While Langley’s now-shuttered 1940’s era former lumber store has a new owner as of last month, the South Whidbey grapevine is already spreading word about who its latest tenants will be.
The über popular Jupiter Coffee scone bakery in Freeland will locate a second confectionary at the wood-sided building on Second Street. The building was last home to Tim Leonard’s Machine Shop, which provided young people’s entertainment for seven years before shuttering after the COVID epidemic. Laura Wills, Jupiter’s owner, said she had long wanted to open a second location, and was waiting for the right opportunity. She appreciated the “Tim” vibe of the Machine Shop, and knew she wanted to be part of the historic building.
“I can hardly believe what just happened—it looks like Jupiter will have a second location in the near future!!” Laura posted on Facebook. “We are so grateful to be a part of saving this building. The new owner of the building is going to make the space incredible, fixing it up and preserving the character and energy. I’m so grateful to be a part of this space that I love. I am over the moon excited for Jupiter’s future!!!”
Chatting by phone, Laura said the new place will be much like the original Jupiter Coffee: scones, coffee, along with take and bake frozen scones.
“Ryan’s wonderful, and I am excited to have him as a landlord,” Laura added. “It felt meant to be when I met with Ryan.”
Ryan Peacock, who is in his early 30’s and owner of Peacock Construction, bought the building last month. We—my husband Bill and I—met him at Spyhop Pub on a rainy afternoon in Langley, and were impressed by the happiness he exuded at his good fortune.
Matthew Swett and his wife Sarah Birger, owners of Taproot Architects and other partners previously owned the building. When challenges arose within the partnership, Swett thought of Peacock, who he had worked with on previous projects.
“I helped Ryan move from being a framer to becoming a general contractor for a new residence,” Swett emailed. “A few years ago Ryan was considering moving to Idaho—more opportunity, cheaper cost of living. I found myself asking, how to attract and keep young talent here in our community? The answer is give them opportunities. The Langley Loft Building is the next step. It is important that we established residents create opportunities for young talented people to develop and thrive.”
Peacock’s mom teamed up with her son to buy the building.
“How cool is that?” noted Swett. “I recommended he buy our building. Once he saw it, he caught the ‘possibilities’ bug and agreed. The big selling point was the desire to enact the housing component of our vision. He plans to keep the ‘Langley Lofts’ moniker.”
“It’s kind of perfect for the building to get a revitalization,” said Ryan. “The Machine Shop was there. Now, by word of mouth and the magic of the island—I haven’t advertised this building—and yet, all the spaces are occupied. The community response is amazing. Tenants are already on board.”
Other tenants planned for the space include a record store and performance space, a teen hangout, future offices of Peacock Construction, and the long-established All Washed Up Laundromat, the only laundry on the South end.
Ryan is a framing subcontractor and general contractor whose crew has worked with Island architects and builders framing custom homes for nearly 10 years on the island.
“I feel ultimately fortunate to steward such a cool building,” said Ryan. “I want to keep the current layout. The last owners left it the way I wanted it to be. “We’ll put in a couple of bathrooms.”
The wood-sided building located a few blocks uphill from Langley’s downtown, has housed the Machine Shop, a barbershop, Living Green Apothecary, a bakery, the Laundromat and a design studio over the past decades.
Facing the building from Second Street, Jupiter Coffee’s second location will occupy the windowed space on the right of the entry door. Ryan has taken a liking to Jupiter’s scones over the past few years.
“The scones are to die for,” added Ryan. “Every time Laura comes over, she brings me scones. It’s hard to say no. She’ll be the foundation of the building.”
Tim Leonard—who once ran the Machine Shop—visits Jupiter Coffee regularly. Laura Wills told him about the good news of her second location nearer to Tim Leonard’s home. He met Ryan just recently, and emailed me with news of the new owner.
“I met him a few weeks ago,” said Tim in a phone call. “I caught wind from Laura at Jupiter. She blew up my text messages with: ‘I’m going to open a coffee shop. The landlord’s so cool.’ I’m, ‘…dude look me up.’ He got back to me. I know the building inside and out. The quirks. We spent three hours together. There was one space in the back corner still available.”
Note: Andy Cook, mentioned in this story, emailed a response to clarify some inaccuracies. Here are his words regarding this paragraph: A record store in the building’s back corner. He ‘blew up’ Tim’s texts, saying he’d like to have some of Tim’s vintage pinball machines—which were once housed at The Machine Shop—as part of his gig.
“I’ve been running Salad Design, a hifi design studio that manufactures high end speakers and turntables here on the island for months out of the old Alma Kids space on 1st street. I’m not a new business in town at this point. I’ve been offering totally free listening sessions every Thursday for free, in what is essentially my office, just because I always look for ways to grow community. I’ve had community building in niche hobbies as my main job for a decade now. I’m very happy that Ryan is getting some well deserved attention for his part of making this possible, and love seeing Jupiter coffee get love.”
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While Ryan anticipates opening the Langley building in time for the summer tourist season, long-range goals include using existing designs for converting the upstairs space into loft apartments within the next 8 to 10 years.
He scrolled through phone photos of the still-sturdy upper story timbers, and remarked on how the windows lining the second story will provide fine views of the Saratoga Passage for future tenants.
The neighborhood is a new focus of affordable housing in Langley’s Village by the Sea.
Across the street, the Next Generations workforce housing complex for 14 families is nearing completion. Behind the Langley building, architect Ross Chapin plans on building additional units.
“I agree, he has a thoughtful and community-minded vision for the Langley Building,” emailed Chapin regarding Ryan Peacock. “It will be great to see that corner come back to life. I’ve been working on a small housing project on the two lots behind the building and across the street from our home. The idea is to create six modest townhomes arranged around a shared courtyard — a small ‘pocket neighborhood.’ The focus is on households who earn too much to qualify for traditional housing subsidies, yet not enough to afford purchasing a home in today’s market. Teachers, hospital staff, tradespeople, and others who are part of the backbone of our island community. We’re also exploring a cooperative ownership model supported by local community investment, which is part of what makes the project interesting.”
Meanwhile, Peacock looks forward to creating a third space in Langley–the first being home, the second being work, and the third, a place to hang out.
“I’ve sat down with the Langley building inspector, and there are no zoning problems,” said Ryan. “The businesses going in are minimal impact. I was taken aback with how cool the inspector was. I will say the City of Langley is super cool. They are beyond helpful, and they want to maintain the character. We’re missing third spaces–somewhere besides home where you hang out. The Machine shop was a cool hangout. We’re trying to make it into something similar as it was before.”