The Technology Corridor, a loosely defined area between Bothell and Everett, has something that was largely missing when it was first promoted 20 years ago: tech-related businesses.
More than a decade after the first marketing campaign to attract companies to the corridor ended on a successful note, the idea is being revived.
“To some of the brokers who’ve been up here a while, the Technology Corridor still described a geographic area here. So we decided, why start over? Why reinvent ourselves?” said Deborah Knutson, the president of the Snohomish County Economic Development Council.
The revival is timed to coincide with an expected upswing in demand for office and manufacturing space. The Economic Development Council has planned a presentation and tour of available properties on Nov. 2.
The National Association of Industrial and Office Properties, Paine Field, Harbour Pointe Properties and the cities of Everett, Lynnwood and Bothell are among the other participants in the new Technology Corridor Partnership.
The first time Snohomish County began promoting its Technology Corridor, in the mid-1980s, it didn’t really exist. Developers who were building campus-style business parks between south Everett and north King County helped devise the term.
Now the corridor is home to approximately one-quarter of all the biotechnology companies in the state. Big tech companies such as Fluke and Intermec Technologies employ hundreds of people in Everett, and smaller cutting-edge firms are hidden among business parks between Lynnwood and Mukilteo.
| The National Association of Industrial and Office Properties and the Snohomish County Economic Development Council will host a presentation about the Technology Corridor and a bus tour of available properties from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Nov. 2. The tour is especially aimed at property brokers and economic development leaders.
The event costs $45 per person and includes lunch and hors d’oeuvres. It also will include a sneak preview of the new Future of Flight museum at Paine Field. To register or for more information, call 425-743-4567 or go to www.snoedc.org/register on the Internet. |
“We’ve got enough of a nucleus to show that there are some people in the industry that think this is a good place to be. It’s not like we’re starting from scratch like we were in the ’80s,” said Wendell Johnson, director of development services for Reid Middleton in Everett. His engineering firm helped with an infrastructure study for the new partnership.
Mike Deller, who served as president of the original Technology Corridor Inc. from 1987 through 1992, agreed that having established tech companies in the county should make it easier to market the corridor.
This time around, the updated list of available office space and properties also includes sites around downtown Everett and central Lynnwood, areas left out of the original corridor.
Even with the huge population and business growth in Snohomish County over the past 20 years, Deller said the new campaign is needed. Local officials can’t assume that executives and property brokers know all about the opportunities here, he said.
“Even today, there are still some brokers who need to be prompted, need to be educated,” Deller said. “We just need to make their job easier.”
One broker who knows the area well is Derek Heed, a senior vice president with Colliers International and a member of the Economic Development Council’s board of directors. He said he’s looking forward to the new campaign and the businesses he hopes it attracts.
“We’re not just calling it the Technology Corridor because it’s a cool name. It truly is now a tech corridor,” Heed said.
Reporter Eric Fetters: 425-339-3453 or fetters@heraldnet.com.
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