Developer eyes 10-acre Port of Everett industrial parcel

EVERETT — A California developer has offered to buy nearly 10 acres of industrial land in northeast Everett from the Port of Everett for about $2.85 million.

The proposed sale comes after months of negotiations with Panattoni Development Co., of Newport Beach, California, said Terrie Battuello, the port’s chief of business development.

She will ask the port’s three elected commissioners to approve the sale when they meet Tuesday evening.

The sale is “about creating jobs and getting property back on the tax rolls,” she said.

The land is part of the port’s Riverside Business Park, which is sandwiched between the Snohomish River and BNSF Railway Co.’s Delta Yard in northeast Everett. It has about 38 acres that can be developed, including the 10 acres Panattoni wants to buy.

Riverside used to buzz with activity. It was a lumber mill and processing site for more than 80 years. In the late 1970s about 1,800 people worked there, according to a Port of Everett planning document. That ended in the mid-1980s, when Weyerhaeuser shut down its operations there. The port bought the land in 1998 with an eye to encouraging new development.

That didn’t happen as quickly as port officials at the time hoped.

Now, though, “we’ve received a lot of interest” in the land, she said.

Battuello declined to give specifics about any ongoing talks that could lead to future sales. In all, Riverside has about 38 acres that can be developed.

The port also plans to build a walking path along the Snohomish River at the site by 2019, she said.

Panattoni declined to comment on the proposed sale. The company has offices in Canada, Europe and across the U.S.

“We feel very bullish on the Everett” and Snohomish County real estate market, said Bart Brynestad, who runs Panattoni’s Seattle-area office.

It already is working with Jones Lang LaSalle to develop PowderMill Business Center, a 36-acre industrial park north of Paine Field in Everett.

Dan Catchpole: 425-339-3454; dcatchpole@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @dcatchpole.

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