LA CONNER — Demolition of the long-vacant cannery here could clear the way for a multi-million dollar boat-building facility and marina.

The site once housed the Pacific Ocean Seafoods Co., but fell into disrepair in recent years. Last month, the town began an emergency demolition after three concrete floor segments fell into the Swinomish Channel and other over-water segments appeared soon to follow.

Triton America LLC has a six-month “due diligence period” to decide whether to lease the town-owned property just south of Rainbow Bridge for about $2,300 per month under an agreement reached last week.

Triton already leases land south of the cannery site from the town, where it operates Pioneer Point Marina. Theodore Ginsburg, a manager at Triton, said it is too soon to say what would be built on the old cannery site, but it could include an expansion of the marina, a new marine services area and a boat-manufacturing facility.

Triton shares ownership ties with Bayview Edison Industries Inc., which builds molds for wind turbines, yachts and other products at a separate facility off Highway 20. Ginsburg, who is also the chief financial officer for Bayview Edison Industries, said that company may produce some yachts at an expanded facility on the La Conner waterfront.

However, with a six-month decision-making phase still under way and the economy so uncertain, Ginsburg said any redevelopment is still months or maybe years away.

La Conner Mayor Ramon Hayes said though the nation is in a recession and the marine industry is particularly hard hit, the town must look to the future and an inevitable rebound in yacht sales.

“Let’s face it, the economy is down and boat-building, as every sector ... (is) feeling an impact,” Hayes said by phone Tuesday. “But we always have to be pushing toward the future. This facility is not going to be built overnight, and they are going to take the next six months doing a feasibility study to see if it works.”

A deal between the town and the Upper Skagit Indian Tribe, which would have charged the tribe with repairing or demolishing the faltering structures, fell through earlier this year after tribal members discovered the site’s steep bedrock would make their intended use unfeasible.

Regardless of whether Triton decides to lease the additional land, the company must pay the town $50,000 for demolition expenses, which are expected to reach about $600,000, under the agreement signed by both parties last week.

The remaining demolition costs are being covered by grants and by the town, which has long owned the cannery site and acquired the condemned buildings on it after a previous tenant defaulted on the rent payments.

“This is a great opportunity for the Town to grow the waterfront industry,” Hayes said in a written statement announcing the deal last week. “Triton America is an innovative company that has brought jobs and business to our community.”

The draft lease agreement stipulates that Triton must employee at least 12 full-time employees on-site for at least six months of each year or the town may terminate the agreement.

Town officials anticipate the project will bring even more, at least 15 to 20 new jobs, as well as sales tax revenue from boats sold from the facility.

* Elliott Wilson can be reached at 360-416-2147 or at .