Northwest Maritime Center working to gain stewardship of Point Hudson

Port Townsend’s iconic and beloved, Point Hudson Marina (click image to watch video).

When the following email from the Northwest Maritime Center’s Jake Beattie hit my inbox (and many others), I have to say, I was surprised. Surprised, but not overly stunned. This is big news for Port Townsend and boaters around the Salish Sea…

There’s no way of getting around the bigness of this news so I’ll just say it: as you read this, the Northwest Maritime Center is working to secure the long-term stewardship and management of Point Hudson—birthplace and current home of the Wooden Boat Festival and the 14 acres adjacent to the NWMC. Our intention is to pursue a long-term master lease for the marina, the historic buildings, and the undeveloped land—I said it was big!

Why? The future of Point Hudson is uncertain. It operates in the red, the breakwater is failing and needs $6 million to repair. With low reserves and high debt levels, the Port of Port Townsend is up against a financial wall, and is in the middle of considering a swath of options that runs from not repairing the breakwater and letting it fail, to changing the use of the land to allow for more development—relaxing zoning laws, historic protections, etc.

Our goal: We think we have a plan to keep Point Hudson the way it is but better, and to help it realize its potential by making it a better version of itself both financially and programmatically.

There’s a lot more than that, but here are a couple of things to get you started:

• My remarks at last Saturday’s Navigator Brunch, where we unveiled this plan to the community.
• You can learn as much as you like at the dedicated website for this effort: yourpointhudson.org—it includes a fantastic video (also featured below) from Jane Champion and Michael Delagarza that gives voices to the community passion and excitement around Point Hudson.

This is a big moment for the Maritime Center—stay tuned!

Jake Beattie, Executive Director 

So far, nothing is official and this is all based on proposals, but Jake’s right, this is big. As semi-frequent visitors to Point Hudson Marina and yearly gawkers at the Wooden Boat Festival, we could tell that something has been amiss with Point Hudson Marina. We couldn’t quite put our finger on exactly what, but this news seems to fit perfectly.

Here’s more from the PTLeader. And If you’d like to show your support or voice your opinions on the future of Point Hudson, we suggest a visit to yourpointhudson.org. Stay tuned, Three Sheets is poised to share information on how this story unfolds when it becomes available.

Read More Here ….

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