EVERETT — Two businesses that together employ hundreds of workers in Snohomish County plan to relocate to the Seaway area of south Everett to a new building expected to start construction this week.
Electric Mirror, which manufactures mirrors for high-end hotels and homes, hopes to expand to 500 employees over the next three years with the move.
CORT Business Services, which rents equipment for events and parties, will consolidate its operations in Mountlake Terrace and Mukilteo to the site.
The businesses will occupy a $20 million, 200,000-square-foot building at 6201 Associated Blvd. being developed by the Underwood Gartland Development.
The Bellevue-based company purchased 25 acres from Cemex in December 2011 looking for land to develop. The company plans to build a second 200,000-square-foot building on the same land in the future, said Shannon Underwood, one of the company’s owners.
“We like it up there, so we would look forward to working more up in Everett,” Underwood said. “We’re a family company so we do one project at a time.”
Underwood Gartland has built several other projects mainly on the East Side and Woodinville area. The south Everett development is next to the Cemex property and Campbell’s Stock Pot.
Electric Mirror is currently located at 11831 Beverly Park Road in unincorporated Everett, about five miles to the south of the new location.
Electric Mirror has been looking for a new headquarters for about a year and a half. The company creates a line of mirrors with lights, televisions and other electronics built in. The company has experienced 30 to 50 percent growth in each of the past four years.
And they expect to make $55 million to $60 million in sales this year, said Don Jacques, Electric Mirror’s chief operating officer.
“The growth and success of this company has outpaced our warehouse and office space,” Jacques said.
Electric Mirror uses two warehouses at its current location. While the buildings are close to each other, the company has a truck that has to take finished mirrors from one warehouse, through a neighborhood and deliver them to the second warehouse to store before being shipped out.
It’s so crowded that the company has its marketing department in a trailer in the parking lot.
Electric Mirror looked at new locations between Arlington and Kirkland before settling on the south Everett location, Jacques said.
They will use 110,000-square-feet of the new building when they move, which is scheduled for December. Electric Mirror is working with Pinnacle Consulting Group in Snohomish to fashion an efficient layout for their organization, Jacques said.
“The Underwood Gartland people, they’ve been very understanding of us as a business and they come with great references,” Jacques said.
Electric Mirror had about 260 employees last year, but president and CEO Jim Mischel Jr. said they plan to expand that 500 with this relocation.
“This expansion underscores our commitment to Made in America and a continuation of our story of creating American jobs,” Mischel said in an email.
CORT Business Services is part of the Berkshire Hathaway Corp. It’s consolidating ABC Special Events in Mukilteo and AA Party Rentals in Mountlake Terrace to a showroom and warehouse in 87,500-square-feet of the building, said Robin Guffey, a district general manager, in an email.
The company rents equipment for events, parties, weddings and festivals including Bumbershoot in Seattle, Salmon Days in Issaquah and Sasquatch at the Gorge. CORT, which is scheduled to move into the new property in February, will employ between 80 to 120 depending upon the time of the year, Guffey said.
The remaining 12,500-square-foot space in the building could be leased to a third tenant or used for future expansion for the companies.
Underwood Gartland plans to build the second building once they find tenants for the space, which could be soon, said Al Hodge, a broker with the Bellevue-based Broderick Group.
“There’s enough activity,” Hodge said. “We’ve already got a couple of guys looking at it.”
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