Port of Everett signs vintner; awards $13M contract for Millwright District

EVERETT — Hamilton Cellars, a Benton City-based Washington winery, will locate a wine tasting room at the Everett Waterfront under a 10-year lease with the Port of Everett.

Hamilton is the second vintner to commit to the port’s plan to develop a ‘wine walk’ anchored by tasting rooms offering beer, wine and spirits.

Covington Cellars | Two Vintners signed a deal with the port last year.

The wine walk will feature up to 12 tasting suites in two or three new buildings to be constructed near the water’s edge between Port Gardner Landing and Marina Village.

The structures could include large, outdoor patios and rooftop decks that overlook the Everett Marina and Port Gardner Bay.

“We did a survey of the wine tasting rooms in the Seattle area, and what is being done at the Port of Everett just overwhelmed everyone else,” said Russ Hamilton, who owns and operates Hamilton Cellars. “It’s such a wonderful location, with lots of new construction. We thought it’d be just the perfect opportunity for us.”

Hamilton Cellars opened a tasting room in 2011 at its Red Mountain vineyard near Benton City, about 20 miles east of Pasco.

So far this year, Hamilton has won 20 awards for its wine list, including Best in Class from Sunset International Magazine, Best in Class from San Francisco Chronicle and Double Gold from Seattle Wine Awards.

“We have people from the Seattle area who really want this to happen,” Hamilton said. “We feel strongly, given our quality of wine and our price point, that we’ll have a lot of people visit our winery in Everett.”

The Port’s retail wine walk buildings are now in the design phase and will be built by The Schuster Group, a private development group that’s partnered with the port.

The project is on track to break ground in 2024. Tasting rooms are expected to open in 2025 and 2026.

The port continues to recruit tenants for the remaining spaces, port officials said.

Also last month,the Port of Everett Commission awarded a $13 million construction contract to Burlington-based Interwest Construction Inc. to build connecting roadways and other features at the Millwright District.

The Millwright District is the second and largest phase of the port’s Waterfront Place, a mixed-use development.

The 10-acre area will feature 60,000 square feet of new retail and restaurant space; 200,000 square-feet of commercial and office space and some 300 residential units.

The project includes construction of the Millwright Loop Road, connecting roadways and infrastructure.

Utilities, paving, expansion of the Central Marina esplanade and construction of two Central Marina parking lots, sidewalks and landscaping will follow.

“This infrastructure quite literally paves the way to bringing the next phase of Waterfront Place at the Millwright District to life,” port CEO Lisa Lefeber said.

PND Engineers is coordinating the planning and design of the Millwright District.

“With all the momentum of current developments happening around the waterfront and the eight new business openings this summer – from retail and restaurants to offices and public facilities – we’re excited to make this important move into the next phase of work to continue delivering the community vision for the waterfront,” Lefeber said.

The Millwright Loop Roads project is funded in part by the sale of a treasury note to the Snohomish County Treasurer’s Office.

This investment by the Treasurer’s Office is the pilot for their new Community Investment Program, which promotes investment in the local economy, Lefeber said.

Janice Podsada: 425-339-3097; jpodsada@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @JanicePods.