December 21, 2018

Bergman Luggage building is declared a landmark

Photo by Brian Miller [enlarge]

Longtime property owner Brooke Barnes expects to sell the site to Continental Properties. It’s zoned for residential construction up to 440 feet.

The Bergman Luggage building, at 1901 Third Ave., was designated a landmark at Wednesday's meeting of the city Landmarks Preservation Board.

The vote was unanimous, and the decision was not unexpected, said longtime property owner Brooke Barnes, who attended the meeting and relayed the outcome to the DJC. “We all knew what was going to happen. And it did. But it took one and a half years to happen.”

Barnes is only the second owner of the two-story building. In 1984, he bought it from the family that developed it in 1921. It's also known as the Donahoe Building, for that family.

It was designed by Charles Lyman Haynes, who is also known for Roy Vue Apartments, Butterworth Mortuary and the Packard Auto Showroom on Capitol Hill. Bergman Luggage moved there in 1986, but before that it was most commonly identified with tenant Peoples Bank. (Barnes, an engineer, personally removed its 1960s-era facade to uncover the original.)

The almost 13,000-square-foot property is on the northwest corner of Third and Stewart Street. Barnes expects to sell it to contract buyer Continental Properties, but he couldn't predict the schedule for closing. That will likely depend on getting a residential high rise permitted, which could take another year or two.

At issue, said Barnes, will be how to preserve and support the Spanish-style terra cotta facade of the unreinforced masonry building. He said the wood beams are rotten.

Bergman is on a month-to-month lease, and the same appears to be true for the Retro Restaurant & Lounge. The upper floor, originally used as parking for the ground-floor Ford dealership and service station, has long been vacant and uninhabitable.

The landmarks board will have to advise Continental on how the Bergman facade fits into its plan, which will apparently incorporate the smaller property immediately to the north: the landmarked, 90-year-old Belltown Self Storage building (aka the White Garage), at 1915 Third. That sold for $12.25 million last month to Low Tide Properties of Vancouver B.C., which will partner with Continental, a firm that also has roots in Vancouver.

The two firms are also linked by Continental's $89.5 million sale in August of the new 128-unit Voda in Kirkland to Low Tide.

The combined site at 1901-1915 Third would total about 19,500 square feet. It's zoned for residential construction up to 440 feet. The facades of both buildings — with two and six stories — will have to be preserved.