The Langley Whale Center is preparing to move after celebrating its first year in business.
Members of Orca Network, which runs the whale museum on Anthes Avenue and Second Street, said the bones, screens, placards and display cases may need to find another location this summer.
“It’s going to be a headache, but we knew we were going to have to move,” said Fred Lundahl, an Orca Network board member and Langley business owner.
The Orca Network sublets the building, owned by Paul Samuelson, with the Langley Main Street Association. Throughout their tenure sharing the space, the building has been for sale.
In the center’s first year of operation, 10,000 visitors were counted via volunteers staffing the museum and a guest sign-in book. Relying on volunteer docents to open the doors Thursday through Sunday every week, an average of 50 visitors per day tour the free admission whale center.
“The fact that we’ve been able to alight on (Paul’s) street corner for a year, year and half is really great,” Lundahl said.
Once operating as a gas station, the building was converted into office space and sat vacant until the Main Street Association and whale center agreed to move in together. The majority of the space is used for the whale center, with an office reserved for the Langley Main Street Association.
The former station’s gas tanks remain underground, however, and Lundahl said it’s believed they are located under the brick patio adjacent to Anthes Avenue. The plan, according to Lundahl, is to have those dug up to make the building and property more appealing to prospective buyers.
No date has been set for the groups to move out, according to both the whale center’s leaders and Langley Main Street Association.
But a new lease was never offered to them, meaning they are operating month-to-month. At any time, a sale could mean a quick eviction.
“We’re at the mercy of the property owner at this point,” said Howard Garrett, co-founder of Orca Network.
A message for Samuelson was not returned by press time. Lundahl, who is close friends with Samuelson and said he is the go-between for with the tenants, maintained that the whale center had ample notice of the work and eventuality of a sale.
When the group proposed opening a whale museum in the city, they worked with Samuelson to move into his building. At that time, it was for sale and the lease included keeping the building listed. But Orca Network officials said the rent was the right price, the building was in an ideal location with high visibility and worth the risk.
“I wouldn’t describe it as a blow,” Lundahl said. “In a nutshell, Paul Samuelson owns the building, gave us a very good deal on the rent, but the deal was that it was to remain for sale.”
Added Garrett: “We were just sort of hoping that didn’t happen.”
Trying to find a new location is the top priority for the Orca Network and Langley Main Street Association. Lundahl and Garrett both cited a couple of suitable buildings in Langley, though most come with the same concern as their current space: they are for sale.
Despite the current difficulty of finding a longterm home for the popular whale center, its handlers said they have no intention to look beyond the city limits for a future home.
