Move it or lose it: Kenmir building to go
Published 11:00 am Saturday, February 28, 2004
The front door to South Whidbey will see a drastic change after a building next to the Clinton Ferry Landing is removed.
Known as the “Kenmir” building to some, the recently purchased property is soon to become a recreation area. Named “Clinton Beach” by its new owner, the Port of South Whidbey this week, it was purchased in January with plans to turn the nearly 1-acre property into a beachfront park.
At a meeting Wednesday, Port commissioners decided the building on the property needs to go — and sooner rather than later.
Until last week, the commissioners were undecided over whether to tear the building down when the one tenant’s lease expires May 31, or to wait at least one more year with the hopes that demolition costs could be reduced.
On Thursday, Port Commissioner Gene Sears said the Port will explore a third option that he brought up at the meeting — moving the building. Whether or not relocating the large, two-story building would be possible, the Port hopes to explore the option with Goosefoot Community Fund, a Bayview nonprofit that moves unwanted houses and helps low-income families refurbish them for their use.
By moving the building for use as apartments or offices — both of which it currently contains — Goosefoot could use the donation to create affordable housing and economic development opportunities for the community, Sears said.
“It would be a lot cheaper for us to give it to somebody,” he said.
With the structure off the property, Sears said the community could be months closer to having a public beach in Clinton.
“I don’t like to wait two years to see something happen,” Sears said. “At least they can have it for the next couple of years even though it’s not a full-blown park. That way the people can use it now.”
Port president Rolf Seitle, and commissioners Gene Sears and Lynae Slinden, along with Port manager Ed Field and caretaker Art Pratt took a tour of the building Tuesday to determine whether repairing the building for possible new temporary tenants was worth the time, effort and money.
Areas like the heating and plumbing systems were determined by the commissioners to have too many problems to repair for a new tenant’s use, which would only get about one year’s use before it was moved or demolished.
“It didn’t appear that it would be a good use of the taxpayers money,” Sears said. “It just doesn’t pencil out.”
Port President Seitle agreed.
“We weighed all the pros and cons of keeping the building, and we decided we would not,” Seitle said.
Removing the building from the property — whether moved or demolished — will improve the look for people arriving in Clinton, according to Seitle.
“It’s not a good gateway appearance for people coming off the ferry,” Seitle said.
In an interview this week, the building’s former owner, Charles Kenmir, said he and his business owner Conrad Hanson are glad to see the property become a park. Now living in Olympia, Kenmir said he will enjoy visiting the island and using Clinton Beach.
“I didn’t lose it,” he said. “I just don’t have to manage it anymore.”
Kenmir owned the building from 1989 to January 2004, and under his management the building was home to several types of businesses. He said several restaurants had come and gone. Most recently, ferry contractors working on the Clinton Ferry Dock had occupied offices in the building for five years.
The building was also home to a national detection agency, the Unity Church, property management and property appraisal companies, and a dive shop. Kenmir had called the upstairs apartment home for approximately three years.
“We had a lot of fun there,” he said about owning and living in the building.
With the good times also came the task of keeping the building in good condition, he said. With the combination of settling sand below it and water running off the hill above it, the building sank slightly on the corner closest to the Clinton ferry dock. He said seven layers of flooring had been had to keep the building level, which can be seen in a crawl space in the kitchen.
Clinton resident Ann Gordon remembers working in the building as a cook when the restaurant was the Columbia Beach Cafe in the 1940s. At the time, the building had gas pumps out front. Her late husband, Bill Gordon, owned the building in the early 1940s.
Langley resident Jane Grebil also remembers working in the building. Grebil and her husband Robert owned the Admiral’s Mistress restaurant from 1978 to 1983. Though her memories of running the popular restaurant are good ones, Grebil said she is excited to see the property become a park.
“The building needed a lot of repairs then, so I’m glad it’s going down,” she said.
To develop the park, the Port is pursuing grant funding from the Washington state Inter Agency Committee for Outdoor Recreation WWRP Water Access
program. If approved, the Clinton Beach park would come into being in late summer or early fall of 2005, according to Field. Demolition or removal of the building will take place after May 31.
