled. She says all those “For rent” signs give a false impression. She thinks things are looking up in Port Townsend.
See a map of where businesses have moved. A 10-11
Jacob Talamante (right), executive director of Labor Leaders, works with Dusty Mahnke to unload goods into Perfect Season, which is moving back to Water Street after being in Uptown for several years. The shop is moving into the space vacated by Water Street Creperie.
INVENTORY SEARCH
The movement of businesses this year is exciting to Port Townsend Main Street Program executive director Mari Mullen, who has been watching the ebb and flow of businesses for 15 years. “All those changes show that
while we are not immune to economical challenges and we do have empty spaces, there are signs the economy is getting stronger,” said Mullen. “Existing businesses are expanding or relocating or filling in. Port Townsend is attracting entrepreneurs. There’s energy that
comes with that.” Soon, Main Street will have a new online mapping tool that will allow entrepreneurs looking to locate a business in Port Townsend to search in one place. The Main Street Online Business and Building Inventory is to be free for property and business owners who provide the information. Right now, if you wanted to know how much space is in a particular building, Mullen would have to look it up in her old-fashioned paper filing system, call the property owner and find out what’s going on. She has a lot of it in her head, as well. “It’s a dynamic situation,” Mullen said of businesses such as Water Street Creperie at 1046 Water St. closing and Perfect Season relocating from 1042 Lawrence St. into the creperie space. This Sunday, the Writers’ Workshoppe is starting the process See SPACE, Page 12▼
Pop-ups help entrepreneurs test business waters By Megan Claflin of the Leader
At least two downtown storefronts are set to be reopened March 1, as local entrepreneurs take advantage of vacancies in the Hastings Building to try their hand at a “pop-up,” a business that pops up as space is available, but may not stay available long-term. Port Townsend artist Luke Tornatzky plans to open Water Street Gallery & Studio during First Saturday Gallery Walk, at 833 Water St. (formerly Kim Thomson Art Forms). For 20 years, he has sold his paintings through the Patricia Rovzar Gallery in Seattle and has regularly contributed to local exhibits. “I’ve had it in mind to open a gallery for sometime but the expense of getting started was daunting,” Tornatzky told the Leader on Feb. 17. “But then this opportunity sort of fell into my lap and I’ve decided I’ve got to give it a try.” The Hastings Estate Co. is preparing to start a massive remodeling of the building this summer, leading many tenants – including Kim Thomson Art Forms, the Broken Spoke, About Time, and Frameworks – to use the off-season to relocate. The project includes the rehabilitation and
Hastings Building, said she is looking for popups to fill the building in the meantime. “Everybody is going to be month-to-month,” said Eubanks, the great-great-granddaughter of Lucinda Hastings, the woman whose last name still graces the historical building.
A WIN-WIN
Port Townsend artist Luke Tornatzky experiments with space and lighting as he prepares to open Water Street Gallery & Studio, 833 Water St.The gallery and Home Staging, a furnishings store owned by Patti Wickline, are two “pop-up” businesses set to move into vacant spaces in the Hastings Building in downtown Port Townsend. Photo by Megan Claflin
adaptive re-use of the historic Hastings Building (1890) at the corner of Taylor and Water streets, behind the existing Surf building. Lucinda Eubanks, property manager at the
Next door to Tornatzky, at 835 Water St. (former home of the Broken Spoke) Patti Wickline is also preparing her pop-up for a Gallery Walk debut. For more than 10 years, she has been designing interiors for real estate properties through her business, Home Staging. As spaces in her most recent project, a nine-unit condominium, begin to sell, Wickline said she is finding herself with an excess of inventory. “The furniture does me no good in storage, so opening the store and office space downtown will allow me to keep my inventory fresh,” she said of her stock of traditional, modern and antique furnishings. The tradeoff is a win-win, Wickline said. “I’ve lived in Port Townsend for 30 years and I love this place. Seeing so many empty spaces See POPUP, Page 12▼
Masco buys Pettit fuel station in PT Hundreds who prepaid for fuel will have to wait to get forms to file claims, attorney says By Allison Arthur of the Leader
Sean Mason of Masco Petroleum announced Monday his company has purchased Pettit Oil Company’s fueling station on Seton Road just outside Port Townsend. Petit Oil closed abruptly in January 2014 after filing for protection from creditors in November. It now is in Chapter 7 in U.S. District Bankruptcy Court in Tacoma. “We were able to close on Pettit Oil’s station in Port Townsend so our plan right now is to get the Port Townsend one up and running this week, hopefully by
Wednesday,” said Mason, vice president of Masco and an owner of Shine Quarry in Port Ludlow. In addition to the station in Port Townsend, Masco also bought former Pettit stations in Port Angeles, Aberdeen, Hoquiam, Montesano, Elma, Raymond, Lakewood and Burien, he said. He declined to disclose how much he paid for the 10 stations. Mason said the purchase was approved Feb. 14 by the bankruptcy court. “We’ll have bulk fuel and oil at the warehouse on Seton,” Mason said, adding that a home-heating
oil truck will be stationed in Port Townsend and a CFN system for commercial vehicles also will reopen. Although he was optimistic about opening on Wednesday, Feb. 19, he did note that Pettit’s electricity had been shut off and Jefferson County Public Utility District was closed for the holiday on Monday. Masco has hired nine former Pettit employees and Mason said he expects to hire three to five more as his company grows. Pettit had 125 employees before closing. “If we’re showing our commitment to community I would hope
the community would welcome us with open arms,” Mason said.
CLAIM FORMS
Hundreds of Pettit customers were on a budget plan with Pettit and had paid in advance for their winter heating oil. “There are hundreds of people in those situations and I feel horrible for them,” Mason said. “I don’t have an answer for them, but I believe they should get ahold of the trustee.” Mason said he even had employees at the quarry who had See FUEL, Page 7▼
$1.00
PTHS ponders team name
School board could vote at June meeting By Megan Claflin of the Leader
Redhawks and Rising Tide are two of the options being considered for a new team name and symbol at Port Townsend High School, which is retiring the name of “Redskins” this school year. More than a dozen possibilities have been suggested in the studentled process, with a recommendation and decision possible at the school district board of directors meeting on June 2. “I’ve been very impressed with the maturity and sophistication with which the students have approached this task,” said athletic director Scott R. Wilson, who is overseeing the student portion of the renaming process. “They’ve been thoughtful of how to involve the entire school, reflective on the impact of their decision and willing to move forward.” The beauty of the process has been the educational component, Wilson said, adding that students grasp the impact of their decision on future generations. Freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors are participating with little or no animosity about the change, he said. “The students are anxious to move forward but they also don’t want to throw something out there arbitrarily,” he said. “They are mindful of selecting something that represents the area and that will complement their school colors.”
VOTE IN JUNE?
PTHS teams have been called Redskins since the late 1920s. The name has been considered See NAME, Page 7▼
inside
2014 Home & Garden
26 pages A: FRONT Opinion Forum.....................................6 Community Record..............................8 Education............................................9 There Goes the Neighborhood..............................10,11 Sports.......................................... 13-15 B: ThisWEEK & CLASSIFIEDS Arts & Entertainment....................... 1-3 Community Calendar...........................2 Classifieds & Legal Notices............. 4-8 Law & Justice......................................9 INSERTS: Home & Garden, Food Co-op
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