After 11 years as Rosetree Cottage, the Woodside House in Redmond is in need of a new tenant.

The historical building located at 8336 164th Ave. N.E. is owned by Carolyn Miglino, who also owned Rosetree Cottage until she closed her home furnishings business in August 2010. The Kirkland resident bought the house 12 years ago when it was permitted for demolition. She didn’t want to see it go, so rather than just sit back and lament about the house’s impending destruction, Miglino decided to do something about it.

“I wanted to save this house,” she said.

But while she was the building owner, the land at the southwest corner of Northeast 83rd Street and 164th Avenue Northeast still belonged to someone else. Fortunately Miglino, who had lived in Redmond for 20 years before moving to Kirkland, was able to buy the vacant lot next to the 7-Eleven that is kitty-corner to the original location.

The permitting and planning process to move the building took about a year, and in 2000, the Woodside House traveled the half block to its current location. The move began at 4 a.m. and took six to eight hours to complete.

Because she was moving an entire building, Miglino couldn’t find anyone to insure the move and at one point, the stress of potential disasters became too much for her.

“I drove away because I couldn’t watch,” Miglino said. “I was very vulnerable in what I was trying to do.”

Fortunately, the house was sturdy and able to withstand the move.

“This was an ideal building for (the movers),” Miglino said.

Once the move was complete, she immediately went to work on moving Rosetree Cottage from its original location in the Stone House, another historical building in Redmond. She also began working to restore the Woodside House to its original beauty, which was not easy as the house “was pretty trashed.”

“I didn’t do anything to compromise the house,” she said. “I restored it the best I could.”

According to Redmond Historical Society website (www.redmondhistoricalsociety.org), the Woodside House was built in 1925 by James H. Woodside, a local veterinarian. Woodside had his practice on the ground floor of the building while he and his family lived upstairs. The historical society website states that the veterinarian also ran for town council in 1913 — just one year after Redmond became a city — and was the first candidate to lose an election in Redmond.

After Woodside died, his house alternated a few times between being a residential and commercial building. Miglino said it was sometime in the 1960s that the building became strictly commercial and has remained so since.

The Woodside House’s history is one of the reasons Miglino wanted to save it. She said over the years while her business was open, many customers would thank her for saving the house and share their stories about the house.

“It’s a beautiful building, you know? One of the original buildings in Redmond,” she said.

The basement, which Miglino had to have built, currently houses a hair salon, but the ground floor and up is available for lease.

The space is about 2,000 square feet and Julie Metteer, a real estate broker with TEC Real Estate in Bellevue, said it could fit 12 to 16 people. She said that the building is permitted for office or retail businesses, adding that possible businesses can range from a health and wellness center to a small software company. The building’s security system includes cameras and reinforced windows and Metteer said the building has high-speed Internet.

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