Everett residents voice support, concerns over AquaSox stadium

EVERETT — More than a 100 people packed into Everett Station on Tuesday to share their support, concerns or displeasure with a proposed plan to build or renovate a stadium for the Everett AquaSox.

Over the course of the hourlong meeting, the city shared details on the latest plans and the possible paths forward.

Planning for the new stadium began in 2021, following new requirements Major League Baseball set for minor league teams. Funko Field, where the High-A AquaSox currently play, needs major renovations, including larger clubhouses, new locker rooms, lighting improvements, facilities for female staff and new training facilities to be in compliance with the league’s new regulations.

The city considered a number of possible locations, eventually narrowed down to three options: Renovate Funko Field, build a new stadium downtown, near Angel of the Winds arena, or do nothing — and let the AquaSox leave Everett.

Many attendees supported the stadium project, with most saying the downtown location would be the best use of funds. Others, however, spoke out against the proposals, raising concerns over the significant costs and the potential displacement of downtown businesses.

The city’s final environmental impact statement, released last week, said it is exploring a field layout to prevent the demolition of buildings along Hewitt Avenue and Broadway, where the majority of businesses in the proposed site are located.

Jeremy Reed’s company, Interface Technologies Northwest, is located along Hewitt Avenue. At the meeting, he said the city’s current plans would block off his company’s loading bay. If that happens, he said, his company would lose 22 trade jobs.

The stadium’s design has yet to proceed far enough to nail down where exactly the stadium’s footprint will fall, said Ben Franz, a project manager at consulting firm Shiels Obletz Johnsen hired by the city. He added current renderings of the stadium are similar to “a napkin sketch.”

“I just want to assure you, we are nowhere near the point in design that says where entrances and exits will be,” Franz said.

Other concerns were raised over the project’s potential costs. The city’s most recent estimates for renovating Funko Field range from $68 million to $79 million, while a new downtown stadium ranges from $84 million to $114 million.

The money the city hopes to use for the stadium should instead be put toward education or housing, said Jeremiah Leathart.

“I would like to have that state-of-the-art place here forever, if the Mariners pay for it themselves,” Leathart said. “Every damn cent.”

The city does not fund education. The Everett school district is funded through the state and federal government, as well as municipal property taxes and bonds.

The fiscal advisory committee tasked with finding money for the potential project has still yet to present its findings to council, but the city has committed to not using general government dollars and intends to not increase taxes to pay for the project.

Franz touted the city’s use of a Progressive Design-Build team — a method where owners, contractors and architects work together from the initial planning stages — to speed up construction and save costs, he said.

Using that process will also allow the city to build the project in stages, if necessary. To spread the costs over time, the city could construct the essentials required by Major League Baseball and make plans to complete the stadium at a later date.

“Major League Baseball doesn’t care if there’s a single seat,” Scott Pattison, a special projects manager at the city, said in an interview this month. “They want the dugouts to spec, they want the clubhouse to spec, the lighting to spec. They don’t care about the fan amenities.”

Supporters of the stadium project spoke in favor of the downtown location.

“Although the downtown site brings with it a much greater challenge, sometimes in life, meeting those greater challenges ultimately results in a much greater return,” said David Hope, an AquaSox season ticket holder since 1994.

Others spoke of the downtown stadium as a possible regional hub to bring in visitors from across the Puget Sound region, especially as light rail is expected to arrive by 2041, just a few blocks away from the downtown site.

An analysis the city commissioned in 2022 estimated a downtown location could generate $55 million in annual revenue toward businesses and create hundreds of jobs, although promises of economic benefits from stadium construction are often exaggerated, researchers say. A study on the effects of minor league baseball stadium construction found no benefits to per capita income following construction of a new stadium for High-A minor league teams, but the presence of a High-A franchise in a city does lead to small improvements in per capita income.

The downtown location would provide more funding opportunities for the city, Franz said, because the city would be the sole owner. In addition to the AquaSox, the United Soccer League, a professional national soccer league, is interested in bringing a men’s and women’s team to Everett. A soccer field would only fit at the downtown location.

Everett is under pressure to show progress on a new stadium, as the MLB will continue to fine the AquaSox for every season its stadium does not comply with the league’s standards. The city needs to have a stadium ready to play in by the start of the 2027 season.

The City Council is expected to vote on a site for the project in December. Construction would begin in 2026, with the first game played in April 2027.

Will Geschke: 425-339-3443; william.geschke@heraldnet.com; X: @willgeschke.