Finance, develop, build, grow. All over Whatcom County, we see construction company signs in front of projects big and small, private and public, almost finished or just getting started. Where are the crews now, and what are they building?
Four people answer the question: Kendall Nielsen, president of Dawson Construction; Geoff Stodola, president and CEO of Exxel Pacific; Gabe Rogel, owner of Sender Properties; and Tyler Schroeder, director of economic development, Port of Bellingham.
A couple of big players
Let’s start with the big guys: Dawson and Exxel.
“We’re doing a lot of multifamily housing,” said Nielsen of Dawson Construction. Most prominent is Ironworks at Old Town, a six-story, 84-unit, mixed-used building between Astor and Holly streets, on the previous Lautenbach/Northwest Recycling site, about a block from Maritime Heritage Park and Whatcom Creek. Ironworks will provide middle-income market-rate housing for about 100 people, with 1,600 square feet of ground floor commercial space along D and Holly streets.
“Old Town is rejuvenating,” Nielsen said. “The city has been a great partner. Ironworks is two months ahead of schedule and under budget, so we anticipate returning money to the developer. Model units open in May, with occupancy in June or July.
“We’ll finish Ironworks and roll right into the next one. That entire area (of Old Town) will include senior housing, affordable housing, market-rate apartments, as well as more trails… Bellingham is facing a tremendous housing crisis, and we are proud to put a dent in it.”
The plan is to create about a hundred units of housing every year for the next several years, Nielsen said.
Dawson Construction is also completing Eagle Haven Tiny Home Village for Lummi Nation, a 24-unit, permanent supportive housing development for tribal members. The Family Housing & Early Learning Center at Eliza Avenue and Bellis Fair Parkway, a four-story complex of 63 affordable housing units with a 10,000-square-foot child care center on the ground floor, is in progress. Dawson Construction broke ground in January on a nearby senior housing building of 64 units. The Ferndale Civic Campus (City Hall and Municipal Court) is underway, with completion expected in early 2027.
“An exciting project for us is building our own new headquarters building,” Nielsen said. “Maybe once in a generation does a company build a new office. It’s on Pacific Highway, just down the street from Costco.”
As for Exxel Pacific, the company’s Madrona Condominiums, previously known as the State Street Creamery building, at 820 N. State St. near the university and waterfront, is expected to be completed during the second quarter of this year, said Stodola of Exxel Pacific.
It includes a rooftop deck, views of the bay and islands, bike storage, an exterior courtyard and a parking garage.
“Exxel is working on pre-construction for several new upcoming apartment projects in Bellingham,” Stodola said. “In late Q3 of this year, we’re looking forward to starting a 70-unit affordable housing project at 202 Unity St. for the Bellingham Housing Authority.”
What’s happening with The Manning, a 142-unit, six-story, commercial/residential project on Rimland Drive in Barkley Village?
As of late January, excavation and ground improvements were completed, with concrete foundations going in, Stodola said. The project consists of two buildings, with various indoor and outdoor amenities, over a combined parking garage. Each building will have studio, one- and two-bedroom units. It’s expected to open in the summer of 2027. Construction of five adjacent townhomes will start late this summer or early fall, with completion expected within the timeframe of the overall project.
Exxel Pacific and Dawson Construction are a couple of our big players. What else might be out there, under the radar?
The small operator
Gabe Rogel, a former adventure sports photographer, is owner of Sender Properties, a sole-proprietor company building The Holly Street Climbing Gym and Arête Lofts. That’s a six-story residential and recreational development with four levels of climbing gym and two levels of residential, with 26 condos. The site, vacant since 1927, is across from Old Town Cafe.
Rogel bought the lot in 2021, intending to build a climbing gym, but adding residential was key to getting financing, he said. He got the land use permit in May 2025 and expects a building permit this year. A commercial tenant — VITAL Climbing Gym, a national chain — will lease and operate the fitness space.
Amenities will include 45,000 square feet of climbing gym with ropes routes; indoor bouldering; a yoga studio; a sauna; and a rooftop deck with outdoor bouldering, yoga deck, firepits and views of the San Juan Islands and Mount Baker.
The condos are “market rate but not luxury,” meaning not government assisted but not super high end either, Rogel said. “The goal is to create beautiful spaces to call home, downtown, where you can walk to everything, enjoy incredible views and access world-class body/mind spaces.”
There’s no date yet for groundbreaking. “We get closer every day to finalizing financing,” Rogel said. “Once we do, we’re looking at an 18-month build. The climbing gym will be built as soon as is humanly possible!”
Rogel previously developed a mixed-use residential neighborhood in Driggs, Idaho. “At a smaller scale, I’ve also built a few homes for my family,” Rogel said. “For the past five years, this (climbing gym/lofts) has been, and is, my passion, to provide space for our community to connect with others, to exercise, train, relax, have fun. Climbing gyms are a major asset to a community.”
Though Rogel is a company of one, he’s working with 20-plus professionals.
“Zervas Architects has been with me from day one,” Rogel said. “Love those guys! Exxel Pacific was chosen as general contractor a couple of years ago due to their knowledge of the site and experience with mixed-use buildings. They’re a great crew.”
The Port of Bellingham
The Port of Bellingham’s largest capital project is the modernization of the Bellingham Shipping Terminal, which is well underway, said Tyler Schroeder, director of economic development at the Port of Bellingham. The central dock has been strengthened, stormwater infrastructure improved, and historic contamination from Whatcom Waterway removed, restoring navigation depth to 35 feet.
That allows a much wider variety of vessels — including what are known as Handysize vessels, which are small to medium bulk carriers. “They’re the target-size vessel for our market due to their load capacity and draft,” Schroeder said.
The port is finishing work on two other large cleanup projects, removing contamination from the I&J Waterway in Bellingham Bay and from Harris Avenue Shipyard in Fairhaven. The Washington State Department of Ecology is overseeing a portion of the Harris Avenue Shipyard project.
“This work is almost complete,” Schroeder said. “In-water cleanup will start in earnest in 2027. This property will continue to be used for marine industry.”
At Fairhaven Marine Industrial Park, the port is investing to modernize, protect property from sea level rise, and prepare a new marine industrial business pad for future development. The park currently hosts five marine businesses that employ 100 people. “Demand for marine industrial land in Whatcom County remains strong,” Schroeder said.
In Blaine, the port is partnering with the Department of Ecology over the next two years to clean up historic contamination and establish a port-operated DIY boatyard, giving local boaters more options, Schroeder said.
At the Bellingham Cruise Terminal in Fairhaven, where the Alaska ferry comes in, the port is working with a partner to explore expanding services to accommodate cruises bound for Alaska and elsewhere. The study’s results should be available this year.
“We’re interested in homeporting, being the beginning and end of cruise vessel routes,” Schroeder said. The aim is to increase local hospitality business, airport volume and more.
Also in Fairhaven, the port will start construction this fall on a small beach and dock for non-motorized watercraft, next to the Community Boating Center. The dock will be the first Americans with Disabilities Act-accessible water access north of Everett for hand-launch boaters.
We see cranes
Up and down Whatcom County, from Blaine to Fairhaven, cranes and crews are working to transform the future.
SIDEBAR: Exxel Pacific
Clearing financial hurdles
Despite inflation and interest rates, local construction industry insiders remain optimistic. Here’s Geoff Stodola, president and CEO of Exxel Pacific:
“In the past several years, there has been positive growth from the Opportunity Zone program designed to spur investment in undercapitalized areas of our city, providing needed market-rate and student-housing development. Market-rate projects have shown consistent growth over the years; however, that slowed substantially beginning in 2022 with increasing interest rates. This financing hurdle has negatively impacted the privately developed, multifamily projects locally. Recently, we’ve started to see some improvements in the market with the modest downward trend in interest rates, but there is still a way to go to loosen up equity and lending terms, allowing more projects to pencil financially and move forward.
“While private development is currently more challenging to finance, affordable housing has emerged over the last three to five years as a busy project sector. These projects typically benefit from lower-interest equity and lending sources dedicated to affordable housing. This is an important market sector for Exxel Pacific that we expect to continue as long as we have an affordable-housing shortage.”
Kendall Nielsen, president of Dawson Construction, weighs in: “We’re optimistic. It’s been an interesting time since COVID. We’ve seen this environment of higher interest rates and inflation normalize, but that puts brakes on people’s willingness to spend on capital projects. We hope to see interest rates ease and inflation come down this year.
“Public-money jobs that were in the planning stages a couple of years ago didn’t anticipate inflation this high. Bids now go over what municipalities have budgeted, so some work is being put on hold; work is slowing because budgets are under pressure. We hear the same message from municipalities and others: There’s not enough housing, and it’s too expensive.
“If you’re following bid lists right now, you can see a dozen contractors on the project, a lot of them from out of the area. We see them chase work all over Whatcom County and the islands. That speaks to the pressure contractors feel in this area.
“For us, we’re doing a lot of multifamily housing. Also, we just won the Whatcom Community College Technology and Engineering Center, to start in 2027. We beat a pretty thick field on that project.”