November 2009 | Download & Print PDF | Current Issue | Archive
My View KIM HERMAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
A unique, "inside" perspective on housing and
community development
from
the executive director of the Washington State Housing Finance
Commission
Award-Winning Affordable Housing in Washington State
-
INSIDE
THIS ISSUE - Avondale site, Redmond
- Broadway Crossing, Seattle
- Artspace Hiawatha Lofts, Seattle
- Riverwalk Point I & II, Spokane
- Tepeyac Haven, Pasco
- The Wilson Hotel, Anacortess
- More Award-Winning Properties
The Wilson Hotel, Anacortes Photo above: William Wright Photography
Redevelopment of an historic hotel helps revitalize downtown Anacortes
AWARDS
National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO) Award of Merit for Community Revitalization, 2007 Washington State Department of Historic Preservation Award for Outstanding Achievement in Historic Rehabilitation, 2007
PROPERTY DEVELOPER
Anacortes Housing Authority, with Beacon Development Group as development consultant
FEDERAL, STATE OR LOCAL FUNDING
Low Income Housing Tax Credits; Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit; Washington State Housing Trust Fund; City of Anacortes CDBG; Skagit County 2060
OTHER FUNDING SOURCES, PUBLIC AND PRIVATE
Federal Home Loan Bank; Impact Capital; Washington Community Reinvestment Association permanent loan
With its brilliant brick-red façade and striking period architectural details, the Wilson Hotel occupies a prominent place in Anacortes’ historic downtown commercial core. But for more than 20 years, this building, constructed in 1890 with a major addition in 1926, had been showing signs of severe neglect. Though the bottom-floor commercial spaces were in use, the upper floors, a former hotel, were vacant.
Tee
McCallum
Executive Director of the Anacortes Housing Authority
Tee McCallum knew that the Wilson Hotel could serve as great affordable housing when she first saw it. That was in 1996. She’d recently moved to Anacortes from Moses Lake to take on the role of executive director of the Anacortes Housing Authority (AHA). “I sat across the street in the pizza parlor looking at this big beautiful old run-down building and thought, ‘wouldn’t that be cool if we could turn this into affordable housing?’” Tee recalls. She brought in an architect that winter; his advice was that it would be prohibitively expensive.
“The upstairs had been gutted and was full to the brim with garage sale junk that had been collected over the years. The walls were knocked out and there were holes in the floor that went all the way through—basically, it was a nightmare. I decided I was just dreaming,” Tee remembers.
What she didn’t realize at the time was that Anacortes Mayor Dean Maxwell was also a ‘dreamer’ when it came to finding a way to revive the Wilson Hotel and expand the supply of affordable housing in the downtown core. He continued to seek out ways to save it, and several years later, he brought the project back to life by bringing in Seattle-based Beacon Development Group as a consultant to make an assessment of the property’s potential. “They told us, ‘this is doable.’ And that’s when we got started,” says Tee. In 2004, AHA stepped in to purchase the property, and the redevelopment project was launched.
At a cost of $6.4 million, this project is the largest ever taken on by AHA. The overarching objectives for the redevelopment were twofold: To create the maximum number of affordable studio and one-bedroom apartments within the existing structure, and to restore this historic building to its glory, usefulness and presence as an asset to downtown Anacortes.
Sandra
Cox
The
Wilson Hotel’s Occupancy Supervisor
The Wilson Hotel has served as a catalyst for the revitalization of
Anacortes’ downtown.
Twenty-five homes were created for people at 30 to 50% of AMI. Most of the current residents either work in the area at low-wage jobs or live on Social Security benefits; about one-third are disabled. All five commercial spaces on the ground floor are rented out to local businesses. The architect on the project, SMR Architects, worked to ensure that the project design adhered to the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation. The Wilson Hotel’s historic character-defining features were protected and preserved, even as interior modifications were made to accommodate modern, code-compliant apartments. The general contractor on the project was Marpac Construction.
The Wilson Hotel, which opened in its new incarnation in 2007, has been a strong catalyst in revitalizing Anacortes’ downtown. “It’s still continuing,” says Tee. “All the sidewalks are being redone, other buildings have been rehabbed, even some older ones with private funds.” Tee, an antiques enthusiast, is always looking for “finds” that will add warmth to the residence’s interior spaces and fit with the building’s historical identity.
She’s also bent on enlarging the number of affordable homes that AHA can make available to lower-income residents—and saving more historic buildings. “We’re not done,” she says. “We’re still looking. We do have a lot of amazing buildings here in Anacortes—we recently lost one—and we don’t want to lose any more.”