BELLINGHAM, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – The Port of Bellingham has officially cut ties with its sole developer on the downtown waterfront.
Port commissioners voted unanimously on Tuesday, May 6 to approve a termination agreement with Ireland-based Harcourt Developments.
It came in response to a series of delays in Harcourt’s projects, which commissioner Michael Sheppard says just isn’t acceptable.
“Contracts matter and we really do expect them to be followed,” Sheppard said at the meeting. “We’ve tried, we try and we really work to make those successful … when they are not followed, the public expects those contracts to be enforced.”
The termination agreement removes Harcourt’s exclusive development rights on the waterfront that it’s owned since 2015. It also orders Harcourt to remove all of its stockpiled material from Port-owned property within the next year.
The Port will still allow Harcourt to own the Granary Building it restored in 2019 along with three condominium buildings on the Whatcom Waterway – two of which are still under construction.
The agreement stands to end a tumultuous past few years between the two groups, including counter lawsuits and Harcourt’s restraining order against the Port.
The Port’s Legal Counsel Holly Stafford says it’s a miracle that the two sides finally came to a settlement.
“To stick with that marriage metaphor that everyone’s been using, the Port has been ready to get a divorce for a while, but Harcourt was trying to keep the relationship going,” Stafford said. ” And somehow we got to the point where we were all seeing eye-to-eye.”
The Port says it will discuss next steps for development at future meetings.
Harcourt has not yet responded to My Bellingham Now for comment.
