LYNNWOOD — The Lynnwood City Council approved on Monday a plan to turn the Lynnwood Event Center and a strip mall next door into a 13-acre town center with shops, restaurants, two apartment buildings, a hotel, a park and a larger convention center.
As part of its overall approval process, the City Council unanimously approved a master plan developed by the Lynnwood Public Facilities District to create what will be called The District, $15 million in bonds for the project and a new road around the project on 194th Street SW, right off of I-5. The agreement caps more than two years of formal discussion.
The overall cost for the project is estimated at between $500 million and $540 million, but it won’t be finalized until final design work is done on the project, said PFD Executive Director Janet Pope.
Artistic rendering of possible development for the Lynnwood Event Center. (Courtesy of Lynnwood Public Facilities District)
The PFD is the municipal corporation that runs the Lynnwood Event Center. It has the authority to issue debt and enter into contracts and development agreements, such as the public-private partnership that will be used to build The District.
Monday’s votes signify the city will work with the Public Facilities District.
The project would create a downtown district for suburban Lynnwood.
Council member George Hurst warned that the city would need to carefully monitor the project going forward.
“We need to do the painful part to make sure the PFD has all the money to pay for all these things, so their vision can become a reality,” he said.
Pope has estimated the PFD’s contribution will be $200 million to $240 million to build The District, including a retail complex. Another $300 million will be spent by private developers to construct the housing and the hotel. Final cost estimates, however, are dependent on the completion of the design work, she said.
City of Lynnwood Development and Business Services Director Ben Wolters speaks about the development plan for the Lynnwood Event Center on Oct. 13, 2025 in Lynnwood, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
The project will be built in phases, with the first part opening in 2030 if everything occurs on schedule, Pope said.
She said Lynnwood officials have talked for two decades about their vision for a downtown district.
“We’ve listened very closely to the feedback that we’ve gotten about what people want here,” she said after the meeting Monday night. “They want green space and arts and culture and sustainability and that nightlife and really creating that downtown core.”
Lynnwood Mayor Christine Frizzell said the project will be a positive for the city.
“It’s time to give our community more space to enjoy each other, more space together, more space to connect with each other,” she said.
Frizzell said she hoped some of the tenants in the current shopping center, scheduled for demolition, would be able to find space in the new retail complex.
Pope said she would like to retain the current tenants.
“Most of the tenants are locally owned businesses and I would like to have them in the new development,” she said. “We just hired a retail consultant to assist us with developing the retail program, and part of their scope will be planning with our current tenants in 2026-2027.”
Pope said that construction on the initial phases of the project could begin in 2028. She said the first task for the PFD will be to use the $6 million of the $15 million in bond money to complete the final design for the project. The other $9 million will be used to pay off the debt from the $36 million bond for the construction of the original event center, which opened in 2005.
While the city is backing the bonds, Lynnwood Finance Director Michelle Meyer said the actual money to buy the bonds is coming from a low-interest loan fund created by Snohomish County Treasurer Brian Sullivan.
Pope said that the retail plans for The District entail creating a shopping experience that will be unique. She said the 100,000-square-foot retail space will have no national chains.
“We want something distinctively local,” she said. “We want people to come to The District and experience Snohomish County.”
Other key aspects of The District master plan include a 550-space parking garage and an expansion of the convention center from 56,000 square feet to 118,000 square feet. The plan calls for the apartment buildings to offer affordable units aimed at working Lynnwood residents who are priced out of the conventional rental market.
Randy Diamond: 425-339-3097; randy.diamond@heraldnet.com
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