What’s happening at Woburn Street near Lakeway in Bellingham? The city is fast at work

A redevelopment project is underway at the former Parks & Recreation Operations site located at 1400 Woburn Street in the Whatcom Falls Neighborhood of Bellingham.

Public Works and Parks & Recreation are expected to utilize the site as a bulk storage facility in the future. An improved nursery space for Parks & Recreation is also anticipated.

Public Works and Parks staff relocated many operations to Public Works’ new 27,210-square-foot, five-story, all-electric administration building at the “city yard” at 2221 Pacific Street in the Roosevelt neighborhood — allowing this redevelopment project to move forward.

Demolition around the Woburn site began in July to remove old buildings. The goal is to grade the site to a more usable format, add storage space and improve pedestrian access, according to the city of Bellingham.

The former horse barn and caretaker house on site were removed. The historic weather vane and cupola were removed but saved for inclusion in the final renovation.

All buildings are expected to be complete by January, and the entire project is expected to be completed by March.

Pedestrian improvements will include:

▪ Sidewalks along the east side of Old Woburn.

▪ Improved sidewalk ramps on the west side of Old Woburn.

▪ Improved pedestrian crossing at Wildflower Way.

▪ Enhanced pedestrian crossing on Woburn Street, connecting the site to Bayview Cemetery & Whatcom Falls Park.

Traffic delays may occur during sidewalk construction.

The Bellingham City Council awarded the project bid to Faber Construction for almost $6.9 million. Forty-five percent of the project is being paid for by the Street Fund; 45% by the Real Estate Excise Tax ; and 10% by the Transportation Fund.