October 31, 2024

Everett’s waterfront reimagined

Gerking

Frazer

For more than a century, the Port of Everett has been a major economic driver in Snohomish County and Washington State. Through the operation of our international shipping terminals, the largest public marina on the West Coast, and real estate development, the Port of Everett supports more than 40,000 jobs in the region and contributes $433 million to state and local taxes.

The port strives to deliver and support quality family-wage jobs, and business and tourism opportunities to its local and surrounding communities. The port is also committed to enhancing, restoring and preserving the overall environmental health of the waterfront.

Today, as the port enhances its critical connection to global commerce and national security in the area known as the working waterfront, it’s also transforming a 65-acre property known as Waterfront Place into a modern commercial mixed-use and recreation centered development. It is estimated that the port will leverage an expected $1 billion in public/private investment to redevelop and reimagine this new waterfront destination in a way that feels authentically Everett, embracing and paying tribute the city’s rich history and industry.

Photos courtesy of the Port of Everett [enlarge]

The port and partners removed nearly 200,000 tons of contaminated soil, remediated several contaminated groundwater plumes, dredged contaminated sediment, and removed failing bulkheads and old creosote-treated wood structures.

Waterfront Place is a new 1.5-million-square-foot mixed-use development located at our waterfront near the downtown core in Everett. The development has spectacular views, waterfront access, recreational amenities and a world-class marina — the largest public Marina on the West Coast — with 2,300 slips and 5,000 linear feet of guest moorage. At full build-out, Waterfront Place will include 63,000 square feet of retail/restaurant space, another 20,000 square feet of marine retail, 447,500 square feet of office space, two waterfront hotels and up to 660 waterfront housing units. Featured amenities include new trails and regional parks, public gathering spaces, a variety of fine and casual dining, local shops, and marine sales and services. The project’s investments in public/private investment is estimated to support nearly 2,100 family-wage jobs and generate $8.6 million annually in state and local sales taxes. To date, the port has facilitated more than $350 million in public/private investment here, with more to come.

The transformation of this area started with a comprehensive environmental cleanup. Waterfront Place is located within a Puget Sound Initiative priority area (Port Gardner Bay) and included six environmental cleanup sites impacted by historical industrial contamination. The Port of Everett and Landau Associates partnered with the Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) to complete a comprehensive, innovative cleanup program between 2006 and 2021 across the 65-acres to remove this obstacle and to facilitate the redevelopment.

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The former Everett Shipyard cleanup site is now home to Fisherman’s Harbor, including a splash fountain and public dock walk, the 142-room Hotel Indigo, 266 residential units at the new Waterfront Place Apartments along with new restaurant/retail spaces.

The approximately $30 million investment, including more than $10 million in Ecology cleanup grants private party settlements and port funds, resulted in the removal and disposal of nearly 200,000 tons of contaminated soil, remediation of several contaminated groundwater plumes, dredging of contaminated sediment from the bay, and removal of failing bulkheads and old creosote-treated wood structures. This innovative environmental cleanup effort has earned industry recognition, including Environmental Project of the Year Award in 2015 from the Washington Public Ports Association, and a Gold Award from the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) in the Social, Economic, and Sustainable Design category.

The most visual transformation took place at the former Everett Shipyard cleanup site, now home to Fisherman’s Harbor — the first phase of Waterfront Place. Here the Port and private partners have built out new public access, including a splash fountain and public dock walk, the 142-room Hotel Indigo, 266 residential units at the new Waterfront Place Apartments along with new restaurant/retail spaces.

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Waterfront Place’s amenities include new trails and regional parks, public gathering spaces, a variety of fine and casual dining, local shops, and marine sales and services.

The port broke ground on its next two restaurant buildings in July 2024 at Fisherman’s Harbor Restaurant Row. One of the two new buildings is being constructed next door to the Asian-fusion Fisherman Jack’s restaurant and South Fork Baking Co. , which opened last year at Restaurant Row along Seiner Drive. The 12,000-square-foot building will soon be home to Rustic Cork Wine Bar , Menchie’s @ the Marina, Alexa’s Cafe and Tapped Public House . The other building will add another 6,000 square feet at the corner of Seiner and West Marine View drives near the city’s Grand Avenue Park Bridge. It will house The Net Sheds, a new fish-and-chips bar and fish market, with the balance of the building seeking a Mexican restaurant.

The port is forging forward on the next phase of development at the Millwright District — the second and largest phase of the Port of Everett’s Waterfront Place mixed-use project, totaling about 10 acres. The Millwright District, situated in the uplands between the port’s Central and North Docks, will feature 60,000+ square feet of new retail/restaurant space and 200,000+ square feet of commercial/office space, along with more than 250 residential units. The port’s development partner for this phase, Lincoln Properties, is anticipated to break ground in 2025.

Erik Gerking serves as the chief of Planning & Development at the Port of Everett, where he oversees a range of long-term planning efforts, environmental initiatives and real estate development projects. Dylan Frazer is a senior associate geologist in the environmental remediation group at Landau Associates supporting his public and private sector clients with environmental cleanup and compliance.

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