Over 2 billion pounds of dirt have been transported to the site of Everett’s new riverfront development, located on 139 acres of land between Snohomish River and I-5.
The dirt will compress landfill debris buried on the industrial property and limit future settling as construction gets underway.
San Diego developer Oliver McMillan paid the city $8 million for the land earlier this year. By 2011, it will be transformed into a shopping and entertainement hub featuring a variety of stores, parks, a hotel, restaurants, a public plaza, preserved wetlands and walking and bicycle trails stretching five miles. According to developers, about 1,400 houses and condos will be added as market demand grows; new retail space will total 1 million square feet in size.
Also included in the project, Cinetopia in Vancouver, Wash. will open a 16-screen movie complex on the site, as well as a restaurant and wine bar. Other developement announcements will be available soon, said company officials.
Everett’s riverfront project has been ongoing for a number of years, requiring an asserted effort by developers and the city to smooth out a number of legal issues and environmental cleanup.
In order for construction to proceed, the city’s methane gas collection system will need to be improved to trap landfill gas emissions, as well as a second system designed to prevent polluted landfill runoff from entering the river. Also, Burlington’s Northern Santa Fe Railway needed to give city officials permission to move tracks running through the project’s center.
Commercial construction will take place next year. Residential space will be added as market demand grows. When the project is finished, it will have cost the city as much as $100 million for its part, which it hopes to recuperate over time with additional tax revenues generated by new riverfront shops and services.
[b]Lynnwood shopping center coming in 2009[/b]
A new shopping center with a large Fred Meyer store and seven smaller retail buildings is taking shape at the intersection of 164th Street SW and Alderwood Mall Parkway.
The Northpointe Retail Center should be opening in the second half of 2009, said Mike Echelbarger, president of Echelbarger Investments and one of the principal owners of the shopping center property.
The 186,000-square-foot Fred Meyer will feature skylights throughout the store. The center’s 18-acre will feature a “main street” feel and an outdoor plaza.
Among those prospective tenants is Starbucks and at least one restaurant. A number of other restaurants also have expressed interest, Echelbarger said.
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