You can tell by the sounds of heavy equipment, things are changing in downtown Bremerton. Buildings are going up, coming down, and being given new life all over the area.

“Downtown Bremerton is seeing more activity in the last couple of years than in the previous 15 to 20,” said Gary Gartin of Bradley Scott Commercial Real Estate, a major proponent for the revitalization of the downtown area. “It’s very exciting that it’s finally happening.”

Some highlights of the work being done in Bremerton:

Bremerton Harborside Complex: The 19,000 square foot conference center, 30,000 square foot office complex, and 110-room hotel development is nearing completion. The office complex’s first floor will house the Kitsap Transit office, and the upper floor still has 15,000 square feet available for tenants. The office space will be ready to be turned over to tenants for their own improvements in August, and the 110-room Hilton Hampton Inn Hotel should open around the same time. Harborside will also feature 7,000 square feet of retail space, 5,500 square feet of restaurant space, a marina office, and 518 parking stalls.

Meanwhile, the waterfront condominium complex being developed just down the street will begin building the first 70 units soon, and it is anticipated they will be ready for move-in sometime in 2005.

Government Center: A new government center is in progress between Fifth and Sixth streets, east of the Washington Mutual building. The new building will house city, county, and other government offices. When completed, all city offices in the existing City Hall will be relocated to the new center, opening up new redevelopment opportunities for the old City Hall building site, which was recently purchased by auto dealer Chuck Haselwood and his wife Joanne. One of the reported terms of the purchase agreement is that the building be torn down and the site redeveloped.

The Kitsap County Health District is also slated to move its offices to the new government center, and Congressman Norm Dicks plans an office there, as well.

Kitsap Community Federal Credit Union Corporate Headquarters: The Kitsap Community Federal Credit Union has purchased an existing parking lot and buildings across from Harborside complex on Second and Washington streets, where it will build its new 52,000 square-foot corporate headquarters and main Bremerton branch.

Medical/Dental Building: The 27,000 square foot Medical/Dental Building at Fifth and Pacific, now known as Pacific Place One, is being renovated to accommodate a single tenant. Dimension 4 Software, in its office space area. The building also has two retail spaces on the first floor.

Dietz Building: The office building at Fourth and Pacific, known as the Dietz Building, has new owners who will be completing a substantial remodel on the space to create a new multi-unit building combining retail and office space.

Navy Developments: The Navy has purchased land in the area of Fourth, Fifth, and Park and will be constructing an 1,100-stall parking garage. During the day the garage will be reserved for Navy personnel and ship yard employees, but it will be open to the public, free of charge, in the evenings and during weekends.

The Navy is also buying out a block of buildings on the west side of Pacific, between First and Burwell. Citing security concerns with the older buildings, its plan is to raze them and develop the space into a greenbelt area, improving the aesthetics of the downtown area.

Police/Fire/Justice: A new police headquarters, municipal court, and jail complex will be moving into the current US Bank building at Sixth and Pacific. US Bank’s new building construction is nearly completed and it is anticipated that after the bank offices move into its new space, renovation will begin to accommodate the new police and justice center.

The fire department is also working on new digs downtown with construction on a new Fire Station One to take place at the corner of Eighth and Park.

New development in the county is not limited to Bremerton, however. A number of commercial development projects are happening in many areas throughout the county, including Port Orchard, Silverdale, and Poulsbo.

In Port Orchard, a groundbreaking ceremony was held recently for construction of a new Kitsap County Administration Building. The new 68,000 square-foot building, going up across Division from the existing courthouse, will include offices for the board of county commissioners, administrative services, auditor, assessor, treasurer and the department of community development. The project is expected to be complete in late 2005. The existing courthouse will undergo its own extensive rejuvenation project once the new building is complete, and will eventually be a law and justice center.

Bradley Scott is marketing a 12.5-acre parcel of land in Silverdale, zoned for commercial office space, to several interested parties for commercial office space.

The old Home Base store in Silverdale has been taken over by the 105,000 square-foot Sportsman’s Warehouse, which opened its doors in mid-May. Levitz Furniture is also slated to move into space left vacant by Home Base.

FPH Construction is working on new space for Bonita’s Tux and Bridal Shop. The new 4,500 square-foot store is being built at Randall Way and Bucklin Hill Road. Line-X Spray-on Truck Bedliners will be using FPH Construction’s services to build its new 8,000 square-foot Silverdale building in early 2005, once the planning and design phase of the project is complete.

FPH Construction is also working on its own commercial development, a three-building, 22,000 square-foot professional office-building complex at the corner of Ridgetop and Blaine. The company expects to break ground on that project within the next month or so.

Also in Silverdale, Tim Ryan Construction of Poulsbo is constructing a new 55,000 square-foot building for the Doctor’s Clinic on Myhre Road.

Further north, Tim Ryan Construction is working on new construction for the West Sound Academy in Poulsbo. The 4 to 5,000 square-foot private school is scheduled for completion in summer 2005.

Construction continues on the Olhava development in Poulsbo, with Wal-Mart, Home Depot, and Olympic College among the first tenants of the 216-acre complex.

Several warehouses are being constructed in the Poulsbo area along the Highway 3 corridor, one just north of the Highway 3-305 interchange, and another near Highway 3 and Thompson. Twelve Trees Self Storage is also in the process of adding more buildings to its development.

In Port Orchard, a professional complex that will include office space and possibly a skating rink has broken ground on Bethel Road between Blueberry Lane and Sedgwick Road.

An office complex is finishing up site work in preparation for construction to begin on Bethel Road next to the Post Office and across from Springhouse Dolls and Gifts.

A condominium style professional office complex, where the businesses located there own their own space, but share the cost of common-area utilities and amenities like parking lot maintenance, is also in the planning stages for the intersection of Tremont Street and Pottery Avenue.