It’s been a long road, but some North Bend city officials are feeling cautiously optimistic that that the new Marriott hotel – in the works for five years – will break ground in 2019.
The project, slated for the corner of Bendigo Blvd and South Fork Ave, has been plagued by delays since site work began in August 2014. In October 2015 it was announced that the hotel would be a Marriott Fairfield Inn – and then, not too long afterward, things stalled.
In April 2017, city officials announced the project was moving again, saying it had stalled because the developer had decided to complete other projects before the North Bend hotel. At the time, the developer was hoping to have the project complete in spring 2019, but construction never began.
Last year the city revealed the primary issues causing delays were related to detailed hydraulic studies to verify the 100-year flood elevation and WSDOT’s control of the Bendigo Blvd/SR 202 right-of-way, space the developer needs for utility locations. Using that right-of-way requires extensive permitting and review by WSDOT.
On January 10, 2019 North Bend Community Development Director David Miller said the developer has since hired a whole new consulting team as they had performance problems with the last group.
Miller commented, “Their current consulting group is making very good progress with their biggest challenge, which is getting permits from WSDOT for work in the Highway 202 right-of-way.”
According to Miller, the WSDOT permitting usually takes 6 months, adding that all project plans and permit applications were recently submitted.
Soon to be acting City Administrator Mark Rigos said, “I’m cautiously optimistic the hotel will begin vertical construction in 2019.”
Miller said by this July, all WSDOT permitting should be completed, which means the hotel can break ground on the public improvements and ‘begin going vertical on the building.’ The building permit has already been approved, so only these public improvements are all that is left to be permitted.
Miller added, “If all goes well, they [Marriott] should be open in Fall of 2020.”
