Back in May, The M/V Hiyu, the oldest and smallest ferry in Washington State's fleet, was put up for sale. Apparently there were no takers, so now it’s being auctioned off to the highest bidder. This time, however, its not the only ferry on the market.
The M/V Evergreen State is also up for auction online with a reserve price of $450,000. The Hiyu has a reserve price of $300,000.
Both boats are currently docked in Eagle Harbor on Bainbridge Island.
The Evergreen State was built in 1954, making it the oldest ferry in the state. It spent most of it’s career shuffling passengers between the San Juan Islands but also made runs between Seattle and Bainbridge. It was decommissioned in 2015 but did some spot service this summer when other ferries were unavailable or out of service.
The Hiyu was built in 1967 and has a capacity of 34 cars and 200 passengers. She served multiple routes over the years, most notably as an inter-island boat between the San Juan Islands. It's acted mostly as a back-up ferry for the past decade, covering for other boats when they break down.
Maybe you don’t have any need for a ferry but surely there’s some intrepid entrepreneur out there who sees potential with either vessel. What about refurbishing one of them, docking it in Ballard or Lake Union, and turning it into a waterfront restaurant? Or go the extra mile and find a way to turn one or both of them into floating affordable housing. With all the tech people and startup geeks we’ve got in town these days, at least one of you must know how to do this...