It’s hard to tell developer Lobsang Dargey’s story without first mentioning he was born into a goat herding family in Tibet, lived as a Buddhist monk for a decade and is married to tennis great Andre Agassi’s sister, Tami.
And that from such sparse and humble beginnings, Dargey has found an American success story, a success story interwoven with Everett.
“I love Everett,” said Dargey, who is 40. “Everett is like a jewel that has not been discovered yet.”
Dargey is the president of Path America and the developer for Pagoda Village, a $63 million development on Grand Avenue and Wall Street in Everett.
The more than 500,000-square-foot project will include 220 high-end, green-built apartments with underground parking, a 110-unit Hampton Inn by Hilton and a year-round indoor farmers market.
“I think we need something very unique downtown,” Dargey said. “I am obsessive with the farmers market. I really want to make a change downtown.”
The idea is to have the farmers market provide people in Everett with local affordable organic produce, meat and poultry, flowers and artist’s wares, year round and not just on weekends.
“Obviously we were very pleased about it because it was something we were looking at anyway,” said Lanie McMullin, Everett’s executive director of economic development, adding the city has been trying to get a farmers market or a food hub area in downtown Everett for seven years.
The Pagoda Village aims to make Everett a more attractive destination rather than a quick stop for people traveling on the I-5 corridor between Vancouver, B.C., and Seattle.
“It will activate our downtown core,” McMullin said.
At its groundbreaking in March, Everett Mayor Ray Stephanson said that the year-round, indoor market is really Everett’s Granville Island, a Vancouver, B.C., destination with a market, arts and entertainment, restaurants and hotel.
The weekend farmers market in Everett draws thousands of people buying local and organic food, artist’s wares and other treasures.
“The farmers market on the waterfront has been wildly successful,” he said.
Pagoda Village plans kitchen facilities hoping to attract businesses with new products to cook and bake. Part of Dargey’s vision is that more people staying downtown will bring back businesses to the area and occupy the empty storefronts therefore boosting the economy and bringing vibrancy to the area.
“We need to provide more downtown residences just for people who want to live there,” McMullin said.
Ways to live healthy
And there will be more choices for those staying in Everett for a few nights, too. The Hampton Inn is the first of its kind to be built in downtown Everett. It will provide a long stay option for military families visiting Naval Station Everett and one night bookings for those visiting from out of town for a concert, show or sporting event at the Comcast Arena.
Dargey is also interested in providing opportunities for a healthy living lifestyle in the projects he builds. Tenants who look for healthier living options might be attracted to a living space with gyms and yoga facilities, and farmers markets with fresh, local and organic produce.
“My goal is that every family can come and bring their kids. Have lunch or dinner, go to the Children’s Museum, go to the farmers market,” he said.
Dargey would like artists to display their work and sell their products in the farmers market that will have 19-foot open ceilings.
The prospect of new residents moving to downtown Everett is exciting to Dargey. Boeing employees may be good candidates for Pagoda Village or some of the 250 Foss Maritime Co. employees expected to move jobs from Seattle to Everett when the company begins operations on the former Kimberly-Clark site, he said.
Path America, formerly Dargey Enterprises, is a U.S. Immigration Approved Regional Center that provides help to foreign investors going through EB-5, a visa category that fast-tracks the green card process allowing permanent residency in the U.S. Those who wish to apply need to invest at least $500,000 in new commercial enterprises that benefit the economy. The program must also create jobs in the area.
Dargey said that Path America is helping to bring 80 families for the Pagoda Village project to Everett from countries including the United Kingdom, China and India. Because of EB-5, Path America can build, create jobs, help the economy and help farmers, Dargey said.
Many investors want a better education in the U.S. for their children, Dargey said.
‘I like to build things’
Pagoda Village is the second housing project that Dargey has brought to Everett. The first is the $22 million Potala Village on Pacific Avenue, Everett’s first built green project, which was completed in 2011 and has 108 apartments, parking and restaurants on the street level.
“That was a sort of a turnaround for me,” Dargey said of the project. “It was difficult in the middle of a recession.”
But the Buddhist had a vision and Potala Village is now 95 percent occupied. He named the development after the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet, home of the 14th Dalai Lama until he was forced to flee in 1959 for India.
Dargey has also blended some of his vision onto Potala Village that can be seen from the street. The building’s paintwork includes red and saffron standard colors in Tibetan monks robes.
As a monk arriving in the United States on Oct. 1, 1997, Dargey had no real expectation other than the determination to learn to speak English.
“I’d never really planned,” Dargey said. “I just wanted to come to the U.S.”
He took ESL classes and after living in the Pacific Northwest soon offered back his vows to his monastery. Dargey got a job painting then landscaping and later went to work for Sprint. For four years, he ran his own software company before realizing he wanted to try something else.
“You know, I like to build things,” Dargey said. “I like to envision things that make like a puzzle.”
The seed was planted and Dargey began looking at small towns around the Puget Sound. Then he came to Everett.
“I started in Everett,” Dargey said. “It brought me luck.”
His first purchase was the Everett Public Market Grand Avenue and California Street in 2006 where the headquarters of his company Path America are located. The eastside office is in Bellevue.
He and two other investors purchased the Cogswell building on Colby Avenue, a historic building that once housed a post office and offices for federal agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigations. Chicago Title is the current tenant.
During this time, Dargey met his wife, Tami, at a fundraising event and the couple kept in touch afterward. One year later they began seriously dating, he said.
They were married in 2004.
Dargey said that he fell in love with Everett in part because of the incredible views. He also raved about how great the city of Everett staff was to work with.
The views are great
With great views on the west slope of Everett overlooking the Puget Sound there’s a lot to like about the development’s location.
“It’s going to be a marvelous project for us,” Stephanson said.
City of Everett staff and others have been focused throughout the last few years on bringing arts and culture to downtown. Dargey’s development will give the city the opportunity to market and package multiple events.
“I so appreciate his interest and commitment to Everett,” Stephanson said.
Everett was also a community in need of downtown housing, Dargey said.
“Lots of people work in downtown,” Dargey said. “My goal is to have them stay in downtown.”
Other Path America projects include one in Kirkland where the environmental cleaning stage of a site is in process. This year, Dargey will break ground in downtown Seattle on a 40-story, $170 million project called Potala Tower.
Dargey’s Bellevue office is a peaceful space dotted with Buddhist treasures and with large views out to the world. The work Dargey does he sees as real estate development and helping families who want a better future for their children. It is part of his path from Tibet to Snohomish County.
“I am really happy,” Dargey said. “I am really honored to do that kind of service.”
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