Waterfront climbing gym and housing project with ‘amazing view’ has a construction timeline

After years of planning, a multi-story 45,000-square-foot climbing gym and housing project has a timeline for construction in downtown Bellingham.

The Chalkboard climbing gym, planned to be built at 315 West Holly St., will be the first large rope climbing facility in Bellingham.

“The community has been very excited,” Arête founder Gabe Rogel said in an interview with The Bellingham Herald. “We have an opportunity to build something really special.”

All-encompassing climbing gym

Rogel grew up in Spokane and developed a passion for climbing when he was in high school. When he moved to Bellingham with his family more than a decade ago, he said he was surprised the community lacked a climbing gym.

VITAL Climbing Gym on State Street eventually opened to fill the bouldering need. But still, there was no big rope gym.

“We of course needed rope climbing. That was the number one impetus of wanting to build this thing,” Rogel said.

Now Chalkboard will partner with VITAL to facilitate the operations of the new gym.

The gym will feature 55-foot-tall top rope and lead walls, and more than 100 rope stations. It will include bouldering areas both indoors and on the outdoor rooftop. Gym users will also have access to a 3,000-square-foot fitness and training area along with an indoor yoga studio.

The gym will feature auto belays, multiple crack climbs, various climbing training boards and a slack line.

With a focus on community, the gym is also anticipated to include various climbing and fitness classes, youth programs, competitions and events.

It will also provide locker rooms with showers, lounge and work spaces and rooftop fire pits. It will be uniquely situated to provide views of the town, Bellingham Bay, the San Juan Islands and Mount Baker from the building.

“People can walk to all the bars and restaurants. They can walk down to the whole waterfront redevelopment area that over the next 10 years is just going to get more and more amazing — and it’s got this amazing view,” Rogel said.

Adding to the housing supply

On the two upper floors between the main gym and the rooftop bouldering area, there will be 36 market-rate apartments available for rent, including studios, one-bedroom units and two-bedroom units.

“That’s been the key to pushing this thing forward. It’s made it much more viable,” Rogel said.

Called the Arête Lofts , the housing units came as a later addition to the project to support financing after costs increased during the pandemic.

“There was this whole period of getting the gym to pencil. The silver bullet was, instead of making it smaller, it needed to be bigger and we needed to put apartments on it,” Rogel told The Herald.

Adding apartments to the development in downtown Bellingham will help the city meet state-established housing goals and keep up with demand.

Bellingham needs to build about 210 single-family units and 650 multi-family units — 860 units total — each year for the next five years to keep up with demand and increase the rental vacancy rate in the city. This is a production increase of about 25% compared to the average of the past 10 years, according to the city of Bellingham.

A project years in the making

Rogel set out to build the climbing gym from the ground up about five years ago after securing the downtown property that could house the project.

He quickly hit roadblocks in development as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and skyrocketing construction costs.

“It’s a huge undertaking to open a gym if you haven’t done it — let alone build the thing,” Rogel said.

Rogel anticipates the project will be fully permitted and ready to break ground in the spring of 2025. Without additional delays, Rogel expects construction of the climbing gym and apartments to be complete by the winter of 2026-27.

Rogel said he feels grateful for all of the supportive messages he has received over the last several years while he’s been working on the project. He said he understands the challenge of waiting to see the gym come to fruition but looks forward to sharing it with the community.

“My hope is this space will be so much more than just a place to climb. Whether an individual, a kid, a couple or a family, I hope this space helps you grow a part of yourself, connect with friends and loved ones, and fuels your fire for adventure and exploration of this wild and vast world,” Rogel said on the project’s website.