MARYSVILLE — NorthPoint Development, a Kansas City-based company, plans to construct nine industrial buildings at the Cascade Industrial Center over the next 10 years.
Together, the structures will form the Cascade Business Park, a new 4-million-square-foot complex on a 426-acre parcel at the industrial center, which spans the cities of Marysville and Arlington.
The business park is expected to generate some 4,000 jobs, depending on the mix of occupants, city officials estimate.
The largest portion of the undeveloped tract — 329 acres — is in Marysville, with the balance in Arlington. NorthPoint recently purchased the property for $26.7 million.
The Marysville City Council unanimously approved NorthPoint’s business park plan after a public hearing May 10. NorthPoint, a privately held firm, will pay for improvements to public streets and other infrastructure.
“We are very pleased to receive this significant approval and we are grateful to Marysville leadership and staff who participated in creating this important development agreement which will govern the development of the Cascade Business Park,” said Thane Smith, NorthPoint’s director of development for the Western U.S. “This is a very important step in making a successful employment center.”
In the past 10 years, NorthPoint has developed more than 70 million square feet of industrial space across the U.S., including California, Kansas and Pennsylvania.
Plans call for six buildings east of 51st Avenue NE and west of the BNSF railroad spur, just south of the Marysville-Arlington boundary. A seventh building, in Marysville, was approved separately and is not part of the development agreement, city officials said.
On the Arlington side, NorthPoint will construct two large industrial buildings.
NorthPoint will also relocate Edgecomb Creek, restore wetland habitat and build a public trail within the creek buffer as part of a multimillion-dollar project to make the stream fish-friendly.
NorthPoint will invest $400 million in the first construction phase of the project, but plans to invest “three or four times that amount” over the next decade or so, Smith said. Construction of the first building, a 240,000-square-foot structure on the Marysville side, is targeted to begin this summer. A tenant has yet to be secured, Smith said. Other buildings are expected to be on the same scale.
Marysville Mayor Jon Nehring called the project “a significant step forward toward achieving our vision of attracting local family-wage job opportunities for our residents.”
“A lot of people who live here have to hit I-5 and have long commutes,” Nehring said. “This project will give our citizens the opportunity to pursue a career locally.”
NorthPoint hopes to apply for a tax break that exempts property owners from paying the local portion of property taxes due on the value of improvements, such as the construction of new buildings and manufacturing facilities, in exchange for creating a specific number of family-wage jobs, Smith said.
On the Arlington side of the industrial center, construction of a $355 million Amazon distribution center got underway last month. The massive five-story facility will be at 4620 172nd Street NE, south of Arlington Municipal Airport. The project includes parking for more than 1,500 vehicles and local street improvements.
The center, formerly known as the Arlington-Marysville Manufacturing and Industrial Center, covers roughly 4,000 acres and overlaps both cities.
Except for Arlington Municipal Airport, the majority of the Cascade Industrial Center is owned by private landowners. It is the largest stretch of undeveloped industrial land in western Washington, local officials say.
In the past decade, Marysville and Arlington have worked together to establish and promote the industrial center, city officials said.
“Realizing the city’s vision for jobs creation and industrial development is a remarkable feat that has taken over 30 years,” said Gloria Hirashima, the city of Marysville’s chief administrative officer.
The Port of Everett executed a memorandum of understanding last month with NorthPoint to market the new business park.
Janice Podsada; jpodsada@heraldnet.com; 425-339-3097; Twitter: JanicePods
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