EVERETT — The early morning fire that damaged Everett Floral on Aug. 6 and forced its closure was bad enough. Now it’s the wait for permits from the city of Everett that has owners Cindy and Ernie Frederickson in limbo.
In any other year, the Fredericksons would be preparing now for Valentine’s Day, which accounts for about a third of their annual revenue. They’d be ordering roses from South American suppliers and picking the best batches of blooms to prepare for their three busiest — and most profitable — days of the year.
“You have to know what to do,” Cindy Frederickson said.
But not this year.
Ernie Frederickson said the city of Everett is working hard to approve all the permits needed to get Everett Floral open again by Valentine’s Day, but there’s a lot to do.
The fire started in an attached 1,000-square-foot storage building and quickly burned through the overhead power line. Without electricity, the alarm system never triggered a call to 911, he said. The fire also caused enough damage to require bringing the building up to current codes. Among other things, the Fredericksons will have to move the electrical service to the front of the building and rewire it, in addition to gutting the interior to repair the damage from fire, smoke and water.
They also had to have the property surveyed because two widenings of Evergreen Way in front of the shop over the years mean the building shell now violates property setback requirements, Ernie Frederickson said. The city’s grandfather clause will let them keep the building where it sits.
However, the Fredericksons can’t start rebuilding until they have the permits. And without a building, they can’t plan for their business.
“Every day you’re not in business is a day that customers forget you’re there,” Cindy Frederickson said.
“You have no idea how long it takes to do everything,” she said. “We might come out with a nice little building, but it’s with a bucket of tears.”
Everett building official Tony Lee said the Fredericksons’ building permit is under review by the planning and building departments.
“We have reviewed the plans and have sent a letter to the designer describing code items that need further clarification prior to the issuance of the permit,” standard procedure for projects under plan review, Lee said.
“When we receive those plans with any revisions as necessary, the project goes back to the head of the line for processing and permit issuance,” he said.
Secondary building permits, such as electrical and mechanical, are applied for and issued after the building permit is issued, Lee said.
The Fredericksons estimate their losses to the building and business at $500,000. A 15-year-old suspect has been charged with setting the fire.
The Fredericksons were well insured against any loss of income and the expense of bringing the old cinder-block building up to current codes. So were their employees’ wages.
“That’s rare in this day and age,” Cindy Frederickson said.
Even if everything falls into place and Everett Floral reopens for their biggest day of the year, the Fredericksons and their 15 employees still will have to learn how to use a new computer system and phones and navigate the revised layout of the shop at their busiest time of the year, Ernie Frederickson said. And that’s assuming they’ll have flowers to make bouquets.
Cindy Frederickson fears that they’ll lose “history” with their South American flower suppliers and lose the volume discount they’ve earned over the past 22 years in business.
“It’s shooting in the dark,” Ernie Frederickson said. “If the (city pushes) us out much farther, I don’t see us open by Valentine’s Day.”
“We try to stay positive, but it’s really hard,” Cindy Frederickson said.
Lee and his colleagues in the building department take the Fredericksons’ worries seriously.
“I can assure all involved that we will try to accommodate the shop proprietors in meeting their construction goals in any way that we can,” he said.
“They really are working with us,” Ernie Frederickson said of city staff.
Still, it’s the uncertainty of knowing whether Everett Floral will be open by Valentine’s Day that’s been the hardest on the Fredericksons.
“If anyone can make it work, we can,” Cindy Frederickson said. “But I really don’t need this kind of challenge.”
Kurt Batdorf is editor of the Snohomish County Business Journal: 425-339-3102; kbatdorf@scbj.com.
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