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December 11, 2017

Renton has OK'd development plan for big waterfront site; now who wants to buy it?

By BRIAN MILLER
Journal staff reporter

The city approved a plan for 10 buildings on the site. It is the largest undeveloped property on Lake Washington, but it’s also a Superfund site and needs a EPA-approved cleanup.

The polluted, 22-acre patch of waterfront just south of the Seahawks' training facility in Renton is finally poised for redevelopment. But not tomorrow, or even soon.

The site at 4350 Lake Washington Blvd. — generally known as Quendall Terminals — was once home to a creosote plant. It's now a Superfund site, and needs a costly EPA-approved cleanup before new development can happen.

The site is the largest undeveloped property on Lake Washington. Century Pacific's Campbell Mathewson is marketing it on behalf of the owners, but didn't respond to DJC queries.

The final environmental impact statement and redevelopment plan were submitted five years ago, and the city of Renton approved the plan in June. It calls for 10 buildings, ranging from four to six stories, so Quendall Terminals could have 692 residential units, with retail and restaurant space, plus a waterfront promenade and park.

Renderings by Century Pacific/Lance Mueller [enlarge]
Quendall Terminals could have 692 housing units, retail and restaurants, and a waterfront promenade and park.

But the city's approval is only one milestone in a century-long journey.

The creosote plant operated from about 1917 to 1969. The Baxter and Cugini families bought the property in 1971. The site was then used for log storage until 2001. After environmental testing, it was declared a Superfund site in 2006.

The city calls the entire 60-acre area Port Quendall. It's north of downtown Renton, and tucked between the lake and Interstate 405, at Exit 7. The north property is the Seahawks training facility, which was completed in 2008. To the south is the former Barbee Mill, which Connor Homes developed in phases into 114 homes, beginning in 2006. In the middle is Quendall Terminals.

Paul Allen's Vulcan once contemplated developing all 60 acres, but instead opted for the relatively clean north portion.

Century Pacific says the owners of Quendall Terminals have spent about $7.5 million to date on cleanup studies and development plans. Lance Mueller & Associates and KPFF Consulting Engineers prepared the development plan. Blumen Consulting Group advised the city.

The EPA still must approve a cleanup plan. That should be submitted by fall of 2018. Approval could come about a year after that.

How long would the cleanup take, and how much would it cost? Understandably, EPA won't say in advance, but there are some past examples.

It cost about $200 million and took over a dozen years to clean a creosote-contaminated, 50-acre Superfund site in Manville, New Jersey, though that was already developed with housing, making the job more difficult.

The EPA estimates it will take between $71 million and $81 million and 10 years to clean up the 57-acre Wyckoff-Eagle Harbor Superfund site on Bainbridge Island.

It cost about $12 million to clean up a 13-acre former creosote plant, also a Superfund site, near St. Maries, Idaho.

Back in 1998, before the Superfund designation, the city of Renton considered spending as much as $20 million of its own money to clean up Quendall Terminals to facilitate the sale of the whole Port Quendall property.

That deal, of course, didn't work out. Vulcan paid $6.5 million for the north 20 acres in 2000, and spent another $7 million on cleanup.

By comparison, Conner Homes paid about $35 million for its south 22 acres in 2006, but that was after the Cugini family had done its own cleanup of the Barbee Mill property.

And in a footnote to all three components of Port Quendall, the Eastside Rail Corridor Trail runs right past those properties. The 42-mile former BNSF line from Renton to Snohomish is gradually being opened to cyclists and pedestrians, with a new commuter rail line expected to share that right-of-way in the future. That, too, may be a selling point for Century Pacific.


 


Brian Miller can be reached by email at brian.miller@djc.com or by phone at (206) 219-6517.




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