May 23, 2025

New architect plans hotel, housing, retail at former Molbak's site

Renderings by Urbal Architecture [enlarge]

The project would he phased over nine years.

Molbak's is dead and gone, its greenhouses and other buildings to be demolished in fast-densifying downtown Woodinville.

Green Partners LLC, associated with the family office for Bill Gates (Cascade Investment), has owned the 19-acre expanse since 2008. Molbak's had been since then a mere tenant.

The old redevelopment scheme, which would've relocated the main Molbak's garden store into a new mixed-use building, had been branded as the Gardens District. It proposed a possible 1,200 apartments, with retail, restaurants, etc. That plan emerged in early 2022. Molbak's closed last year, following an acrimonious dispute with Cascade.

The largely similar new plan is now dubbed Midtown Woodinville. The city has, through various commissions and committees, been weighing that proposal for the past several months. Its first public presentation, at a City Council meeting, came on Tuesday, as was then reported by Puget Sound Business Journal. The DJC's prior public records request with the city remains unanswered.

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The price tag? Cascade says $700 million.

At and around 13625 N.E. 175th St., the rebranded plan now includes an assisted-living facility, a 200-room hotel, 34 townhouses for the sales market and apartment buildings with ground-floor retail. Condos are mentioned, but not guaranteed. All residential components, including the senior housing, could reach 1,300 units.

Architects GGLO and Graham Baba are out. Urbal Architecture and landscape architect Hewitt are now leading the planning effort. Coughlin Porter Lundeen is attached as the engineer.

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Urbal Architecture and landscape architect Hewitt are now leading the planning effort. Coughlin Porter Lundeen is attached as the engineer.

Overall scale isn't much different. The old approved plan totaled about 1.7 million square feet, including open space and parking. The chief difference now is a drop in commercial space from about 400,000 square feet (including Molbak's) to a stated 89,000 square feet. However, that latter figure excludes the 179,365-square-foot hotel. Past SEPA filings mentioned a possible 2,500 parking stalls; the city now says 1,758.

All numbers are extremely fluid. One of Urbal's massing studies enumerates 55 townhouse units in six buildings, 1,067 rentals and 146 senior housing units.

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The plan includes an assisted-living facility, a 200-room hotel, 34 townhouses for the sales market and apartment buildings with ground-floor retail. Condos are mentioned, but not guaranteed.

With a kind of L-shaped layout, new streets and driveways would create seven small blocks, with the townhouses mostly clustered in the southeast dogleg — separated from the main development by Woodin Creek. The senior housing building would be north of that. The hotel would be on the northwest corner of the development.

Five phases of construction are proposed over nine years, with no declared start date. The city is preparing a new development agreement, similar to the old one. A minor new zoning amendment would allow ground-floor residential use. A prior SEPA determination of non-significance was issued; there may be some small amendments there, too. Woodinville, like Redmond, has been quite amenable to new midrise development downtown. Woodin Creek Village and the Schoolhouse District, still growing, have added hundreds of apartments to the area.

As before, LEED Gold certification will be sought for Midtown Woodinville. About 130 units would be affordable to households earning up to 80% of area median income. Most of the retail would be on the development's north side (175th) and central spine. Most of that would be restaurants and wine bars. About 4 acres of open space is envisioned.

Most all the buildings look to have five stories; townhouses would typically have three. Units would run from studios to three-beds. Some small amount pf live/work units is indicated. Structured parking seems likely, but isn't specified. (That's the model used at nearby Woodin Creek Village.) There would be limited street parking for shoppers. One old warehouse might be preserved and converted to new use.

Green Partners values Midtown Woodinville at a possible $700 million, with 3,000 future residents. No brand or operator is mentioned for the senior housing or hotel. Partners may emerge later — and for the apartments, too, since Green Partners/Cascade has no record as a developer. Sierra was previously attached to construct the old plan's initial building, with apartments over the Molbak's store. CBRE was then brokering the other retail space.