Tesla leases space at Marysville business park

MARYSVILLE — Tesla, the electric car maker, has leased a massive new building at the Cascade Business Park in Marysville, as first reported by The Puget Sound Business Journal.

On Wednesday, a spokesperson for the city confirmed to The Daily Herald: “The architectural plans submitted with the tenant improvement indicate that the work is for Tesla. The use, as proposed, consists of office and warehouse space only. The City has not received plans related to manufacturing or assembly use.”

This is Tesla’s first location in the Pacific Northwest.

However, it’s not clear exactly what the Austin, Texas-based automaker will use the 245,000-square-foot facility for. That’s more square footage than four football fields.

The Journal originally reported the facility would open as a parts and assembly plant for the automaker — fueling speculation. Some said it could be used to store vehicle components or autos. Others said the Marysville site could “work in conjunction with an upcoming Canadian factory focused on Quebec and Ontario,” according to Teslarati, an online publisher of news about Tesla and other Elon Musk ventures.

Musk, the controversial owner of Twitter, is the co-founder of Tesla. He also co-founded rocket producer SpaceX, tunneling startup Boring Company and Neuralink, a company seeking to develop an implantable brain computer.

The building at 16015 51st Ave. NE is the first structure to be constructed by NorthPoint Development and its contractors at the Cascade Business Park. It was completed in March.

NorthPoint, a privately held Kansas City-based company, purchased the property for $26.7 million in 2021.

NorthPoint plans to build another eight buildings at the business park, part of the 5.1-million-square-foot Cacade Industrial Center that spans the cities of Marysville and Arlington.

Tesla’s neighbors include a new 635,000-square-foot Amazon warehouse in the Cascade Industrial Center at 51st Avenue NE, off Highway 531 and SeaCast, a company associated with Blue Origin, the Kent-based spacecraft company owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. One of the industrial center’s newest residents is a company called Gravitics that builds space station modules.

The Marysville City Council unanimously approved NorthPoint’s business park in 2021. The developer will pay for improvements to public streets and other infrastructure.

Tesla and NorthPoint Development did not respond to requests for comment from The Daily Herald.

The City of Marysville confirmed Tesla’s name was listed on the development permit, but city spokesperson Bridgette Larsen had little other information specific to the tenant.

The arrival of Tesla is another electrifying coup for the business park and Snohomish County.

In 2021, Eviation Aircraft, a builder of fully electric aircraft, leased space near the Arlington Municipal Airport. It has designed, built and flown an electric nine-seat airplane.

Tesla’s operates six factories worldwide, with locations in Texas, Nevada, California and New York, as well as Shanghai and Berlin.

The Nevada factory produces electric motors, batteries, and powertrains. The New York factory makes solar roof tiles and solar panels. The Texas factory will manufacture Tesla’s Model Y, Cybertruck, and semi vehicles. The Fremont, California location opened in 2010, producing the company’s Model S, 3, X and Y, according to Cleantechnica, a clean energy information website.

Tesla’s real estate portfolio continues to expand, according to DriveTesla Canada.

The company “recently leased a 1 million square foot facility in Houston, Texas for cell production and parts storage and distribution. Another lease was signed last year for a warehouse in San Antonio with 440,000 square feet of space used to store manufacturing components. In Illinois, Tesla leased a 660,000-square-foot warehouse at the Gateway Tradeport development near St. Louis, DriveTesla said.

Janice Podsada: 425-339-3097; jpodsada@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @JanicePods.