The building at Seafarers' Memorial Park is being readied for a move to a temporary location to make way for the $25 million cleanup of the former Scott Paper mill site. Contractor Nickel Brothers plans to move the building early Monday morning.
Nickel Brothers workers spent much of this week getting the building ready for the move from its current site on the waterfront to an empty lot on Q Ave., not far away. To move the building, which was built on a concrete foundation, workers had to shore up the structure with wooden supports, then disconnect the utilities.
The Nickel Brothers crew ran steel I-beams through the existing building walls and will move building, resting on the I-beams around 3 am Monday morning to the new, temporary location. The Port has banned parking along Seafarer's Way from Sunday night to early Monday morning to allow the building to be moved. The move is costing around $150,000.
The move is part of the environmental cleanup of a site just south of Cap Sante Marina that was a mill for Scott Paper. The building apparently sits on the most toxic portion of the site. Cleanup, which is expected as long as 2 years, includes removing wood debris from the shoreline and water, as well as transporting the soil to a cleansing facility at the Port's Pier Two on the Guemes Channel.
The Anacortes Small Boat Center, a group of users of small boats, hopes to get the building donated to them as a small boat center to be placed at the northeast corner of Cap Sante Marina, otherwise the building will be returned to Seafarers' Memorial Park.
Port Executive Director Bob Hyde, in discussing the move with this reporter, said he hopes the move will be completed by 6am Monday. He quipped "We'll probably find the building stuck on Q Ave. at 7 am, but I sure hope not."