Published December 2000

Reid Middleton’s
‘unusual’ project

By John Wolcott
Herald Business Journal Editor

The transformation of a 320-acre dirt pile, rock quarry and cement plant facility in southwest Everett into the giant new Mountain View Business Centre has become one of Reid Middleton’s most unusual projects.

With Food Services of America as its anchor tenant, the business park marks the beginning of the end for the 50-year-old gravel pit. The site’s dirt has helped to create such landmarks as Seattle’s Kingdome, the Space Needle and Boeing’s 747/767/777 assembly plant in Everett, along with a multitude of freeway and highway projects.

CSR Associated, a global firm based in Australia, is the successor to Everett’s Associated Sand & Gravel, the business that began the quarry more than five decades ago. Now, CSR Associated is moving its mining operations to Granite Falls.

For several years, Reid Middleton, based in the new Quadrant I-5 Corporate Park in Everett, has been engineering a master plan for developing the site as a business park. Now, it’s managing the development of that plan for CSR Associated.

“This is a most unusual project, and the timing for the site’s development as a business park couldn’t be better,” said Wendell Johnson, Reid Middleton’s senior planner on the project.

The site is surrounded by the Boeing plant, the rapidly developing Seaway Center, Intracorp properties, high-tech companies such as Fluke Corp. and Intermec, plus a transportation network that includes I-5, SR 526, SR 525 and Highway 99. Both the Snohomish County Airport and the Port of Everett are close by.

“Utilities and other infrastructure are already at the site. All you have to do is connect them to the gravel site as it develops,” Johnson said.

The timing of the site’s transformation into a business park comes at a point when declining vacancy rates and rising costs in King County’s business properties are pushing high-tech, distribution and light manufacturing firms north into Snohomish County.

CSR and Reid Middleton executives, Everett Mayor Ed Hansen and the site’s marketers — Kidder Mathews & Segner in Bellevue — are jubilant over Mountain View Business Centre’s anchor tenant, Food Services of America.

Short on space at its Kent facility and hampered by freeway congestion, FSA opened its 200,000-square-foot, multimillion-dollar distribution center last May to serve restaurants, schools, military bases and other customers from north King County to the Canadian border.

Gary Odegard, FSA’s Director of Communications, said the company expects to increase its 200 employees at the Everett site to 800 as the facility ultimately expands to 500,000 square feet.

Snohomish County Economic Development Council Vice President Michael Cade said the site “is unique in the sense that they’re not taking open space” to promote growth.

Developing the master plan for the business park has been easier than expected because the city of Everett prepared a master environmental site plan to expedite permitting.

“The city was very good to work with, but we had to meet their criteria, too. One of the biggest issues was water management,” Johnson said. “We had to plan the redevelopment to match the new topography, with retention/detention ponds for water run-off in each of the three creek basins on the site.”

Another challenge has been working around CSR Associated’s continuing activities — a stream of cement and dump trucks — plus shipments of concrete pipe and other products while site development for business park tenants proceeds.

Still another hurdle was figuring how and where to build roads and utilities to connect to the roadways and water, sewer and power lines established around the gravel pit site, Johnson said.

Not all of the site will be developed for business. On the south side of the business park, CSR has donated a segment to the city of Everett for baseball fields and park land. Work on the first of the ball fields is under way.

The second phase of site development will involve 55 acres of land in the northwest part of the site, followed by development of 141 acres in the final phase, Johnson said.

Reid Middleton can be reached at 425-741-3800 or through its Internet site at www.reidmiddleton.com. Johnson can be reached by e-mail at wjohnson@reidmidd.com.

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