Published February 2004

Hospitality & Meetings Briefs

Housing agency drops takeover action against Everett Inn
The Housing Authority of Snohomish County has abandoned its effort to take over the Everett Inn by eminent domain.

In late January, the agency withdrew a petition it filed Jan. 2 in Snohomish County Superior Court seeking to force a sale of the south Everett motel, said Bob Davis, the housing authority’s executive director. The agency had planned to use the motel for housing and social services for homeless families.

“All of the reaction we’re getting is that people are very uncomfortable with the idea of using eminent domain to acquire housing,” Davis said.

The housing authority will almost surely not resort to eminent domain again in the foreseeable future, he said. “I cannot conceive of a situation in which the housing authority would exercise that power,” he said.

The housing authority offered property owners Jong Gil and Hyun Sook Kim $1.6 million for the motel, which is what a private appraiser hired by the housing authority estimated as its worth. However, the county Assessor’s Office valued the property at more than $2.4 million in 2002.

The housing authority will now begin looking at other motels in the county that it could use to assist homeless families, Davis said.

The Everett Inn would have housed about 30 families, some of them in emergency housing for several weeks and others in subsidized apartments for a longer term as they transitioned toward independent living. The YWCA would have managed the building.

Kim last year offered to sell the housing authority the motel for $2.4 million, but the housing authority hired a Seattle appraisal firm that valued the motel at $1.6 million. When Kim would not lower his asking price, the housing authority went to court.

Highway 9 Casino opens in Lake Stevens area
The Highway 9 Casino has opened just south of Frontier Village in the Lake Stevens area, the first minicasino on the east side of the U.S. 2 trestle in Snohomish County.

Randy Williams, general manager and part-owner of the new casino, said he thinks there’s an untapped market in Lake Stevens and surrounding areas. Those residents wanting to play blackjack or poker have had to travel into Everett to find the nearest minicasino.

“We’ve done market studies of the area, and we think this will be positive for us,” said Williams, who is part of a partnership called One Eyed Jack’s Business Development LLC.

Williams previously was part-owner of Big Al’s Casino in south Everett until September 2002. That’s when he and his partners sold that business, now called the Great American Casino, to Great Canadian Gaming Corp.

Highway 9 Casino will include a restaurant and full bar, as well as five tables for poker and 10 tables featuring other card games. As with other minicasinos, technically known as house-banked card rooms, no slot machines will be allowed.

Williams plans to hire about 100 employees, which will help keep the restaurant open around the clock. By law, gaming activities will be limited to 20 hours each day.

Lynnwood PFD cuts check for Video Only property
In January, the Lynnwood Public Facilities District board authorized a $960,000 payment for an embattled piece of property that is to be part of the city’s new $31 million convention center project.

The move followed the Jan. 6 decision by the state Supreme Court, which refused to hear property owner Video Only’s final appeal of previous decisions that supported the PFD’s right to take over the land at a fair price.

The location in dispute is on 196th Street SW just west of I-5. Video Only moved to a new site on Alderwood Mall Parkway on the other side of I-5 late in 2003, but still owned the other property.

It’s hoped the deal closes the chapter on an 18-month battle between the electronics store and the district, which has plans to demolish the building.

The planned Lynnwood Convention Center is expected to bring more than 40,000 people a year to the city and generate $9 million to $13 million in additional revenue from tourists.

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