The Aberdeen City Council last week approved a resolution selecting a design concept that doesn’t incorporate facades from the old Selmer’s Building for the proposed Gateway Center, a visitor and enterprise building being planned for the northeast corner of Wishkah and F streets.
A public survey process indicated a preference for the design and Mayor Erik Larson said the public input made him “very happy.”
Specifically, 55 percent of the respondents expressed preference for Option No. 1, the design resembling lumber drying stacks seen in old-time mills while 45 percent were partial to the brick design that would have included the facades of the existing Selmer’s building, referred to as Option No. 2.
A petition seeking to have a design including the facades presented to the public for consideration resulted in a fourth survey being added. The wood design had already received the most favorable responses from among four styles created for community review and the process was nearing its end. A design incorporating the brick facades of the old building was provided to the public for a final round of opinion gathering.
The city’s Historic Preservation Commission recommended the old Selmer’s be preserved in its entirety — even if that meant shoring up that building and constructing a second building to serve the needs of the center. The state Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation also determined the old Selmer’s is a structure eligible for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places.
The entire four-part survey process garnered a total of almost 1,000 respondents from across Grays Harbor County. It was “pretty impressive the number of people who responded to this survey,” said council member Tim Alstrom.
The council OK’d paying more money to Coates Design Architects, the firm that created various style concepts for the look of the center, organized the public gatherings and carried out the surveying. Their additional work to prepare for and complete tasks related to the additional project survey came to a total bill of $89,361 — $23,041 more than originally anticipated.
“It looked beautiful,” Larson said about the resulting concept that featured the facades.
StoryForce, the Seattle firm that handled public relations tasks related to the center, can do up to $30,000 more work for this project. The council authorized Larson to negotiate and enter into a contract with this firm to continue PR for the center as needed.
The Gateway Center has received $55,000 from the county in support of the project. In the future, the project could become a county facility.
