WOODWAY – Chevron Corp. has sold its Point Wells asphalt terminal to a California company, which plans to keep the site in industrial use for the near future.
But discussions about future possibilities for the prime waterfront acreage haven’t stopped.
The sale came after Chevron decided to discontinue its asphalt operations in the Pacific Northwest, company spokeswoman Marielle Boortz said.
“From time to time, we assess our assets and decide what is valuable,” Boortz said. “It was a business decision.”
She added that the buyer, Paramount Petroleum Corp., also purchased another Chevron facility in Portland, Ore. The purchase price of that site, which covers more than 70 acres, was not released.
Paramount, based in the Southern California city of the same name, is the largest manufacturer, producer and distributor of asphalt products in the West.
“Our immediate plans are to keep operating it as an asphalt terminal,” Scott Lovejoy, Paramount’s chief executive officer, said of Point Wells.
Mark Funk, assistant to Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon, said the county had a long working relationship with Chevron and expects to develop a similar rapport with Paramount.
“Officials at Paramount have met with a variety of people, both in the county and the city of Woodway,” Funk said. “They were the new people on the block, and they wanted to introduce themselves.”
Woodway Mayor Carla Nichols said she met with Paramount officials in late March to talk about the plant and the future of the property, which is in Woodway’s urban growth area. She was impressed when a Paramount executive later attended a City Council meeting and introduced himself.
“When we have issues or questions, we know who to call,” Nichols said. “That is very different from the way (Chevron) worked.”
Nichols said the Point Wells zoning proposed by Chevron – with the eastern half of the property designated for residential development – is the plan preferred by Woodway, which is primarily residential.
Mary Lynne Evans, long-range planning manager for Snohomish County, also met with Paramount officials earlier this year to discuss zoning options. But she was unsure of the company’s long-term plans.
“I’m not sure they know yet,” Evans said. “When we met with them, they were exploring, and I don’t know if they’ve made decisions yet.”
Evans said the property is one of Puget Sound’s last deep-water sites, and has long garnered interest from local entities. At different times, Woodway and Shoreline have looked to annex the area and develop it, and it once was considered as a possible site for the Brightwater sewage treatment plant.
The Port of Edmonds also has entertained the notion of building a marina on the site, said Steve Ohlenkamp, a public affairs consultant for Paramount. Paramount has neither endorsed nor rejected the idea, which Ohlenkamp said would take at least seven years.
“They’re just starting to look at what kind of possibilities there are for the property,” he said.
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