A new owner for historic Langley building

Published 1:30 am Tuesday, March 17, 2026

By KATE POSS

Special to the Record

While Langley’s now-shuttered 1940s-era former lumber store has a new owner as of last month, the South Whidbey grapevine is already spreading word about who its latest tenants will be.

The uber popular Jupiter Coffee scone bakery in Freeland will locate a second confectionary at the wood-sided building on Second Street. The building was last home to Tim Leonard’s Machine Shop, which provided young people’s entertainment for seven years before shuttering after the COVID epidemic. Laura Wills, Jupiter’s owner, said she had long wanted to open a second location, and was waiting for the right opportunity. She appreciated the “Tim vibe” of the Machine Shop and knew she wanted to be part of the historic building.

Ryan Peacock, owner of Peacock Construction, bought the building last month.

Matthew Swett and his wife Sarah Berger, owners of Taproot Architects and another partner previously owned the building. When challenges arose within the partnership, Swett thought of Peacock, whom he had worked with on previous projects.

“I helped Ryan move from being a framer to becoming a general contractor for a new residence,” Swett emailed. “A few years ago Ryan was considering moving to Idaho — more opportunity, cheaper cost of living. I found myself asking, how to attract and keep young talent here in our community? The answer is give them opportunities. The Langley Loft Building is the next step. It is important that we established residents create opportunities for young talented people to develop and thrive.”

Peacock’s mom teamed up with her son to buy the building.

“How cool is that?” noted Swett. “I recommended he buy our building. Once he saw it, he caught the ‘possibilities’ bug and agreed. The big selling point was the desire to enact the housing component of our vision. He plans to keep the ‘Langley Lofts’ moniker.”

“It’s kind of perfect for the building to get a revitalization,” said Peacock. “The Machine Shop was there. Now, by word of mouth and the magic of the island—I haven’t advertised this building—and yet, all the spaces are occupied. The community response is amazing. Tenants are already on board.”

Other tenants planned for the space include a record store and performance space, a teen hangout, future offices of Peacock Construction and the long-established All Washed Up Laundromat, the only laundry on the South End.

Peacock is a framing subcontractor and general contractor whose crew has worked with Island architects and builders framing custom homes for nearly 10 years on the island.

“I feel ultimately fortunate to steward such a cool building,” said Peacock. “I want to keep the current layout. The last owners left it the way I wanted it to be. “We’ll put in a couple of bathrooms.”

The wood-sided building located a few blocks uphill from Langley’s downtown has housed the Machine Shop, a barbershop, Living Green Apothecary, a bakery, a consignment/gift store, a lumber company, the laundromat and a design studio over the past decades.

Facing the building from Second Street, Jupiter Coffee’s second location will occupy the windowed space on the right of the entry door. Peacock has taken a liking to Jupiter’s scones over the past few years.

“The scones are to die for,” Peacock added. “Every time Laura comes over, she brings me scones. It’s hard to say no. She’ll be the foundation of the building.”

Tim Leonard — who once ran the Machine Shop — visits Jupiter Coffee regularly. Laura Wills told him about the good news of her second location nearer to Tim Leonard’s home. He’d met Peacock just recently, and emailed with news of the new owner.

Andy Fletcher, a self-described “geek and designer,” runs a hifi design studio called Salad Design and will locate from downtown Langley to the Langley Building later this year.

“I’m the one who is in charge of opening the record store but am part of a collective of people and businesses,” Fletcher wrote in an email.

Salad Design, a hifi design studio that manufactures high end speakers and turntables, has operated out of the former Alma Kids space on First Street. Some of Tim Leonard’s collection of vintage pinball machines from the Machine Shop days will be part of the new space.

“I’m not a new business in town at this point,” Fletcher said.” I’ve been offering totally free listening sessions every Thursday, in what is essentially my office. I’ve had community building in niche hobbies as my main job for a decade now. We are also being backed by Apos Audio and will have a lot of their items in stock.”

While Peacock anticipates opening the Langley building in time for the summer tourist season, long-range goals include using Taproot Architect’s existing designs for converting the upstairs space into loft apartments within the next eight to 10 years.

The neighborhood is a new focus of affordable housing in Langley’s Village by the Sea.

Across the street, the Next Generations workforce housing complex for 14 families is nearing completion. Behind the Langley building, architect Ross Chapin plans on building additional units.

“I agree, he has a thoughtful and community-minded vision for the Langley Building,” emailed Chapin regarding Ryan Peacock. “It will be great to see that corner come back to life. I’ve been working on a small housing project on the two lots behind the building and across the street from our home. The idea is to create six modest townhomes arranged around a shared courtyard — a small ‘pocket neighborhood.’ The focus is on households who earn too much to qualify for traditional housing subsidies, yet not enough to afford purchasing a home in today’s market. Teachers, hospital staff, tradespeople and others who are part of the backbone of our island community.”

Meanwhile, Peacock looks forward to creating a third space in Langley — the first being home, the second being work, and the third, a place to hang out.

“We’re missing third spaces — somewhere besides home where you hang out,” Ryan said. “The Machine Shop was a cool hangout. We’re trying to make it into something similar as it was before.”