New Apartments on Lincoln Street

The Grove apartments, soon to be located at the development site just south of Fred Meyer, are continuing a pattern of development geared toward students for Lincoln Street.

Over the last two decades, the Lincoln Street area has been developed to adjust for the growing population of college students in Bellingham, Martin Kjelstad said, Bellingham Publics Works employee.

Lincoln Street has been adjusted for student use and needs with:

·      The Maple Park apartment project built 20 years ago

·      The drive-in movie theater becoming the Lincoln Creek Park and Ride 15 years ago

·      The Edge apartments built in 2009

·      Southgate apartments

Planned for East Maple Street, The Grove apartments are intended for mainly college-aged tenants just like University Ridge destined for Consolidation Avenue.

The development will include office space, retail space and a parking garage. The site will also bring in more college students with 550 units planned for The Grove.

There has not been much development on Lincoln Street that was not student housing or intended for student use, Kjelstad said.

Currently, 14,833 students attend Western Washington University and 11,000 attend Whatcom Community College. As student populations rise at Western and Whatcom, areas surrounding the schools, like Lincoln Street, will develop to accommodate the number of students living in Bellingham.