By Fred Safstrom / For The Herald
I was very pleased to serve the City of Everett in planning for an AquaSox stadium that meets Major League Baseball requirements. We were delighted when Everett’s Mayor and City Council adopted our Stadium Fiscal Advisory Committee’s (SFAC), recommendation to pursue the development of a new downtown multipurpose stadium.
I am a lifelong resident of Everett and recognize the Everett AquaSox as an important part of the social fabric that makes Everett great. The AquaSox stand alongside the Everett Silvertips, Angel of the Wind Arena, Edward D. Hansen Conference Center, Everett Community Ice Rink, Imagine Children’s Museum, Everett Performing Arts Center, Cope-Gillette Theater, Historic Everett Theatre, Schack Art Center, Everett Civic Auditorium, Legion and Walter E. Hall public golf courses, Everett Farmers Market, Everett’s Music at the Marina, and more that make Everett a great place to live. These public assembly opportunities bring us together as a community and make Everett and great place to live.
I am pleased to report that since the City Council approved the pursuit of a new downtown multipurpose stadium, the United Soccer League has been deeply engaged with city officials and community leaders to bring both USL League One for men and USL Super League for women to our new stadium in Everett!
A smart, phased approach, without new taxes: The city’s approach for the new stadium development is fiscally conservative and forward-thinking. It calls for a design-to-budget approach using progressive design-build delivery to ensure the city builds what it can afford; no more, no less. This means staying within current capital and state funding, leveraging private contributions from the AquaSox and USL, and only issuing debt that can be supported by realistic, conservative projections of stadium revenue.
The plan does not include new taxes or voter-approved levies. Everett residents are already feeling the pressure of inflation and rising housing costs; this project must not — and will not — come at their expense.
The progressive design-build team of Bayley Construction LP and DLR Group recently reported to the city that the new downtown stadium has been designed to the project budget of $82 million, far less than the $100 million-plus previously estimated! This design-build approach was successfully utilized for the Everett Regional Special Events Center (now Angel of the Winds Arena) and is proving to be successful again for the new downtown stadium.
This is very good news. City staff have delivered what was promised to the City Council. I believe this should erase any hesitation by council members to take the next step of authorizing necessary funding for the project planning to continue.
A catalyst for downtown development: The new downtown stadium presents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform the urban core. It creates new park space in a park-deficit zone, enhances pedestrian connections to Everett Station, and following the experience of similar baseball stadium developments, will drive housing demand and small business creation by offering a vibrant amenity for residents and businesses alike.
In the long term, the stadium will not stand alone. It will sit at the center of a revitalized civic district that already includes the Angel of the Winds Arena, the Edward D. Hansen Conference Center, the Everett Community Ice Rink and many small businesses and nonprofits breathing vibrancy into downtown Everett. Importantly, the stadium will stand at the terminus of Sound Transit’s Link Light Rail providing transit connections throughout the Puget Sound region.
In this way, the stadium becomes more than a home for sports; it becomes an engine for equitable, inclusive growth. It also opens the door to long-term development partnerships, including the potential involvement of the Everett Public Facilities District, which could play a key role in supporting the stadium through its common mission alignment.
Holding onto what matters while building what’s next: The SFAC’s work has been thorough, data-driven and community-focused. The new, multi-sport, multi-use stadium is a signal — to our residents, our children, our investors, and our region — that Everett believes in its own potential.
I am proud for this community of Everett to be my home.
Fred Safstrom is chair of the City of Everett’s Stadium Fiscal Advisory Committee. He lives in Everett.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
