File:Open house at Bellingham's Granary Building (39781294752).jpg

It's being restored as part of the waterfront redevelopment which is on land formerly used by Georgia Pacific Pulp Mill. The Granary was built in the 1920s for Whatcom County's poultry industry. It's been used as storage, or vacant for decades. They plan to lease it out to restaurant and office use. May be a while before they find businesses to lease, who knows, or maybe they already have?

Open house discussed the long term plans for that new neighborhood. There's a lot of park space and bike paths in the plans. It will be a while before other parts of that area get developed, but the city is starting to build some streets and one of the parks.

I would guess a lot of what it becomes will depend on what uses sign the leases. It could be several more years and even decades in the making.

Talking to one person, from the city, I noted the bike planning. I remarked that it's much better than the Cordata Neighborhood, in Bellinghan. Cordata was planned for cars. Cordata is more sprawling. I think city planning has improved since the 1980s when Cordata was beginning. The woman I was chatting with said, back then, they thought there would be a lot more business in Cordata, but it turned out to be more residential and also the home for Whatcom Community College. She mentioned that Cordata Parkway is going to be redone with bike lanes. Today, it's 4 narrow lanes and hardly any traffic. It doesn't need those 4 lanes. Better with two lanes and bike lanes. She said they are planning to put Cordata Parkway on a road diet.

Back to the waterfront, a friend of mine wonders if the Granary will work since it doesn't have lots of parking. Yes, Americans are still addicted to cars. I'm not sure what they are planning. If lots of uses and residences go into the waterfront area, people can walk to the Granary. Otherwise, I just got to thinking, they may have to put in a temporary parking lot. A parking lot until more things get going down there?