A 380-room hotel and 10 additional stores at the outlet mall are the next steps at Quil Ceda Village, the Tulalip Tribes development that already is Snohomish County’s fourth-largest employer.
State Rep. John McCoy, a Tulalip Democrat and general manager of the village, told a group of 120 people at a Friday breakfast of the Greater Marysville-Tulalip Chamber of Commerce that the hotel should begin construction in the next three to four months.
He also reported that Seattle Premium Outlets, the new outlet mall with about 100 shops, has been doing so well that it immediately is exercising an option for another 10 stores.
McCoy didn’t save any dramatic announcements for last week’s chamber talk. But he gave the crowd a good sense of how development is progressing at Quil Ceda, which has a casino, a Wal-Mart, a Home Depot, an entertainment amphitheater and a host of retail shops and restaurants.
The economic center employs some 3,000 people
The area is working right now to develop light industrial properties and some storage buildings to help bring a greater diversity of jobs, McCoy said. He noted that the tribes will probably focus energy on those areas before working to get additional retailers.
McCoy said the tribes are in negotiations now with a family entertainment-type business for the vacant property near Home Depot. He said that talks are too early to name names, but he added the area could also be home to a movie theater.
The theater and family fun center would complement the hotel and a recreational vehicle park that is part of the village development plan, McCoy said.
“We’re looking at something to augment the hotel,” he said. “Maybe even a bowling alley.”
McCoy said talks with a water park developer broke off and the company purchased land just north of the village. He said the tribes don’t plan to build a park to compete, and that they also have set aside any plans for a golf course.
“All the golf courses in the area are losing money,” he said. “They’re not getting enough rounds played.”
He did note that construction should also start soon on a Bob’s Burger &Brew. And he said the tribes have begun work on the first phase of a tribal history museum.
The new hotel, which has been in the planning stages for a long time, will be between 3 and 41/2 stars, McCoy said, adding, “it will be heavily into the services.” He expects the hotel to be ready by 2008.
McCoy said his colleagues in the Legislature complain that he’s always talking about sewage treatment, but he still didn’t pass up the opportunity to note that the tribe’s new treatment facility on the site uses the latest technology to produce clean water that is reused for many things in the development and also released into the wetland on the property to be cooled and further cleaned.
Coho Creek, which goes through the development and had been ditched and channeled, is being reconfigured to slow down the water and to create more salmon spawning areas, McCoy said. He said chum salmon in the creek have exploded in numbers, and the tribes are also seeing some coho spawn there.
“We like to show that you can do economic development and still be environmentally friendly,” McCoy said.
As for the amphitheater, which was completed last year, McCoy said this year should include a whole slate of entertainment that should be scheduled within the next few weeks.
In addition to further projects, McCoy said the tribes are looking to make traffic improvements, such as widening to the 116th Street NE overpass to five lanes.
Mike Benbow: 425-339-3459; benbow@heraldnet.com.
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