MARYSVILLE — A $17 million, five-story hotel project and Sonic Drive-In — the first in Snohomish County — are part of two new developments sprouting up just east of I-5 in Marysville.
Home2 Suites By Hilton will include 90-rooms along 116th Avenue NE at 41st Drive near the Burlington Northern Railroad tracks.
“It’s not a big footprint, but it’s tall,” said Jim McPherson, the superintendent for Vandervert Construction, which is working on the project.
The construction company has built the pad for the project on the 2½-acre site and is just waiting for a building permit and utility plan approval.
The hotel should open by next fall, said Richard Heide, with construction management company Washington Building Supplies.
He said there’s been so much growth in the Smokey Point area and with the Seattle Premium Outlets that area could use a new hotel.
“The area is in need of it,” Heide said. “The casino is right next door, just across the freeway; it’s such a growing area.”
The development is just south of Winco Foods and near Carl’s Jr. and Blazing Onion Burger restaurants.
“We believe this five-story Hilton property will be the tallest building in Marysville,” city spokeswoman Connie Mennie said in an email. “Next highest is the four-story Holiday Inn Express.”
Plans also call for a separate 10,000-square-foot building on the site, Heide said. The bottom floor will house one or two restaurants. It hasn’t been determined which restaurant or restaurants will occupy the space. The second story will be office space.
Next door to the Home2 Suites is a second project at 116th and 38th Drive NE. At that site, plans are under way to build a Sonic Drive-In and a medical office and another restaurant that is likely to be an Arby’s.
Those buildings will be on 4 acres of a 9-acre site, said Rune Harkestad, the Kidder Mathews broker for the Sonic and the medical office.
Sonic announced plans a couple of years ago to open at least 14 new drive-ins in the Puget Sound area. Three are already operating in Pierce County and another has opened in Thurston County.
A couple more are opening in Chehalis and Olympia this year.
The Sonic in Marysville will be the first, but probably not the last, in the county. Harkestad last month was taking a Sonic representative to view other locations in Everett, Mill Creek and Burlington.
He said a national medical firm is lined up to occupy a 3,900-square-foot office at the site. He said he couldn’t identify the company at this point.
Another broker is representing the Arby’s and Harkestad didn’t have details.
He said this is the first phase of development on the site, which includes an extension of 38th Street south. Some ground work has been done, but most of the construction started after Labor Day.
The medical offices and Arby’s are expected to open early 2017 while the Sonic is expected to open next summer, Harkestad said.
In the future, another hotel or possibly apartments could be built on the remaining 5 acres of the site, Harkestad said. The land is owned by brothers who are long-time Marysville residents, he said.
McPherson, the superintendent building the Home2 Suites, said that a long-time owner of the property is developing the hotel and received a franchise from Hilton.
The project is just off the freeway and around the corner from the Tulalip Resort Casino so it’s located in a nice spot, McPherson said.
The hotel, which includes a swimming pool, will be first-rate, McPherson said.
”It’s a Hilton so it’s going to be fairly nice,” he said.
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