EVERETT — Hundreds of homes, space for industrial businesses and acres of parkland are envisioned to replace a southwest Everett cement plant as that longtime business gets ready to move to the city’s riverfront.
Cemex USA, formerly known as Rinker Materials, has worked with architects and consultants to plot the future of the 300 acres the business has used for decades.
They will present their latest plan to neighbors Wednesday.
“What we see is a master-planned community, well-designed, with quality homes next to quality jobs, adjacent to parklands that will allow access to surrounding neighborhoods,” said David Spivey, business development director for Cemex. “We want a place that will complement southwest Everett.”
The proposal, revised over recent months, calls for a total of 1,100 single-family homes and apartments or townhouses. The northwest corner of the property, which abuts the Seaway Center industrial and business park, will be set aside for light industrial space.
Spivey said that space is likely to be designed for smaller businesses. He doesn’t envision building large warehouses such as the “big box” ones on nearby property.
Those two uses will occupy about 200 acres. The final 100 acres will be transformed into a park.
Since first presenting neighbors with preliminary development plans earlier this year, the proposal has evolved, Spivey said. The amount of housing has been cut in half, for example.
CJ Ebert of Everett-based Harbor Mountain Development, which is working with Cemex, said they already have talked about the look of whatever housing ends up there.
“The project will have design standards to ensure a quality development,” he said.
In addition to seeking comments from neighbors, Spivey and his representatives have talked with city officials and the Boeing Co. about the development.
The goal is to submit a completed application for the property’s future use to the city on July 1. That means the property could be rezoned by early 2009.
As Cemex prepares for the future of its property, the company has applied to move its asphalt and cement production operations to the banks of the Snohomish River in north Everett.
That land will be the site of the company’s asphalt plant, now on the Everett waterfront. If the process goes smoothly, the asphalt plant could be up and running on the new site a year from now. Additionally, that Snohomish River delta site also could eventually be the location of other operations now in southwest Everett.
Spivey said determining the best use of the Cemex property that also is compatible with the neighbors is a high priority for the company. He noted that Cemex is sending its U.S. head of real estate to Wednesday’s meeting here.
He added that once the property’s redevelopment starts, work will go fast. Because Cemex owns the property, it’s not dependent on other financiers for this project, Spivey said. The sand, gravel and cement operations at the Glenwood site could probably keep going there for five or six years. At this point, however, Cemex would like to begin the redevelopment sooner than that.
“We can do this when we want, within the confines of our business and the timing of the marketplace,” he said.
Reporter Eric Fetters: 425-339-3453 or fetters@heraldnet.com.
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