The Ocean Crest Resort in Moclips has received approval from Grays Harbor County to rebuild its view restaurant on the same footprint as the historic building that burned down in June.
The resort will have to put in about 20 new pilings on the hillside to support the new facility, which will be redesigned with an upstairs banquet room, a downstairs bar and a full gift shop like the previous facility, which burned to the ground June 20.
“Once we put in the pilings, we have to stress-test those to make sure that goes well. Then we’ll be able to pour the foundation and get moving. It’s a great first step,” said Sara Owen, who helps run the resort with her husband Jess as part of the Curtright family that has owned it since the 1950s.
Ocean Crest has contracted with the Nor-Cat Inc. remodeling and rebuilding company in Cosmopolis to do the foundation work.
“The whole Curtright family is just thrilled. We are all very, very happy,” Owen said. “The county has allowing us to rebuild in the same place, as long as the footprint stays the same.”
From the outside, the building will have essentially the same shape, fitting in to the hillside that overlooks a sweeping view of the Pacific Ocean.
“The interior and the layout will be far different,” Owen said.
The family is working with Alan E. Gozart of Harbor Architects on the design work.
“He actually worked on some of the remodel back in the 1980s, so we’re thrilled to be working with Al again,” Owen said. “It’s still kind of conceptual in that we know some things will change, but we do know we will have a larger event area, and that will be upstairs. We will have larger storage, but our gift shop will essentially be the same size.”
The plans also call for a fireplace similar to the one destroyed by the still-unexplained blaze. The old restaurant was built around the original house on the premises.
“It will be a big stone fireplace because it was important for the whole Curtright family,” Owen said. “That fireplace that was in the restaurant was original to grandma’s one-bedroom house.”
The most important feature will be the view.
“We have been working with a designer and we have some great ideas,” Owen said. “It’s just going to be so, so pretty.”
The family hopes to have an official groundbreaking this month, followed by an opening date sometime in the fall if construction goes as planned.
In addition to the local contractors, Ocean Crest also will feature original glass artwork created by Opal Art Glass of Cosmopolis.
“We plan to feature so many great things about the Harbor in our restaurant,” Owen said.
Angelo Bruscas, a Daily World writer, can be reached at 537-3916, or by email at abruscas@thedailyworld.com
