Bainbridge for business

Seattle Business Monthly recommends Bainbridge Island as one of the areas best cities for business.




Bainbridge Island

Population: 23,080
Crimes per thousand: 24
Percentage with Bachelor’s degrees: 35 percent
Median home price: $582,000

This island community, just a 35-minute ferry ride west of Seattle, is known first and foremost for its idyllic lifestyle—a place where you’ll find only few chain retailers and nearly nonexistent traffic. These islanders may not have big-city hassles, but they still want big-city conveniences. As a result, the island’s leaders and businesses have had to walk a fine line between boosting development and preserving their laid-back way of life.



According to Kevin Dwyer, executive director of the Bainbridge Island Chamber of Commerce, Bainbridge residents want cell phone reception, but not the cell towers; they like to drive downtown and park in front of their favorite coffee shop, but they’re resistant to the idea of a parking garage—all understandable reactions from a community that pays some of the highest housing prices in the state.

“This is a community that has benefited from the fact that Bainbridge is an attractive place to be,” Dwyer says. “But we have to keep the noise level up on the importance of economy.”

Progress has been slow, but efforts between the city of Bainbridge Island and the Chamber of Commerce have accelerated recently with the island’s “Winslow Tomorrow” plan—a comprehensive vision for the downtown core of the island’s main town. The plan suggests a number of connective pathways, gathering spaces and improved infrastructure so that downtown Winslow can remain the island’s main commercial focus. It also recommends adjusting city codes to allow more space for downtown businesses and detailing ways to permit taller buildings in the city’s core.

Business opportunities are growing elsewhere on the island as well. The new, nearly full, 11-building Sportsman Park business development on Sportsman Club Road recently opened and is now home to a mix of light-manufacturing firms and technology service companies on the 7.2-acre property. It’s the type of growth that the island’s business supporters hope to see more of.

And with 35 percent of the island’s residents holding a bachelor’s degree, the potential for successful on-island ventures is high. “We feel there’s an opportunity here,” Dwyer says. “There are people who live here who are already major business players in Seattle. If they had the opportunity to relocate some of their business here, they may do so.”