PORT TOWNSEND — Port commissioners expressed a preference for the disposition of the now-vacant site that once was graced by the Landfall Restaurant but did not commit to it after reviewing three proposals to build a specialty restaurant on a 5,000-square-foot parcel of prime downtown real estate.
Port commissioners heard a staff report that recommended the proposal submitted by Joe Finnie, Pete Hanke and Gary Tocatlian, acting as the Maritime Heritage Group, but deferred any commitment to a future meeting.
“We don’t have to take action on this right away,” Commissioner Dave Thompson said. “We can let it percolate for a while and see what floats to the top.”
Port commissioners did not say when they would make their decision.
The port demolished the decrepit building that once housed a Port Townsend landmark restaurant on Water Street overlooking Point Hudson Marina — the former Landfall Restaurant — last summer.
It issued a request for proposals for a use for the land and received three.
Two of the candidates were interviewed.
A proposal from developer Doug Lamy, who built the adjacent Swan Hotel, was rejected because Lamy did not appear to have funding for the project.
Lamy proposed a mixed-use structure with a restaurant and offices but wasn’t called back “because he was saying that we should approve them and then they would find the money,” according to Deputy Port Director Jim Pivarnik.
Pivarnik said the Maritime Heritage Group had substantial credit information and available funds, which led to its recommendation.
A special committee interviewed the two remaining bidders, the Maritime Heritage Group and a proposal for a maritime trades center submitted by Jim Jackson and Richard Berg.
The Jackson/Berg proposal was looked upon favorably, but its reliance on relocating current port tenants to the new building was seen as a drawback by the interviewing committee.
Pivarnik said the four-person interviewing committee was unanimous in its selection of the maritime Heritage Group proposal because it was so carefully prepared and thorough.
“We still have to do a lot of our due diligence,” Tocatlian said of his proposal.
“We have to research what kind of restaurant to put there and what people want.”
Currently, the group is leaning toward a “sports bar” format, where TV screens are placed at several angles throughout the restaurant, is something that is not available in Port Townsend,
Tocatlian, who owns T’s Restaurant on Point Hudson, said he has mounted several TV screens in the bar of his restaurant, “and people are always coming in asking if they could watch a certain event.”
The new restaurant would not be as fancy as T’s and “will be a more casual environment,” Tocatlian said.
Hanke told the commissioners that the idea to put a restaurant on the site came out of a discussion last year and was meant to cash in on the proposed foot ferry that would dock near the parcel.
Tocatlian said his business plan will not rely on the ferry’s presence but “will be a bonus” if it begins operation.
“We’re very excited about developing something on that site,” Hanke said.
“The idea of a specialty restaurant and some other uses looks like it will pencil [out] and will allow us to keep the structure to a minimum size and not create a canyon-like effect.”
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.