EVERETT — A few years ago, construction sites were common around Snohomish County.
Today, with the mortgage crunch and the recession, construction work stands out.
Near Silver Lake, construction crews are working on an extensive renovation at the corner of 100th Street SE and 19th Avenue SE. The former furniture store will be turned into a WinCo Foods outlet.
The Silver Lake WinCo could open as soon as November or as late as next spring, said Mike Read, a spokesman for WinCo. No grand opening date has been set.
When the building is completed, it will spread out over about 100,000 square feet. That’s slightly larger than other WinCos in the area, like the one in Marysville. The Boise, Idaho-based discount grocery store chain opened its Marysville location three years ago on 116th Street NE just east of I-5.
Read estimates the new store will employ 200 people.
“We’re constantly looking (to expand) in the states where we’re already located,” Read said.
Like other grocers, WinCo looks for high-traffic areas with enough population to support a new store but without too much competition. A short distance from I-5 and with a Costco warehouse just blocks away, the WinCo site certainly sees its share of traffic.
“It looked like a good opportunity,” Read said.
In downtown Everett, Dargey Enterprises is taking advantage of the traffic on Pacific and Rucker avenues, where it’s building Potala Village. When completed, the 180,000-square-foot, four-story building will feature 100 apartments and 15,000 square feet of retail space.
In June, Snohomish County issued building permits for 95 single-family homes, up from 60 permits in May and on par with the 95 single home permits issued in April. The county issued just one permit for new retail space — a 4,700-square-foot building in Lynnwood.
Statewide, the sales tax coming from construction was down in the first quarter of 2010, the state said Thursday. Sales tax on all construction activity was down to $3.5 billion, an 18.3 percent drop compared with the same period in 2009.
Michelle Dunlop: 425-339-3454, mdunlop@heraldnet.com.
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