From Waterfront To Riverside, Riverfront To Urban Lakeshore Access – Everett Is Building (Sponsored Post)

When you look at a map of Everett, Washington you can’t help but notice the different types of waterfronts and their importance to the city.

In fact most of Everett is surrounded by water on three sides. From Possession Sound and Port Gardner Bay on the west, to the Snohomish River wrapping around the north end of the city and running east to historic Lowell.

In the south portion of the city, Silver Lake is 104 acres of freshwater with three parks. It offers opportunities for boating, swimming and fishing.

East of Everett, Spada Lake and Lake Chaplain provide some of the highest quality drinking water in North America, not only for City of Everett residents but also more than 640,000 people or about 75 percent of Snohomish County.

To the north and east of the Everett city limits more than 400 acres mark Spencer Island in the Snohomish River estuary. It’s a preserved habitat for more than two hundred species of birds including eagles, owls, falcons and waterfowl. It’s also home to Blue Heron Slough, more than 300 acres of saltwater estuary habitat and home to deer, cougars, ducks, frogs and soon salmon as a massive project is nearly complete, restoring the former strawberry fields and land drained by dikes back in the 1880s to its natural habitat for salmon, steelhead and bull trout. Spencer Island also offers an abundance of walking, hiking and kayaking opportunities just ten minutes from downtown Everett.

The City of Everett, the Port of Everett and public and private partnerships are balancing the need for jobs, housing, recreation, conservation and renewal around all of the many waterways in Everett, Washington.

Here are just a few examples.
 
Port of Everett South Terminal
In 2018 the Port of Everett began upgrading and modernizing the South Terminal. The project was completed in 2021 strengthening the 700-foot South Terminal wharf, acquiring and relocating two massive container cranes from the Port of Los Angeles. The electrical system at the dock was also upgraded to support future shore power to allow ships to plug in and reduce emissions. Here’s a YouTube Video of the virtual ribbon cutting held in January 2021.

 
Naval Station Everett
In June 2021 the Navy selected Naval Station Everett as the future homeport for a dozen new Constellation-class Frigates. They are expected to begin arriving in 2026 and will ensure the continued importance of Naval Station Everett to the U.S. Navy and bring continued investment as additional sailors and their families are shifted to our area to staff and support the twelve new ships. Naval Station Everett is already considered the greenest naval base in the country and is known throughout the Navy as “the sailor’s choice”.

 
Waterfront Place
A 1.5 million square foot mixed-use development located on 65 acres on the Everett waterfront. Here’s a brief description from the Port of Everett.
Spectacular views, waterfront access, recreational amenities and a world-class marina with over 2,300 slips and more than 5,000 linear feet of guest dock space. The development plans include 63,000 SF of retail and restaurant space, 447,500 SF of office, two hotels, 20,000 SF of marine retail and up to 660 waterfront homes including apartments, condominiums and/or town homes/lofts. To date, the project has facilitated more than $150 million in public/private investment, with even more investment and amenities on the horizon. Recent Port investments include more than $50 million in completed projects at the development’s Fisherman’s Harbor district. Click here to learn more about the five development districts that make up Waterfront Place.

 
Baywood Nature Trail
Just this week the Port of Everett opened the new Baywood Nature Trail. Following a decades-long clean up effort the Port and partners took the site of a former lumber mill and transformed it into a modern business complex surrounded by a public trail that offers spectacular views of Jetty Island, the mouth of the Snohomish River and Port Gardner Bay. Osprey nests dot the pilings and habitat is protected. The trail loops around the building and folds into the longer Mill Town Trail, a paved walk around the northern peninsula of Everett also connecting with the Millwright Loop trail stretching the length of the Everett waterfront.

 
Riverfront Redevelopment
With the completion of townhomes to the north and single family homes to the south, work has now started on the first two mixed-use buildings at the Riverfront development next to the Snohomish River east of Interstate 5 in Everett. This is the site of a former landfill which has undergone extensive remediation and is being monitored by the State Department of Ecology. These first two mixed-use buildings will support 333 residences and approximately 31,000 square feet of commercial, retail, business, and service uses. These buildings are taking advantage of a multi-family tax credit. The plan is to include 10% of the residences to households whose income is at or below 80% of the median income and 10% to households whose income is at or below 115% of the area median income adjusted for household size for Snohomish County. This is phase one of the project which is expected to be constructed in six phases. Occupancy of the first two buildings is expected next year. Also on tap at the Riverfront development will be a 3-acre city park developed by the City of Everett called Eclipse Park (in honor of the former Mill on the site) that will include a public dock/pier at the Snohomish River for all to enjoy.

 
Silver Lake Park Improvements and Walking Trail
Thornton A. Sullivan Park at Silver Lake in south Everett is celebrating its 100‐year anniversary. After recent approval from the Everett City Council work is expected to start this fall on a paved trail that stretches all around Silver Lake. The purpose of the Silver Lake trail project is to improve recreational opportunities and pathways around Silver Lake so people of all abilities can safely enjoy it by creating an accessible, connected recreational route all around the lake. This project will provide a continuous hard-surfaced, multi-use trail around Silver Lake that provides accessibility to all Everett community members. In addition the Everett City Council recently approved spending more than one million dollars to construct a new playground and upgrade playground equipment to current standards.

 
There are many other projects in and around the Everett waterways that will boost commerce, employment, recreation, opportunity and advance the quality of life in Everett, Washington.

Future projects include cleanup and repurposing multiple sites on Everett’s waterways such as the 24 acre former Nord Door-Jeld Wen site just south of Baywood, the Smith Island Railroad Terminal site, 55 acres at the south end of Smith Island and the 60 acre Everett Point Industrial Center (EPIC Green) right along the Snohomish River.

Everett is Building!

MyEverettNews.com is partnering with the City of Everett Office of Economic Development to present a series of articles based on the theme “Everett Is Building”. My EverettNews.com is responsible for the editorial content of these articles.