Christopher Peacock in the construction area of Rosario's new kitchen. Just behind him is the stove area where a chimney will go through four stories.

Christopher Peacock in the construction area of Rosario’s new kitchen. Just behind him is the stove area where the ventilation will  go through four stories.

By Margie Doyle

Visitors to Moran Mansion at Rosario Resort will hear the banging and thumping of construction going on, and, just past the reception desk, a major remodeling project has been under way since January.

The ultimate goal, says Christopher Peacock, manager of the resort, is relocating the kitchen close to the dining areas. So Strandberg Construction Company, based in Anacortes, is busy gutting the old space to prepare for sinks, stoves, refrigerators and all the other accoutrements of a modern hospitality-industry kitchen.

Peacock says that the kitchen will be complete and operational by this summer’s season. The former kitchen area, south of the main mansion area, will be re-designed for about 25 hotel units. That area remodel also calls for new entrances and floor plan for the spa area. (The historic mosaic pool has been refurbished this past fall.) Requests for architectural proposals will go out this year, with plans for complete reconstruction of that area expected by the fall of 2014.

The plans are proceeding in accordance with the Rosario Resort Master Plan approved by the County Council in 2007, Peacock says.