Aberdeen’s historic Morck Hotel to gain new life

Published 4:00 pm Sunday, January 31, 2010

Morck Renovation, LLC announced recently that after nearly two years of wading through legal hurdles it has gained title to the historic Morck Hotel in Aberdeen, Wash., and is moving forward with plans to renovate the 86 year-old icon.

The project will involve a $7 million renovation of the downtown hotel, which originally opened in 1924. The plans include a final configuration that will include 87 rooms and suites, a 125-seat steak and chop house, lounge and 4,000 sq. ft. of conference space.  The developers said they are looking to create a vibrant anchor that will help drive the overall revitalization of downtown Aberdeen.

With nearly $3 million invested thus far, when completed the hotel phase of the project is estimated to have a value of over $11 million and employ up to 75 people.

Principal members of Morck Renovation LLC include Astoria developer Chester Trabucco, who was responsible for the renovation of the Hotel Elliott as well as several other commercial property renovations in Astoria; Bremerton, Wash., architectural firm Rice Fergus Miller, Eric Jacobsen, of Jacobsen Real Estate Group in Portland, Ore., developer Wade Entezar, and the building’s former owners, Bob Burns and Shallina Lakhani.

Tim Quigg of Quigg Bros. originally recruited Trabucco in 2005 after staying in Astoria’s Hotel Elliott, who in turn brought in Entezar last year to share the Grays Harbor’s development potential.

Trabucco said he’s always been interested in seeing the Morck Hotel brought back to its original status “as the place where deals were cut, romances fostered and social gatherings abounded.” He said he’s also been inspired by the positive effects of renovation of these properties.

“After seeing the impact that restoring these historic icons such as the Elliott, the Marcus Whitman in Walla Walla (Wash.) and the Davenport in Spokane (Wash) have had on sparking economic development in their respective towns, I haven’t given up on the idea of watching those same forces come to bear here in the [Grays] Harbor,” Trabucco said.

A transaction to formally purchase the Morck Hotel out of receivership was completed the second week of January. Abbott Construction of Seattle has been selected as the project’s general contractor and will be finalizing construction costs in 2010 dollars in the coming month, in collaboration with Rice Fergus Miller architects.