EVERETT – The same riverfront property that helped define the region’s brawny past is being primed for its brainy future.
The first details of a proposed multimillion-dollar development on a former mill site and city dump call for up to 1,500 houses and apartments, 1.2 million square feet of commercial space and a 150,000-square-foot hotel.
“We have the opportunity to build a landmark project,” said Kevin Haley with OliverMcMillan, one of San Diego’s largest developers, which is negotiating with the city to develop the land. “We want to put this on the cover of a lot of magazines.”
The company says that not all of the project will be built at once.
Still, to put each piece in perspective, the new figures translate to a shopping and office complex roughly the size of the 1.3-million-square-foot Bellevue Square, enough living space for more than 3,000 people and a hotel more than twice the size of downtown Everett’s Best Western Cascadia Inn.
The company is negotiating to buy 211 acres of city-owned property on the banks of the Snohomish River.
The company’s plans are a far cry from the towering smokestack of the Simpson mill of the late 1800s or the mountain of 2 million tires that was engulfed in a gooey toxic blaze for months in 1983 and 1984.
A key selling point of the project is the developer’s pledge to be green.
The company says it wants to develop the land using a set of environmentally friendly construction standards.
Challenges from contamination on the land remain.
Water leaching through the former landfill has to be trapped and treated. And methane gas generated by the decomposing waste below also has to be contained and monitored.
The state Department of Ecology recommends that all buildings on the former landfill site include a continuous sensor system that would sound an alarm if emissions of the flammable gas reach a certain level.
Early plans designate the landfill area for an entertainment center with apartments or condos, and a public plaza with views of the Cascade Mountains.
The environmental documents issued by the city this week are a precursor to a full environmental study looking at the project’s impact on traffic, air and water quality, plants and animals, and police and fire services.
Haley said the development company expects to finish environmental studies by the end of 2007.
If all goes well, actual construction on the property, which is just east of I-5, could begin in 2008.
But that’s assuming a lot, including the sale of the land, getting needed permits from state and federal agencies and firming up deals with environmental groups and a major railroad company.
A development agreement and amendments to Everett’s zoning maps also are needed.
The city and its consultant have been at the negotiation table with OliverMcMillan for more than a year. The parties say they are nearing a deal.
How much the city is willing to spend on building roads, sewer lines and other public improvements hasn’t been discussed. Neither has a sale price.
Everett has spent $48.2 million in local, state and federal funds on the properties since 1991, according to the city’s spokeswoman.
That includes the cost of buying land, environmental cleanup, construction of the 41st Street overpass and numerous studies.
Mayor Ray Stephanson said striking a deal is a delicate balance between the needs of the community and those of the developer.
“It’s important for us to see a public benefit very early on in the process,” he said.
That means ample open space, improved trails for biking and walking and greater access to the river, he said.
Lots of questions remain about the specifics of the project, including when it will be built, public improvements, design standards and the final balance of commercial and living space.
The project is proposed to attain, at minimum, a certification level of Silver, the second of four levels of certification by the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating system.
According to the new report, 45 acres on the old mill site will be carved out for an office park that “could be the headquarters for a high-quality, high-tech company.”
In that case, the foundation of tomorrow’s workplace would literally sit on the economy’s history.
For 80 years, scores of breadwinners drew their livelihoods working in that “gray, smelly industrial area,” Stephanson said.
“We never want to forget what got us here, which is a lot of hard-working blue-collar businesses and people,” Stephanson said.
Reporter David Chircop: 425-339-3429 or dchircop@ heraldnet.com.
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