PORT TOWNSEND – U.S. Sen. Patty Murray on Friday hailed the completion of the Port of Port Townsend’s expanded Hudson Point Marina as a cornerstone for new downtown economic development, but said that funding for additional public improvements might be difficult to come by.
The renovated $4.1 million marina “is going to be just a great opportunity for this area,” the third-term Shoreline Democrat said Friday afternoon before joining the Port of Port Townsend commissioners in dedicating the project.
The project adds about 20 percent more boat moorage space and features new on-water kayak storage and a low free-board kayak-launching dock.
Murray said she believes that the public’s government investment in the marina and city streetscape will lead to greater private-sector development downtown.
“This marina really is the gateway to new economic development projects in Port Townsend,” Murray told a crowd of more than 100 on hand to witness the event at the marina’s new northwest steel gangway leading down to a new kayak launch.
The projects Murray referred to include the future Northwest Maritime Center and the city of Port Townsend’s downtown streetscape plan, in which city leaders seek $5 million in federal funding, with Murray’s help, to improve access to the downtown historic landmark district.
Those improvements to Water Street, and the intersections connecting it westward to Washington Street, would include street and pedestrian access and beautification, such as a waterfront walkway, or esplanade, connecting the old Quincy ferry dock site from Quincy Street north to the Maritime Center site, and wrapping around the newly renovated marina at Hudson Street.
