Everett Station area seen as ripe for redevelopment

  • By Chris Winters and Noah Haglund Herald Writers
  • Thursday, May 5, 2016 9:25pm
  • Local NewsEverett

EVERETT — About 100 city and county leaders gathered Thursday to grapple with the redevelopment and revitalization of the neighborhood surrounding Everett Station.

The Everett Station District Alliance is a group of property owners, businesses and nonprofits in the area between Broadway and I-5, Hewitt Avenue and 39th Street, plus the three local transportation agencies that serve the station.

The group has been meeting for the last two years to come up with a plan to revitalize the largely industrial and commercial area southeast of Everett’s core and to transform it into a vibrant community. The area has been plagued by street crime in recent years and has become a magnet for homeless people.

“It starts with a 20-year vision. We need to know where we’re going and what the neighborhood should be,” said Ed Petersen, the chief strategic officer of Housing Hope, which has been hosting the meetings.

“We’ve built a beautiful train station, cut the ribbon in 2002 with the belief that people will be living and working in this neighborhood and not one thing has changed in 14 years,” Petersen said.

The group so far has been run on a volunteer basis only, he said, but the next steps will likely formalize some of those efforts.

So far, city government has played a supporting role, sending staff to meetings and offering information as needed, but the effort has been led by the mix of businesses, nonprofits, neighborhood associations and transportation agencies that have interest in the area.

Other major employers have an interest because those businesses need to be connected with Everett Station, and their employees need to live nearby for it to be considered the hub it was intended to be, Petersen said.

The unveiling of the District Alliance’s initial plan Thursday night was designed to take the long-term view of the area.

Speakers included Sound Transit CEO Peter Rogoff, who talked about creating new communities around places like Everett Station. Rogoff had addressed a much larger and noisier audience in the same room on April 25 to talk about a ballot proposal known as Sound Transit 3 that’s likely to reach voters in November.

A dozen or so developers were in the audience Thursday.

Part of the challenge in transforming Everett Station will be convincing investors it’s worth the commitment.

“You’re betting on what’s going to be, not about what is,” said Aaron Adelstein, director of programs for the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties.

Nick Bratton, policy director for the nonprofit conservation group Forterra, said once a developer pulls off the first project, others are bound to follow.

“Once the ice is broken, people really see that there’s a market and a path to redevelopment and that there’s energy in a neighborhood that wasn’t an attractive place to live before,” Bratton said.

Forterra has worked on similar projects throughout the region, including ongoing work with Mountlake Terrace and Shoreline.

Bratton and others cited the development now occurring around the Northgate transit area in Seattle as a potential model for Everett Station.

Development patterns will have to change, if population forecasts are on the mark.

The Puget Sound Regional Council’s “Vision 2040” plan calls for Everett to prepare to accommodate up to 60,000 new residents in the next 25 years.

City officials have identified the area stretching from downtown east to Everett Station as the likeliest neighborhood that will be able to absorb that growth, said David Stalheim, Everett’s long-range planning director.

Everett is launching its own effort with an open house on Monday, with the intention of creating a subarea plan for what it’s calling “Metro Everett.”

The hope would be to have a plan approved by the City Council by next spring, Stalheim said.

The territory overlaps with that of the District Alliance, but Stalheim said the two efforts are not mutually exclusive.

“That’s the hope, that we would see these things fitting together,” Stalheim said.

The next step for the District Alliance will be to start hammering out the details.

That includes committees focused on creating incentives for developers in the neighborhood, green building and fostering stronger connections between the station and other parts of the city.

It also means taking a close look at problems in the area, such as a lack of parking and the city’s persistent population of homeless people.

While the steering committee for the alliance wants to move forward, that will take resources that the group hasn’t had to date as an all-volunteer organization that met once a month.

“There’s a question here as to how much community interest and support there is,” Petersen said.

“Tonight’s kind of a catalytic moment,” Petersen said.

Chris Winters: 425-374-4165; cwinters@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @Chris_At_Herald.

Open house for Metro Everett

The City of Everett is hosting an open house on Monday to kick off a planning process for the downtown and Everett Station area. The open house starts at 5:30 p.m. in the Everett Performing Arts Center, 2710 Wetmore Ave. More information is online at everettwa.gov/metro.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Everett mall renderings from Brixton Capital. (Photo provided by the City of Everett)
Topgolf at the Everett Mall? Mayor’s hint still unconfirmed

After Cassie Franklin’s annual address, rumors circled about what “top” entertainment tenant could be landing at Everett Mall.

Everett
Everett man sentenced to 3 years of probation for mutilating animals

In 2022, neighbors reported Blayne Perez, 35, was shooting and torturing wildlife in north Everett.

Dorothy Crossman rides up on her bike to turn in her ballot  on Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Everett leaders plan to ask voters for property tax increase

City officials will spend weeks hammering out details of a ballot measure, as Everett faces a $12.6 million deficit.

Starbucks employee Zach Gabelein outside of the Mill Creek location where he works on Friday, Feb. 23, 2024 in Mill Creek, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Mill Creek Starbucks votes 21-1 to form union

“We obviously are kind of on the high of that win,” store bargaining delegate Zach Gabelein said.

Lynnwood police respond to a collision on highway 99 at 176 street SW. (Photo provided by Lynnwood Police)
Police: Teen in stolen car flees cops, causes crash in Lynnwood

The crash blocked traffic for over an hour at 176th Street SW. The boy, 16, was arrested on felony warrants.

The view of Mountain Loop Mine out the window of a second floor classroom at Fairmount Elementary on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
County: Everett mining yard violated order to halt work next to school

At least 10 reports accused OMA Construction of violating a stop-work order next to Fairmount Elementary. A judge will hear the case.

Imagine Children's Museum's incoming CEO, Elizabeth "Elee" Wood. (Photo provided by Imagine Children's Museum)
Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett to welcome new CEO

Nancy Johnson, who has led Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett for 25 years, will retire in June.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.