‘Our link to the past’: Bothell reviving its fire-ravaged Main Street with help from state grant

Dec. 26--The burnt embers from a massive July fire lie crushed between cracks in the sidewalk along Bothell's historic Main Street. Slabs of collapsed concrete angle across the vacant lot where the Bothell Mall once stood.

But amid the remnants of the fire that caused about $25 million in damage, destroyed two buildings and displaced 25 businesses, signs of renewal can also be seen.

Workers in hard hats are preparing to reframe the six-story apartment building that was under construction in the old Mercantile Building where the fire broke out. Several of the displaced businesses have reopened in new locations.

Last month, the city got a big boost in its Main Street revitalization efforts. The state Transportation Improvement Board awarded the city $4.7 million toward a $7 million plan to rebuild and modernize the historic heart of the city.

The project is part of a multimillion-dollar downtown Bothell redevelopment effort that has been under way for the past decade, but the city hadn't been able to secure financing for the Main Street portion.

Those plans took on new urgency after the fire.

"If there can be a silver lining to this tragedy, it's that the city will be able to move forward with rebuilding Main Street," said Mayor Andy Rheaume, standing near the 1908 brick facade of the Mercantile Building which survived the fire. "This is our link to the past. We didn't want Main Street to die off. We wanted to preserve this part of the city."

The fire was so hot it melted a crane at the apartment construction site as well as the steel tension cables encased in concrete that supported the five upper floors. That slab must now be broken apart and repoured, said the building's owner, George Petrie, president of Goodman Real Estate in Seattle.

"The plan is to rebuild the building as permitted. We're just delayed now by about a year," he said.

An investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was unable to determine the cause of the blaze, noting that it burned with such heat and intensity that virtually all evidence of an ignition point was destroyed.

Bothell Interim Fire Marshal Butch Noble said the investigators were able to secure some surveillance video from nearby businesses, but the quality was poor and didn't show anything suspicious. A bar owner closing up for the night and several residents of a nearby mobile-home park heard explosions and saw the bright glow of flames, but no one could pinpoint what may have started the fire.

"We have to have definitive evidence. We had nothing definitive," Noble said.

The city set up a one-stop office at City Hall to coordinate information and assistance for damaged businesses. The city also expedited permits and inspections for reconstruction. City officials said they've received queries from an architect for the Bothell Mall owner, but no firm plans for what might be built in the now-vacant lot.

The Greater Bothell Chamber of Commerce and the Northshore Rotary -- using a blueprint from the Phinney Neighborhood Association after the March gas explosion in Seattle's Greenwood neighborhood -- held a block party for Main Street merchants and raised $65,000. An advisory committee made up of members of both organizations ultimately distributed $100,000 to displaced business owners and employees who lost their jobs, said Brittany Caldwell, the chamber's executive director.

Gov. Jay Inslee, in the midst of a re-election campaign, visited the city and promised his support for Bothell's Main Street improvements grant application.

Once the state made the award in November, merchants faced a tough decision.

Their businesses had already suffered economic hardship because of the lengthy street closures after the fire. Now they were facing having Main Street between Bothell Way Northeast and 102nd Avenue Northeast torn up for most of 2017 for the revitalization work.

"We always knew it would be hard during construction, but with the fire we had hardship before the hardship," said Caldwell. "We had to ask ourselves, 'Are we all still up for this construction? Should we pause so people can get their feet under them?' We came to the conclusion, 'Let's rip the bandage off and get the construction done.' "

Plans for the new Main Street call for removing aging underground pipes and utilities, installing new storm drains and sewer lines, rebuilding the sidewalks without curbs and replacing the current angle parking with parallel parking that could become outdoor cafe space in the summer.

The goal, said Deputy Public Works Director Eddie Low, is to create a seamless link from the historic downtown to all the redevelopment to the west, including a new, $46 million City Hall and a $26 million renovation of the Anderson School into a McMenamin's restaurant and entertainment complex.

And while development of the new, denser and more urban downtown will likely continue for several more years, city leaders say their focus now is on limiting the construction impacts to Main Street merchants. The street improvements are scheduled to get under way in January.

"We want the old downtown to be able to compete and be cohesive with the new downtown," Low said.

Main Street business owners say they're heartened by the support they've received from the Bothell community.

"I think people are making a more conscious effort to be downtown, to support the businesses. It's an amazing thing to see," said Lauren Dillon-Merrill, owner of the Se.lyn Boutique on Main Street.

Another business owner, Nancy Pipinich, who runs the State Farm Insurance office on Main Street, took it upon herself to revive a decades-old tree-lighting ceremony that had been abandoned in the late 1970s.

The Bothell Lodging Tax Committee awarded $15,000 to Main Street merchants to string lights in a massive old Douglas fir on the corner of Pipinich's property. They also hosted a holiday celebration which drew an estimated 2,500 people, she said.

"We wanted to bring people home to Main Street," she said. "Let everybody feel like things are going to be OK."

Lynn Thompson: [email protected] or 206-464-8305. On Twitter @lthompsontimes

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