Some infilling on its way. Putting Bellingham's former St. Luke's Hospital Campus back into use.

The former St. Luke's and later St. Joe's South Campus hospital site has sat unused for years. It has recently been purchased by WWU with WWU Foundation money. This creates an opportunity for expansion to serve an educational need in the growing healthcare field. It may be a while before much change is made, but the wheels are starting to move in a direction at least.

Photo from WWU News publication.

It's a large area of land centrally located in Bellingham that has sat mostly empty for several years.

When I first came to Bellingham, there were two hospitals, St. Joe's and St. Luke's. During the 1980s, I remember a bit of rivalry between the hospitals that was labeled "Scar Wars" in the media. The 1980s also saw Ronald Regan's Star Wars plan.

I wasn't involved in the politics about this so my memories are only very tangential to the hospital situation.

Back in the early 1980s, Bellis Fair had not yet been built so there was a lot of debate over where expanded retailing should go in Bellingham; downtown or the outlying plans for Bellis Fair Mall. At some point, there was a plan, among many plans, to build a bigger shopping center near the current Fred Myers on Lakeway. Fred Meyers was there, but there was quite a bit of vacant land just south of it where a shopping center could "possibly" go.

In the middle, just west of I-5, was St. Luke's Hospital which, at that time, had some expansion plans, as I remember. It was trying to keep up with St. Joe's.

I wrote a letter to the editor envisioning a mall going in south of Fred Meyers as it was still somewhat close to downtown with Lakeway being just east of I-5 and downtown being west. For some reason I remember having a brain storm about St. Luke's in the middle becoming "St. Luke's University."

I was thinking that the central part of Bellingham could be a focus of growth; more compact growth than the plans to spread out along I-5 and Meridian.

As for a retail core in central Bellingham, I-5 has been like a barrier preventing this core from feeling cohesive. A strong mall, or downtown area, needs cohesiveness to offer the many choices within walking distance. This "core" is still pretty spread out and divided by I-5. Where busy Lakeway goes under I-5, there isn't much room. It's a bottleneck.

Imagine if a much wider connection crossed under I-5 in central Bellingham. Imagine if there was better bicycle and pedestrian connection. Then imagine if some of the commercial development, of the Meridian area, ended up more compact and in central Bellingham on both sides of I-5.

In reality, Bellis Fair eventually arrived much farther north at Meridian and I-5. Downtown has become a multi use area with more residential development. Downtown has evolved beyond just retail to multi use and residential. These days, retail is becoming less important in the era of online shopping anyway.

Fast forward to 2026. At least the old St. Luke's Hospital campus, that sat mostly empty, like a void in the middle of Bellingham, for several years, is now in a position for infill as Western Washington University puts that campus to use.

Underutilized parking lot.

Old hospital.

Chestnut Professional Building also part of the deal.

Autumn at the west end of Lake Padden.

Getting my Dell remanufactured computer, vintage 2018. It still works great. Thanks Santa Amazon, a repair shop and my bicycle.

My new computer has arrived. It's a remanufactured Dell Optiplex 7060 from the 2018 era. Seems to be working great. A much better price than new.

Just got it out of the box. Like Christmas. Now getting ready to put it on the shelf behind my desk and get it set up.

I was able to have Amazon send it to a computer repair shop that held it for me. Local retail choices for remanufactured computers are scanty at best.

The repair shop sold the cables it needs and was a safe place for non post office carriers to leave it at; versus, at best, to my door on the 7th floor, or maybe in the lobby of my apartment building.

Then I brought it home on my bicycle, of course. It fits well in the pannier. I squished down some of the packing material to toss out at home.

New uses for an old Safeway Building.

In downtown Bellingham, according to the webpage of Whatcom Talk, this underutilized building is planned to become an active event space for a Bellingham organization I didn't know much about. I've heard of Fire and Water Story Festival on the waterfront. Now I'm learning more about their year round activities. This is in my newsfeed read from eclectic sources.

My photo from 2020 just before it served as a larger space for Lighthouse Mission homeless shelter. It had several uses after Safeway and sat empty for some of the time.

The old building was once a downtown Safeway supermarket. I remember when there were 3 supermarkets, for a while (maybe 4) in downtown Bellingham during my college years. This was before automobile dependency and limited space for parking pushed supermarkets closer to the outlying areas along I-5.

In my college years, we had Safeway on Cornwall. We also had Thriftway on Holly (where WECU later had their headquarters).

I think there was also Prairie Market where Grocery Outlet now resides. Then I remember when they first built the building now occupied by Habitat For Humanity. It was a brand new Tradewell that didn't last long.

This old Safeway Building is now owned by the WTA transit agency who is using it to promote downtown transit friendly development, such as housing and retail. It is also future space for transit use.

When Bellingham Herald Building celebrated its 100th year since it opened.

The Bellingham Herald Building just celebrated 100 years plus a few months since it's opening in 1926. Celebration was Sept. 26 2026. There were tours and festivities. We even got to the roof. I was there.

The Newspaper is not there anymore. Bellingham Herald's offices are in Barkley Village. The old building still has many uses, however.

Big turnout for tours going most of the day. Tours by the Bellingham Good Time Girls organization.

Old flooring in a beauty salon that used to be production spaces for the newspaper.

Tours were booked full due to the chock point of elevator capacity. How many folks can fit in a Volkswagen?

More of us could be accommodated if we took the stairs. I was happy to do that.

We got to the roof above the 6th floor. There is also a penthouse that would be a partial 7th floor.

Yes, a unique perspective on Bellingham. Rumor's Cabaret, the red building, has solar panels. I didn't know that before.

Looking down to the corner of Chestnut and Railroad.

Walking on the roof.

Under the iconic Herald Sign.

What some of the hallways look like.

Dancing to 1920s music before a community group picture.

Getting ready for the group picture.

I'm in the group pictures they took with my bright green shirt and bicycle helmet. Photo from Daylight Properties Facebook Page.

A solution for trying to buy a remanufactured computer in Bellingham.

My next desktop computer is on its way. Ordered from Amazon. Turns out local businesses use Amazon and other online platforms as their retail outlet. I've been learning about how much of retail business is done in the field of remanufactured computers.

AI suggested I go to IPC, a large electronics recycler who deals in remanufactured products. They look like just a warehouse and loading dock, but, supposedly, they do retail for things they have refurbished. Turns out their retail is on Ebay, a large website for buying and selling.

I rang the doorbell at the loading dock. The door rolled open and I ask a young fellow if they sold computers. He said they sell them over Ebay.

I mentioned that in more chats with AI and the AI I was using thanked me for the correction.

Riding my bicycle, I tried Goodwill and Habitat for Humanity. They don't do windows, I mean computers. Habitat for Humanity does have windows.

Office Max only had 3 brand new computers at quite high prices.

Then I decided to try a repair / retail shop across town. At first, the staff person looked like he was asleep, but the sound of the door awakened him.

He was quite friendly as I explained my story. Not a lot of choices there as well, but they service computers. He offered to be the safe place I could have my computer sent to for pickup. Better than my apartment building where it may not get to the right door, or Amazon's often full pickup desk.

Problem solved. I ordered from Amazon.

Chatting more with AI, I discovered that medium sized cities don't have enough resale volume, or choice, to make it worthwhile. It might work in a big place, like Seattle, with businesses like Boeing Surplus.

Many local businesses, in the computer field, have now pivited toward customer service and repair; rather than maintaining large inventories themselves. They tend to use the giant online sellers, like Amazon and Ebay.

Shopping around through traffic is more difficult than shopping online. We do live in a constantly changing world.

Bellingham, like most American cities, has quite a few of these type of choices.

My day trip to Birch Bay and back from Bellingham by bicycle.

I was thinking of doing a several day bike tour, but it is hard to leave Bellingham with so much to do here. Then a wet weather forecast for later this week gave me cold feet. I decided, spur of the moment, to do a day trip just to Birch Bay and back.

A compromise, but some folks would say, at age 71, Birch Bay is a long trip at 49 miles round trip. I left in early afternoon so I didn't even miss lunch at the Bellingham Senior Center.

Mount Baker from Ferndale near Labounty Road.

Douglas, a more quiet road.

Phillips 66 refinery in the distance. I like ironies. Some of the most peaceful riding is near our oil refineries where most people don't want to live. They have large buffer areas around them.

Bellingham has a rainbow bridge. Near where the old aluminum refinery was is a rainbow road.

A big reason for this trip is the Point Whitehorn Road who's easement has been turned into a trail. A way to escape traffic. It's in buffer lands near BP Refinery. We have two oil refineries in the county.

I must be getting close to Birch Bay.

Yes. the state park.

Artistic mailboxes.

And a phone booth, probably not hooked up.

Moon and sunset as I head back home near Ferndale.

Mount Baker in sunset.

Crossing the Nooksack River at Ferndale.

Bellingham's Rainbow Bridge, on Northwest Avenue, greets me. I'm almost home. The last few miles after sunset. I have good bicycle lights.

Passing part of Franklin Academy private school on Northwest Avenue.

Touring the Bellingham sewage disposal plant.

I went to an open house at the Bellingham sewage treatment plant. This was part of a yearly Water Week festival with behind the scenes tours of things that keep our lives going, without making the environment unlivable.

Tour for the water treatment plant was filled, but I signed up just in time for a spot at the sewage plant, a cherished experince.

The week had several educational events, including a self guided tour of local water topics, like storm drains, pump stations and creeks along Bellingham trails, mostly. I am aware of many things anyway, when I ride the trails.

Normally not a tourism destination, this was an open house.

Where solid things that get thrown in, like trash, get screened out. Lots of things, people inadvertently put in the wrong place, can hurt the equipment and the environment.

The tour proceeds. Hardhats and vests required.

You never know. Some people might.

At a settling pond.

It is a complex process beyond just the settling ponds. Bacteria is used in much of the process. Bleach also.

Ironically, near the plant is a blue heron rockery. People don't like living near a sewage plant as there is some smell. This makes it better for blue herons and other wildlife than most neighborhoods.

How biodegradable are various things put down sinks and toilets?

Paper towels and various wipes can remain too intact so the screens have to sift them out to protect machinery and the environment. Toilet paper tends to be the best.

After the process, cleaned water is released back to a lagoon and on out to Bellingham Bay.

There happened to be a truck headed down the railroad track when I took this picture.

Trails around the outside of the plant.

Looking out from another trail above the plant.