On the north side of Ninth Street between Q and R avenues, the off-leash dog park sits on a 1.18-acre parcel the Port of Anacortes has set aside for a hotel. Next to it is the gravel lot that Port Executive Director John Dumas described at an Oct. 5 joint meeting with the City Council as "bare land on the waterfront, not doing anything," good for about 80 parking spots. "And 70% of it's not great parking," he added. "It's a gravel lot, no stormwater, no vegetation, not pretty to look at."
Both pieces of ground are scheduled to change. They won't change at the same time, though, because the Port has rearranged the order so the public event building goes ahead of the hotel, and the dog park's fate is tied to the hotel.
The hotel was supposed to anchor the block. The bids came back short.
This summer the Port asked developers for hotel proposals on the dog park parcel, with a deadline of Aug. 27. The Anacortes American reported that five potential developers registered. It was unclear how many actually submitted proposals.
At the Oct. 5 meeting, Port Commissioner Bob Papadakis summed up the result: "We didn't see what we wanted to see there." According to the Anacortes American's account of the meeting, Dumas said the Port will put the hotel out to bid again only after construction starts on the event facility, which is expected early next year. "I think that tells the hotel community that we're serious and that this thing is going to get built," he said. "I think private developers want to see that we're going to deliver on what we've been talking about for 18 months, so we want to eliminate that hesitation."
The Port's West Basin Redevelopment page is direct about the dog park. It calls the park an interim use that "has always been intended as an interim use until redevelopment occurred," and it says redevelopment of the site "will require its removal." The page gives no closure date. The parcel is the hotel parcel, and the hotel now follows a groundbreaking that hasn't happened yet plus a second round of bidding that hasn't opened. When the park does close, the Port points dog owners to the City's off-leash area at Ace of Hearts Rotary Park, at 38th Street and H Avenue.
What goes first, and what replaces what
The event facility is only one part of a larger construction package that covers the ground between the marina and Q Avenue. Here's how the pieces compare with what's there now:
| Piece of the block | Today | Planned |
|---|---|---|
| West basin public parking | Gravel lot, about 80 spots | Paved public lot, 225 spots |
| Central pier lot, just south of 11th Street | 43 spaces | 83 spaces for marina tenants |
| Event venue | None since the Transit Shed closed at the end of 2023 | 12,000-square-foot facility, opening targeted for early 2028 |
| Public open space | Open waterfront ground | Waterfront park next to the facility |
| Private development | No buildings | Four "shovel-ready" pads, including restaurant sites and the hotel parcel |
Sources disagree on the size of the park. The Oct. 5 coverage says 15,000 square feet, the Port's own page says 16,000, and earlier permit coverage put it near 13,000. The Port expects to spend about $16 million on the redevelopment work around the building. The Port says construction will happen in phases so the marina keeps operating and the public keeps access throughout.
The building is estimated at about $10.5 million. The City would pay 82% of construction, close to $8.6 million at current estimates, for roughly 10,000 square feet of event space. The other 2,000 or so square feet would become two commercial spaces the Port leases out. The coverage used a coffee shop or an ice cream shop as examples. RMC Architects designed it.
The gap the building is meant to fill
The Transit Shed closed at the end of 2023. Since then, local nonprofits have had to find other venues for their big events. At the Oct. 5 meeting, Michele Pope, a board member of the Anacortes Senior Activity Center Foundation, said the foundation moved its Unconventional Runway Show fundraiser to Swinomish Casino & Lodge. "We are really looking forward to being back here in 2028 with all of our costumes and all 350 people," she said.
Several groups that organize events spoke in favor of moving ahead, including Skagit Tourism Bureau CEO Kristen Keltz, Anacortes Chamber of Commerce CEO Melissa Turnage and Downtown Anacortes Alliance Board President Teresa Brum. Meredith McIlmoyle, executive director of the Anacortes Arts Festival, supported the project and asked leaders to "preserve flexibility" in the design so the building can handle uses nobody has planned yet.
Why the City is paying with lodging tax, and why the hotel matters to that math
Mayor Ryan Walters said the City plans to cover its share with grants, cash reserves from lodging tax, and municipal bonds repaid from lodging tax revenue. If the City wins another $1.5 million grant it's pursuing, it would have about $4.36 million left to finance. That works out to roughly $284,000 a year, out of lodging tax revenue Walters put at about $560,000 a year. Hotel guests pay lodging tax, so Walters said residents wouldn't be paying through property or sales taxes. This comes as the City projects a $2.4 million budget deficit for 2027.
This is where the dog park parcel connects back to City finances. Walters gave an example: a new 50-room hotel running at 60% average occupancy and $200 a night would bring in about $87,000 a year in new lodging tax. So the hotel that would replace the dog park is part of the revenue picture for the building that now has to come first.
The facility itself is expected to start slowly. A September rate study estimated about $72,000 a year in income at 50% occupancy and about $470,000 at 100%. Walters added that "even at 25% occupancy, the port loses $121,000 a year." Port Commissioner Bonnie Bowers said the facility probably won't break even in its first year or two and that the Port has an operational plan to carry it until it does.
The questions still open on the table
Not every elected official is ready to commit. Councilmember T.J. Fantini said he supports the idea but asked to "slow down and get it right before we get shovels in the ground." He specifically asked whether general fund money would be needed if the $1.5 million grant doesn't come through or if private development doesn't follow. "If the hotel doesn't happen, if the event facility doesn't attract more restaurants and businesses, the additional LTAC (lodging tax) revenue doesn't happen," he said. Councilmember Luke Currier also asked for more public input before construction starts.
Parking came up from two directions. Port Commissioner Mary LaFleur worried about capacity when the facility hosts up to 400 people and about "the burden to the neighborhood and to the marina tenants." EJ Toovey, owner of The Predecessors on 10th Street, raised concerns about event overflow parking filling the street in front of her shop. Port Commission President Kathy Pittis sees it differently. "I want people down there," she said. "I want them spending their money."
Here are the dated steps that decide how fast the gravel lot changes, and through it, how long the dog park has:
- Shoreline permit. The City took public comment on the Port's permit application for the facility and park through Oct. 16. As of mid-October, the City's permit portal listed SDP-2026-0003 with technical review still underway.
- Restaurant sites. Proposals for restaurant or mixed-use retail on the two Port sites next to the facility were due Oct. 20.
- Construction bids. On Oct. 5, Dumas said the Port would go out to bid "in the next couple of weeks." Walters said the real bid numbers would decide "whether we can actually fund it."
- Groundbreaking, then the hotel rebid. Construction is expected early in 2027. The second hotel solicitation comes after that.
The other waterfront buildings the Port now controls
The west basin is one of three waterfront properties where the Port made a move this fall.
On Oct. 1 the Port took full ownership of the Secret Cove building. The Port had long owned the land, but this is the first time it has owned the building too. It paid $150,000 to buy out the rest of a lease that had passed to a creditor at public auction. The building has been vacant since 2025, and Dumas said planning for its future "has not begun." The building is at 209 T Avenue on Guemes Channel. It held Boomer's Landing and the Hatchcover before Randy's Pier 61 opened there in June 1998. Randy's ran until 2013, and Secret Cove operated from 2014 until spring 2025, according to the Anacortes American.
In Old Town, the Port signed an agreement with the Anacortes Housing Authority on Oct. 2 to demolish the Olson Building together with the next-door Marine Hardware & Supply building, which includes the small structure that used to house bikespot. The Port will handle bidding, permitting and the demolition contract. The Housing Authority's replacement is a four-story building with 27 workforce units above ground-floor commercial space, designed to match the look of the Olson Building. Keeping the existing structure would have allowed only about nine units. The bike shop itself closed after 13 years in business, and at the time the Port's executive director said the building would likely stay vacant until the Port settled on a plan. The Port's own Marine Supply & Hardware building is more than 100 years old. It sits on a block listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987, a listing the Port describes as honorary. According to the Port's Marine Supply & Hardware FAQ, last updated in August, the building's environmental review was still in progress.
The Port's Oct. 2 announcement sets no demolition date for the Old Town buildings.
If you live or own near Cap Sante or Old Town and want to talk through how the west basin plan could affect your block, Anacortes Real Estate Expert is glad to sit down with you. Rob tracks these Port decisions closely and can walk you through a free consultation or home valuation that takes the waterfront plans into account.
