Gary Keister greeted Catalina Osa as if he knew her Saturday at an open house for the new Old Alcohol Plant in Port Hadlock.

The two had met briefly once before – right after Osa moved into a room on the east side of the former Inn at Port Hadlock, now called the Old Alcohol Plant, which Keister owns.

Half of the property, on the west side, is set to reopen in June as a market-rate inn under a new-old name. Although it was most recently named Inn at Port Hadlock, many people still refer to it by the hotel business name of Old Alcohol Plant, which was a throwback to its history. The facility was built in 1910 and used for about three years to manufacture ethyl alcohol.

The other half of the property, on the east side, where Osa now lives, is being run by a nonprofit, Bayside Housing and Services. Bayside is using 10 rooms for transitional housing for low-income seniors, veterans and others who are in need of transitional housing.

Osa had been living in Serenity House of Clallam County in Port Angeles, but she could not stay there any longer and was referred to Bayside.

“I'm very happy here. It's like a castle. I have my own room,” Osa said as she held a firm grip on her walker and chatted with Keister. She acknowledged she had met Keister right after she moved in, not knowing he was the owner.

“We were surprised at the demographics we're seeing,” said Keister before he met up with Osa. “Almost all are older women.”

The need for housing in Jefferson County is why Keister says the purchase of the inn and its remodeling and dual purpose is all worthwhile. The hotel part of the property is designed to help support the nonprofit half, although they are being run separately and independently.

As of Saturday, there are three women and one man in Bayside's portion and one woman who was doing work at the inn in exchange for housing. All pay some rent, based on income.

Keister won't say how much money he and investors have put into the inn since buying it in December of 2014 for $852,000 after a bank foreclosed on the previous owners. The property was vacant four years.

He said that the $852,000 was only for the real property and while it may seem low for a property this size, he and his investors had to make roof repairs and other infrastructure improvements.

“We've just done a lot of things you don't see, like electrical work, plumbing,” he said, adding everything is now up to code.

After almost two years of work, Keister said he has all the permits needed to reopen the inn, hopefully by June 1. He's still looking for someone to run the restaurant, though does have someone interested in catering from the existing spacious kitchen, which he said needs to be rebuilt.

Keister said the goal is to be in the facility for a year before making drastic changes, he said.

“It's a beautiful venue and we want it to be a community place for Hadlock and Chimacum,” Keister said of the property.

The community is already expressing an interest in some of that space.

Betsy Davis, executive director of the nearby Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding, stopped by to visit and chat on Saturday.

“It's great being neighbors,” Davis said, adding that the staff is friendly and the vision Keister has for the property is worthy.

Jill Buhler, chair of the Jefferson Healthcare board of commissioners, said she was looking at it as a possible venue for the hospital's foundation events.

ON THE TOUR

Dozens of people turned out to take a tour of the inn.

Kim Carver, facilities manager of the inn, took 15 people at a time on a tour of the several rooms that will be available for rent, likely via Airbnb.com.

The main inn features 14 suites, banquet room, a commercial kitchen and bar. Only three of the suites were featured on the tour.

A spacious room on the second floor likely would be rented for under $100 a night, Carver said as she showed people around.

“It's going to be affordable,” she said, adding the goal of the first summer is to get people back into the inn.

“This room is about exactly the way it was left when the inn was closed four years ago,” she told those on the tour. The room is complete with bed, bedding, curtains and other furniture, all seemingly in excellent shape.

Carver said that although the inn was closed for four years, “there was hardly any vandalism.”

Art was stolen, she and Keister said, and many mirrors were taken, but otherwise, nothing was broken. Even giant, expensive sculptures remain.

“My brother stayed in this room back in 2008,” said Elaine Nye of Port Ludlow, who ventured to the open house to check things out. “It's useful to know what it looks like now.”

Up on the third floor, Carver showed off Room 322, a room more spacious than the second-floor room that Carver said is her favorite.

Leslie Kartuk checked out the bathroom as she recalled working at the inn years ago.

“I think it's beautiful,” she said as she moved to the living area, past the bed, to check out the view of the Port Hadlock Marina. “I'd love to live here.”

Kartuk recalled how she'd work a night shift, then work on a dive boat during the day before picking up her kids from school.

“I was just tickled when I saw this. It's got history that's part of the community,” she said.

There were audible oohs and ahhs of the view of the marina and the Port Townsend Paper Corp. beyond it, all visible from every room shown.

The suite on the top floor has about 800 square feet, Keister said.

OUTSIDE

As people gathered on the inn's lawn facing the marina, there were signs of a territory issue brewing.

At the bottom of a walkway leading to the private and separate Port Hadlock Marina was a red-and-white sign that read, “No trespassing. This property is protected by video surveillance. Trespassers will be prosecuted.”

Beth Lorber, who owns a boat she'd like to sell, agreed the sign wasn't friendly but said she also didn't want random people wandering around the area near her boat either.

Bill Wise, who owns the marina, said Monday he posted the sign because new signs telling people not to go up to the inn were recently erected.

“They had posted no trespassing signs going up so we posted one on the sides going down. We just actually responded to the sign they put up,” Wise said, adding he wanted to make it clear where the two private property boundaries were.

Asked what he thought of the new dual-purpose of the property, Wise declined to comment. He did say the private marina does have a security system, as the sign indicated.

In the meantime, there were people from the marina visiting the inn's open house with one person indicating an interest in apologizing for the sign's unwelcoming tone.

BACK AT THE INN

Aislinn Palmer, managing director of Bayside Housing & Services, was fielding questions from the community in the banquet room. Under her name tag, there was an invitation to “Ask me any question.”

So which question is she getting used to answering the most?

“One of the most common is: 'Is it haunted?'” she said.

“We even tried watching 'The Shining' in here,” she said of trying to coax any spirit out in the open while she was living at the inn.

Nothing. As far as she can tell, there are no spirits on the property that has a rich and colorful history.

Palmer learned about Bayside from friend Kim Carver, who manages the other side of the property. Palmer had worked at the Center for Wooden Boats before moving to the area. She said the area reminds her of Maine, where she grew up.

Palmer said she is finally moving out of the inn and into her own apartment in Port Townsend. Finding a place to rent was difficult, she said. She said she checked all the listings daily and was one of the first to call on a small apartment. It was only because she was diligent – and determined – that a property manager found her a place that wasn't yet listed, she said.

Palmer said about 25 people have expressed interest in living in the Bayside-managed section. She's already turned away some people who don't meet the low-income eligibility criteria. Prospective tenants also must agree to a criminal background check, according to literature passed out at the event.

REACTION TO OPEN HOUSE

Jefferson County Commissioner David Sullivan had a flashback as he set out on the tour. He recalled the last time he had been on a tour of the facility some years ago.

There was talk of the property being used for dementia care. A former nurse, Sullivan said he couldn't help but point out the problems with that plan.

Sullivan said he was pleased to see the property's return as an inn as well as a shelter for people in need.

Michael Graham of the Boeing Bluebills said he was happy to see the place open as well. He and wife, Mia, have been active working with Dove House Advocacy Services, a nonprofit that serves victims of domestic violence.

The Boeing Bluebills went through the rooms six months ago to check to be sure plumbing and electric systems were working, he said.

He was pleased with the eligibility priorities of Bayside, which are senior citizens at risk of homelessness, underemployed or low-wage workers needing housing to retain, military veterans and others who need help to get into permanent housing.

Each room on the east side, which Bayside manages, has a bed, living space and bathroom, as well as a mini-fridge and microwave. But the rooms do not come with a kitchen. Michael Graham said a goal is for those living in Bayside to have access to a community kitchen, which has not yet happened.

“We've got to make this work,” Graham said of the vision for the old property that Keister and others have as being an asset for the community and helping those in need of housing.