Everett City Council Votes To Move Forward With Riverfront Project At Former Landfill

Back in 2009 the site of a former landfill between Interstate 5 and the Snohomish River through the heart of Everett, Washington was envisioned as a major retail center with big box stores including a rumored Ikea and major cinema complex.

There was no real housing set for that portion of the area. Instead the housing was designated to fill in the areas north and south of the project site.

Fast forward 10 years and there are townhouses to the north and single family homes to the south. (It should be noted the number of housing units in those areas is less than envisioned in 2009)

As far as the landfill site there are now no big box stores planned but instead a movie theatre, a specialty grocer and 1250 housing units set six floors high. The ground floor would be retail with five floors of housing above. Future plans include the possibility of a hotel and medical clinic.

Overall 2700 parking spaces would be available to both residents and those patronizing businesses, watching movies, eating at restaurants or enjoying outdoor amenities at the site.

Tonight both the developers and the city council shared an urgency in getting the first phase of the Riverfront Project underway as soon as possible.

Here is our story from January of this year including a Q+A about the project with Shelter Holdings, the project developer.

You can click here to see all 102 pages of the amendment agreement approved by the city council. The vote by the city council was unanimous.