OUR VISION
To establish and maintain an inclusive community gathering space for play, discovery and creative exploration.
Our future home will be a unique space in Bellingham where people of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds can play, discover and be astonished.
It will offer opportunities to stretch physical and mental boundaries, provide space for community and connection and lighten the spirits of all.
The Opportunity
The Alcohol Plant on the Downtown Waterfront
Bellingham has a thriving year-round tourism industry, but lacks an indoor year-round commons where play, art, design and immersive experiences can bring people together in awe and delight.
Interactive Bellingham is currently looking at different locations for our interactive facility and one place we are interested in is located at Bellingham's Waterfront District. The area is in the very beginning of a post-industrial renaissance after a 100-year run of pulp and paper mills. There are plans for a conference center and hotel, expanded university facilities and mixed-use residential/retail/office space.
Our facility would be something completely different that attracts people to play and explore the newly reclaimed area. We're exploring the potential of this site, while also keeping ourselves open to other possibilities.
As a tourist destination, over $555 million was spent in 2019 in Bellingham alone. Bellingham is a major retail destination for Canadian shoppers from Vancouver and the greater Lower Mainland. The Pacific Northwest's only vehicle passenger ferry to Alaska draws tourists to Bellingham as well.
Bellingham is less than 1.5 hours from both Seattle and Vancouver, B.C, attracting visitors from 2 major urban centers to a relaxed and smaller town. Bellingham regularly wins a place on diverse “top lists,” from Outside Magazine's “Adventure Towns” to Forbes' “Best Places to Retire.”
Our city ranks as the second best arts community in the country based on its number of active arts business licenses per capita. Our thriving arts and music scene is reflected in the monthly art walk, multiple summer music series events and year-round cultural offerings..
WHY THE ALCOHOL PLANT?
We see the Alcohol Plant as a diamond in the rough – a beautiful, industrial building that calls to be reborn. It's located in the middle of the Waterfront District – an area that is ripe for showcasing the creative and talented people that call Bellingham home. It's a large space – allowing for multiple uses and room for our facility to start smaller and grow over time.
CHECK OUT OUR EXPLORATION OF THIS POTENTIAL SITE BELOW
Right before the pandemic started we recieved funding from the Whatcom Community Foundation to map out what our dream center would look like if housed within the Alcohol Plant. We enlisted the help of Mike Smith to create this document (see below "Building Program - The Alcohol Plant" ) that shows how this particular site could fulfill our needs. Check it out!
OTHER OPPORTUNITIES
We are in the beginning of the journey to discover the perfect home for our vision. It may wind up being at the Alcohol Plant, but another location might surface that would also work. We're currently exploring our options.
Impact
What it would mean for local economy
Creation of 50 to 100+ jobs – from working artists and installation creators to administrative and operational staff and a multitude of jobs in between, the facility will offer a variety of employment options and opportunities.
Similar models, like Meow Wolf and the City Museum, are listed as the top attractions of their respective cities (Sante Fe and St. Louis). After being open for only one year, Meow Wolf recorded more than 400,000 visitors, had created 100 new jobs and infused $6 million back into the Santa Fe economy. After being open for over 20 years, the City Museum in St Louis now boasts close to 800,000 visitors a year and supports 120+ jobs. If located on the waterfront, our interactive facility would:
- Enhance the Waterfront District by providing an engaging and exciting entertainment option for residents and visitors alike year-round. The facility would offer guests and visitors to the hotel and conference center, The Granary, Waypoint Park and other waterfront anchors, a fun place to explore within walking distance.
- Give the cool GP mill artifacts a new life – integrating them into play structures and installations throughout the facility, offering a compelling way to serve as interpretive elements.
- Live/work lofts could be integrated into the facility, providing housing and workspace to artists and creatives and increasing housing options within the Waterfront District.
- Address the potential for the Alcohol Building as cited in Whatcom County Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy and a Waterfront District Adaptive Reuse Assessment, both of which support saving and redeveloping the building.
- Support the Waterfront District as well as Downtown Bellingham by infusing visitors and residents into the districts, who have come to explore the entire downtown area.
- Act as a supportive a neighbor to The Millworks, the local food campus slated for the Lignin Building, potentially offering an additional restaurant space for the campus as well as food truck space for new entrepreneurs.
- Initial pop-up version of the facility would complement the bike pump track and Kulshan Brewing's Trackside, which opened summer 2021, offering a way to engage the public and contribute to the excitement of the evolving Waterfront District.
