The
new brightly painted Regal Cinema sticks out from a sea of brick building on
Barkley Boulevard. Harder to notice are the three smaller commercial properties
available for lease attached to the theater. The businesses that will develop
in these properties will add to the neighborhood in a way that is still unknown
to local residence.
“It
has already affected the nightlife in the area,” The Barkley Company’s Sales
and Project Development Manager Jeff Kochman said of the new movie theater.
With the majority of movies playing at the Regal Cinema between the hours of 6
and 10 p.m. the area has become an entertainment destination for people all
over Whatcom County.
Kochman
has made it clear that the Barkley Company is looking to fill the available
commercial properties with restaurants or other food establishments, making
getting dinner and a movie a one-stop shop for local daters.
Barkley
Village is a multi-use development that has grown to a 250-acre urban village
in which people can live, work and recreate.
The
urban village recently opened the doors to two new businesses, Regal Cinema and
Wood’s Coffee, located south of Barkley Boulevard and west of Woburn Street.
With the opening of the theater, the addition of Howe Street and a new
streetlight on Barkley Boulevard this area is expanding.
One
of the available properties attached to the theater has been leased to Zen
Sushi and Bar, a conveyer built sushi restaurant, Kochman said. This is the
first conveyer built sushi establishment in Barkley Village, though Little
Tokyo, a conventional sushi restaurant has been in the urban village for 15
years.
Chu Kim, owner of Little Tokyo, isn’t too worried about the soon to be
competition. “If the theater draws in the big crowds all the restaurants will
be okay,” Kim said. Kim does have tentative plans to change the atmosphere of
Little Tokyo to adapt to the updating area.
The only other building permit
request submitted to the city is from Subway, Kurt Nabbefeld Senior
Planner at the City of Bellingham said in an email.
Ron Glazier, a Barkley neighborhood resident who frequents the village, noted
that there are already many chain restaurants in the area and said he would
like to see support for a new venture.
“I would like to see something that would offer variety, a little more ethnic,
maybe Italian or Greek,” Glazier said.
The
Barkley Company takes many things into consideration when processing an
applicant. Kochman said a sound business plan, along with previous business
experience and who the applicant is all play an important role in the
application process. If the applicant has other businesses in the area or is
just looking to move locations to Barkley Village it is easier for the Barkley
Company to access the likelihood of its success.
That does not cancel out the
opportunity for a startup business to put up-shop in the urban village. Kochman
said the Barkley Company is accepting applications from all types of food
establishments.
It
is undetermined when future restaurants will open their doors, but Zen Sushi
and Bar is expected to open in the next three to four weeks.
What’s
next for Barkley Village? Construction on “Phase 2” of the Barkley Company’s
development plan will start “when market conditions are more favorable,”
Kochman said. When that will be is still unknown. Currently under development
is a 121-unit apartment building that will be built on East Newmarket Street,
across from the Drake Building where Scotty Brown’s is located.
Whichever
restaurants ultimately become part of Barkley Village it will be important for
The Barkley Company to consider the “feel” of the neighborhood.
“I
know some people think the movie theater is a little too flashy,” Glazier
said,” but I think it’s nice to see the development in the city, it shows that
the economy might be more prosperous and is creating more jobs – it’s a
positive effect.”
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