Airport being extended, new road being built and buildings getting new coat of paint

Port of Bremerton Chief Executive Officer Cary Bozeman said this month the port would be launching an “aggressive campaign” to market the port and Kitsap County to both companies and their potential workforce.

“Our marketing and our infrastructure could be better,” Bozeman said, adding he didn’t take on his new role “because I thought it was impossible. But the proof will be in the pudding afterward. Are we attracting new jobs and new people to Kitsap County?”

Bozeman said proper marketing is a problem across Kitsap County and the area has relied too heavily on the military to provide local jobs.

“We’re not very good at attracting new, private companies or educated workers,” he said. “People go away to college and they don’t come back. We’re not on the radar screen.”

One tool the port could still use to stimulate the local economy, according to Bozeman, is the $2.58 million grant the federal Economic Development Administration offered to help build the now-defunct Sustainable Energy and Economic Development Project’s incubator building.

“As I understand it, we have about four months to come up with another project,” Bozeman said, explaining the grant must be used for economic development.

Another goal Bozeman said the port is actively pursuing is leasing out its Salo building, for which the port is locked into a 10-year lease at $250,000 a year.

“We have three companies looking at the Salo building,” Bozeman said, adding he believed it would be leased by the end of the year.

“We are in very deep negotiations with a rather significant, national company that is interested in leasing (900,000 square feet),” said Tim Thomson, the port’s director of real estate and marketing, at a study session Sept. 8. “And pending a state loan, we have another tenant interested in leasing the rest.”

As part of its effort to spruce up its properties and its image, the port is giving its airport terminal building a fresh coat of paint, Bozeman told the Port of Bremerton Board of commissioners at the same study session.

“The terminal building is about 95 percent completed,” Bozeman said. “After that, we will move on to the fire house and the Airport Diner.”

At mention of the diner — which is located on port property near the airport terminal building — Commissioner Bill Mahan said he believed the building needed some improvements.

“In particular, the men’s bathroom really needs some work,” Mahan said.

Bozeman said he agreed the building’s “appearance is awful, (but improving it) would be a major undertaking. Eventually, it will be torn down.”

Other than the painting, Bozeman said there was “a lot of activity” at the airport, including work to extend the runway and preparations for the Cross-SKIA Connector road.

“The contractor was scheduled to start pre-level paving (on the runway) this morning, but all the rain delayed that,” said Airport Facilities Director Fred Salisbury, explaining the delay would extend closure of the first segment of the runway through Sept. 21, but it would actually “re-open at full-capacity” earlier, by Oct. 7.

Another asset the port hopes to market more effectively is the Bremerton Marina, which has leased less than half of its slips since opening.

“We have a new marketing plan for the marina and our mission in September is ‘recruitment and retention,’” said Steve Slaton, the port’s director of marine facilities. “We will be updating our marina video, updating our boat show booth and launching a dedicated Web site for the Bremerton Marina.”

On a more positive note, Slaton said revenue from visiting boaters this year are above expectations, and have “far exceeded normal amounts” at both the Bremerton and Port Orchard marinas.

For increasing the amount of boaters renting slips, Slaton said he expected the port’s plan to increase the number of parking spaces available will make a significant impact on the amount of tenants at the Bremerton Marina.

“Parking is mentioned 70 percent of the time when people give reasons why they left or did not sign-up,” he said. “I know (the additional parking) will have a very positive effect on our occupancy rate.”

Commissioner Mahan said it was unrealistic to expect the new marina to be full given the stalled economy.

“We are experiencing the biggest recession in 50 years,” he said. “To be critical of the marina for not achieving our goal is ludicrous. Why we beat ourselves up is beyond me and we are not that far behind, given the economy.”

Bozeman said the recession was no reason to be complacent.

“We should not just lay down and wait for this (recession) to pass,” he said. “We have to work hard at leasing the place out.”