Downtown recovery slow
but steady

Retailers optimistic after 'grueling year'

SCOTT WYLAND, THE OLYMPIAN

Originally published Thursday, February 28, 2002

OLYMPIA -- Drees owner Ruthann Goularte recalls how the Nisqually Earthquake left her store in shambles a year ago.

Expensive glass items were shattered and strewn across the floor, and her insurance wouldn't cover the loss.

Goularte cleaned up the mess and regained some sense of control. Then she learned that true recovery would take longer for her and other merchants.

Foot traffic downtown diminished for several months after the earthquake rattled buildings and knocked tons of rubble into the streets, compounding an already cooling economy.

Then the Sept. 11 attacks dealt a blow to businesses everywhere.

"It was kind of like a cake that had all these different ingredients," Goularte said. "It was a grueling year."

But downtown has proved resilient, with some store owners reporting sales creeping back to the same level as a year ago, said Connie Lorenz, coordinator for the Olympia Downtown Association.

"It's taken almost a year to get up to speed," Lorenz said. "We still are in recovery mode, and we will be for a while."

After the earthquake, most merchants quit looking ahead and simply reacted to circumstances, Lorenz said. "It's what we did all year long."

For weeks, shoppers avoided downtown because sealed-off streets impeded traffic, Lorenz said.

Now, many drivers bypass downtown because they don't want to hassle with detours put in place during the Fourth Avenue bridge project, she said. Deschutes Parkway, still blocked off, has reduced traffic flow as well.

Fears dissipated

On the positive side, people no longer seem fearful that a subsequent quake will topple buildings around them, said Steve Cooper, who co-owns quake-damaged Washington Federal Savings.

"I think that's dissipated," Cooper said.

The earthquake wreaked an estimated $13 million in damage on downtown buildings.

The task now is to fix as many damaged structures as possible so that downtown looks fully recovered, Lorenz said.

A big concern was that historic buildings damaged in the quake would sit unrepaired or, worse, would be torn down because the owners couldn't afford to restore them, said Ken Black, the city's community development coordinator.

A prime example is the building that formerly housed Skookum Bay Outfitters. A battered shell, it's vacant, unusable and unsafe, Black said. "Pretty soon, if it doesn't get repaired, (it) will be demolished," he said.

Few building owners received low-interest disaster loans from the federal Small Business Administration, making it harder for them to afford repairs, Black said.

Still, some property owners have chosen to do major renovations, Black said.

"So there are some people that are taking the risk and reinvesting," Black said. "I think there's hope."

What's ahead

In the next several months, the city will apply for state disaster funds designed to help property owners do seismic upgrades on their buildings, Black said.

The catch is that the money can't be used to do repair work, he added.

The funds came about after the Federal Emergency Management Agency tallied the statewide damage, Black said.

FEMA gave the state a portion of the official damage estimate, for a total of $20 million, he said. About half of that pot remains.

A lot of people vied for the first $10 million, and the competition will remain intense, Black said. "I'd say for those funds, it's a long shot," he said.

Goularte said she was fortunate that her landlord, Ron Rants, chose to do seismic improvements with his own money.

Although she lost business for the three months the work was going on, she's happy that the Reed Block building, where her store is housed, was made sturdier.

"I feel much better being in the building," she said.

Scott Wyland is a business reporter for The Olympian. He can be reached at 360-357-0748 or swyland@olympia.gannett.com.

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