In 1899, rumors that Hoquiam might become the railroad’s Western terminus spurred a period of frantic growth. That year, when Hoquiam officially organized as a city, the population more than tripled. A year later, building in the city tripled and property values increased by more than 1,000 percent.

While the local boom of the late 19th and early 20th centuries has largely faded into memories of a bygone era, some of the buildings still remain, watching over downtown Hoquiam for more than a century.

In 1910, Hoquiam timberman Robert Lytle built what modern-day residents refer to as the “La Vogue building.” At the time, it was called the New Lytle Block, and in 1923 it became the Lytle-Bitar Building. It wasn’t until 1926, when it was purchased by Constanine Bitar, that it officially became La Vogue’s Department Store.

“These buildings tell a story, and they’ll let you know what they want,” said The Jitter House owner Sam Nazario, whose business is housed in part of the La Vogue building on Simpson Avenue.

If anyone knows the secret demands of the buildings in downtown Hoquiam, it’s him.

Nazario and his wife Cristina are one of three couples that make up Harbor Strong LLC, a group that is determined to see vacant or neglected lots in downtown Hoquiam go to good use. They purchased the former Bitar’s-La Vogue Department Store building and an undeveloped lot from Terry Wines for $400,000 on March 10, 2021, with an ambitious vision for the future.

Nazario is currently in the process of renovating the two spaces inside the building adjacent to his coffee shop. On one side, he dreams of a restaurant featuring diverse cuisine from Puerto Rico, the Caribbean Islands, and the Pacific Islands. On the other side, work is underway to construct a boutique hotel: complete with a spa, sauna, steam room, banquet hall, and outdoor event space.

He and his fellow investors hope to make Hoquiam a location that people want to stop in, not just stop by, but it’s not a goal he can achieve by himself.

“Hoquiam has Highway 101, it has character. The sad part is that the character hasn’t been uplifted and used,” he said.

In addition to the La Vogue building, Harbor Strong LLC also owns and operates the beloved Harborena on Simpson Avenue. The group closed the sale on March 10, 2020, and has invested in a new sound system, black light system, and a line of new roller skates to help bring the rink back to its former glory.

On Jan. 28, 2022, they purchased a historic office building at 201 8th St., just a few blocks away from the Jitter House. Winkelman Law Firm Inc. has already begun their move into the building, and Nazario hopes that other small operations will find a home in the offices he describes as “turnkey ready”.

“It’s going to take a vision to revive downtown Hoquiam. We could be the fire that ignites it, but we also need the support of bigger companies with more resources to get it done,” he said.

Some local business owners in downtown Hoquiam seem to be heeding his call.

Hoquiam Brewing Co. owners Rob Paylor and Patrick Durney poured their first pints at 526 8th St. in 2017 after an extensive remodel to a 1920s-era building. On Dec. 8, 2021, they purchased an adjacent lot with plans for modest expansion.

Having struggled to find a balance between regular customers and larger groups that like to reserve the brewery, Paylor and Durney hope to turn the structure at 524 8th St. into an overflow dining and live entertainment space by the end of 2022.

“We’re happy and satisfied with our little brick and mortar footprint, but we would like to see it grow and improve a bit,” said Durney.

While Paylor and Durney may not have major ambitions for growing out, they certainly have invested in improving the spaces they already have. Over the past two years, they have spent around $70,000 to renovate the brewery kitchen, which has slowly been testing an expanded menu in recent months.

“I always like to show the bounty of Grays Harbor,” said Paylor. “We’ve had a pretty limited kitchen for the last four years, so we had a ceiling on what we could do, but it’s nice to have a full operation and we’re having fun.”

In addition to their kitchen, the team at Hoquiam Brewing Co. has also been able to expand into cocktails, and has seen an uptick in their in-house beer sales. They feel their growth has been supported by a collaborative group of local business owners, whom they hope to continue working with to offer community events that attract people to the downtown area.

“All dining options in downtown Hoquiam compliment each other, and we make it a point to try to be a bit different so that there’s variety,” said Durney.

Paylor and Durney may be committed to living within a two-year plan and adopting a “slow growth” strategy, but even Durney expressed possible interest in the available lot next to their most recent purchase.

“It’s a neat piece of property that might fit in with what we’re doing,” he said.

The group at Harbor Strong also has their eyes on some potential new projects, but their grand plans of downtown revitalization may be facing an uphill battle.

The federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017 created Opportunity Zones (OZs), which provides tax incentives to investors who fund businesses in designated underserved communities.

OZs are determined by a state nomination process based on census tracts, and are certified by the Secretary of the U.S. Treasury. Investors then file to create a Qualified Opportunity Fund with the IRS, and are able to defer paying taxes on capital gains that are invested in these funds, which in turn are invested into economically-distressed communities, until 2026.

Of the 139 OZs in Washington, three are located in Grays Harbor County. This includes a large swath of eastern Aberdeen, most of western Hoquiam, and a substantial portion of the North Beach area from southern Ocean Shores all the way up to Moclips.

Opportunity Zones have come up against controversy in the national spotlight as loose requirements have spurred a series of unobtainable investments like high-end apartment buildings and luxury hotels. The tax breaks have certainly benefited the billionaire investors who have funneled money into OZs — whether that investment has trickled down to the people the zones were intended to help is far less certain and depends on the discretion of investors.

Nazario has no intention of being a bystander to his own community’s development. He hopes the community can come together to revitalize the downtown Hoquiam area and to ensure that vacant and neglected lots are in the hands of those with a plan and the ability to execute it.

“We have a good downtown area, but we’d hate to be the only ones trying to revive it,” he said. “It’s going to take a lot of people coming together. Building owners and land owners, especially property owners who aren’t going to do anything with that property in their lifetime, should sell to entities that have a vision and have proven to get things done.”