Thumbnail photo: A Coos Bay boat builder has offered the most “realistic concrete plan” for offering ship yard services at the Crescent City Harbor since Fashion Blacksmith closed its doors last year, Harbormaster Mike Rademaker said | Photo by Gavin Val Alstine
Crescent City Harbormaster Mike Rademaker said he’s found a boat builder who could potentially fill the void Fashion Blacksmith left behind when it closed following a legal dispute with the port last year.
Rademaker told commissioners on Wednesday that he’s spent a lot of time with Cory Gottschalk, a boat builder currently operating out of Coos Bay, Oregon. Gottschalk has plied his trade in New Zealand, Australia, Washington and Alaska, and has agreed to “be our principal operator of the boatyard,” the harbormaster said.
Though Gottschalk demonstrated his expertise and has a good reputation, the Harbor District still needs to go through a vetting process before it enters into a contract with the boat builder, Rademaker said. This will involve further reference and credit checks, he said.
“He practically started repairing the Synchrolift, looking at the cables and looking at the motor,” Rademaker told Redwood Voice Community News on Thursday. “He strikes me as having a no-nonsense kind of can-do attitude. Before we even signed a lease, he’s already telling me how we can solve some of the problems in the building, coming up with solutions that are credible and innovative.”
If Gottschalk does provide boatyard services in Crescent City, he’ll likely operate out of a smaller building adjacent to the old Fashion Blacksmith structure that was once used as a pump station for fish processors, Rademaker said. Gottschalk is currently working on smaller projects and putting together a labor force.
Though he hasn’t presented a formal proposal to the Board of Commissioners yet, Rademaker said Gottschalk’s plan is the most “realistic concrete business plan” that he’s seen for a boatyard since Fashion Blacksmith shut its doors.
The 2.42-acre parcel at 121 Starfish Way, including its 9,000 square-foot repair building, has been vacant since Fashion Blacksmith vacated the premises last year. Boatyard owner Ted Long had leased the facility from the Harbor District for more than four decades, but sued the District, accusing it of breaching their contract with him. Long said the Harbor District had failed to maintain the facility as well as a depth of 18 feet below the Synchrolift — a wooden platform that lifts boats onto land for repairs.
The Harbor District settled with Long, agreeing to pay $2.6 million plus interest to him over a period of 10 years if he moved out of the building by June 2024.
The Harbor District has been pursuing grant dollars to re-establish a boatyard at the port since then. One possibility was a $20 million Environmental Protection Agency Climate Change grant with $13 million going toward dredging, new equipment, boat haul-out and pier improvements.
That fell through due to the Trump administration deciding that program was “dead,” according to Community System Solutions CEO Mike Bahr, who is the grant writer for the Harbor District.
The Harbor District’s efforts to re-establish a boatyard could be funded through a $3 to $5 million grant through the California Regional Investment Initiative Implementation Phase, formerly known as Redwood Region Rise or California Jobs First, according to Bahr. The district could also use those dollars to cover a shortfall in the seawall reconstruction budget, Bahr told commissioners on March 12.
On Thursday, Rademaker told Redwood Voice that Gottschalk discussed extending the boatyard building’s beams out over the water to form the structure for a bridge crane. This would enable the facility to gain more depth in the water, enabling it to service large boats, without having to dredge — though Rademaker said the Harbor District would still need to dredge long-term.
The Harbor District is currently working on making sure the Fashion Blacksmith building meets current environmental regulations Rademaker said. The building also needs some minor structural repair, he said.
One project Gottschalk is looking at, according to the harbormaster, is work on a 400-ton tugboat out of the San Francisco Bay Area. Rademaker said Gottschalk had also constructed a research vessel for Oregon State University.
“Indications are looking really good,” Rademaker said, adding that Commissioner Annie Nehmer had conducted a preliminary check on Gottschalk. “He’s got a lot of connections in the fishing industry.”
While Rademaker and Harbor commissioners are adamant that a boatyard is needed, the harbormaster said they’ve kicked around other potential uses for the 9,000 square-foot repair building.
One idea was using it as a sound stage. According to Rademaker, the film commissioner paid the Harbor District a visit following the Del Norte Economic Summit.
“I guess Top Gun two [Top Gun: Maverick] was almost going to film in Del Norte County,” he said. “Tom Cruise was looking at the Del Norte County Airport … looking in parts of Redwood National Park, and one of the shortcomings was the lack of a sound stage. The film commissioner was telling me that there’s no suitable large scale sound stage between the San Francisco Bay Area and Portland.”
Other possibilities for the structure is a potential entertainment venue where concerts and other gatherings could be held during winter, Rademaker said. There were even talks about converting the structure into a three-story building with an observation deck at the top. But the structure was built to house a boatyard, Rademaker said, and that would be its easiest fit.
“One thing we may end up doing if we get grant funding is we could potentially build a new haul out facility, a boat yard facility that would be closer to the water, and use this design that Cory was suggesting where the beams extend over the water,” Rademaker said. “And then the old building could potentially be used for something else, whether that’s a sound stage or an event center for the winter months.”
Rademaker said if he does set up business in the Crescent City Harbor, Gottschalk would need enough room for his crew to work on boats in various stages of construction along with room for dry dock storage.
