The Northwest Maritime Center (NWMC) is leasing its boatshop to the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding (NWSWB) from January to June 2015 to accommodate the increased enrollment for their contemporary boat building program.

"We have the perfect facility that is turn key for their needs," said Jake Beattie, NWMC executive director. "This agreement allows them to expand without the burden of a long term investment in facilities while gaining the exposure of a downtown location, and it allows us to increase the program-rich activity that happens in our facility."

Beattie called it a "win-win" for both organizations as well as for community collaboration, and "a milestone in the mending of fences, and a fulfillment of the original vision of the maritime center as a resource for the cornerstone maritime organizations in our community ... more students will be trained for the trades, multiple organizations will be supported, and the public will get the opportunity to be exposed to the training of the next generation of shipwrights."

NWMC already rents its shop to private individuals, shipwrights, non-profit organizations, and other businesses such as Pygmy Kayaks, which teaches classes there.

"This agreement adds another partner and a substantial increase in paid use," Beattie said.

Those other classes and the maintenance of the NWMC fleet shifts to the six months that the NWSWB is not using the shop.

"We're in the process of finding alternate locations or scheduled times for our ongoing programs that use the shop, such as the boatbuilding portion of the 7th grade and high school programs, Robotics Team, Sea Scouts, and the Girls Boatbuilding Project," he said.