Published January 2004

New Wal-Mart? Speculation brews

By Eric Fetters
Herald Business Writer

A Seattle-based development firm that has represented Wal-Mart on other projects has applied to build a large retail store along Highway 99 in south Everett, stoking rumors that Wal-Mart is coming to the neighborhood.

A land-use application filed with the city of Everett calls for a new 146,000-square-foot store along the west side of the highway, between 112th Street SW and Center Road. Two smaller retail structures also are proposed at the site.

If the application is approved, construction on the large store would begin in spring. The size listed for the store is nearly identical to the Wal-Mart built in Quil Ceda Village, on the Tulalip Reservation west of Marysville.

The application, which calls for dividing more than 21 acres of land into four separate retail parcels, doesn’t mention Wal-Mart by name. But the applicant, PacLand, has represented Wal-Mart projects before, including in the Puget Sound area.

Since last spring, residents and business owners along Highway 99 in south Everett have heard rumors that Wal-Mart was moving into the neighborhood. One businessman said he’d seen detailed plans for the new store.

The speculation brewed after an interested buyer put down earnest money with several different property owners.

Dave Nelson of Towne or Country Real Estate said he expects the sale of the property to be completed in 2004, although he’s bound by a confidentiality agreement from talking further about the transaction.

Amy Hill, a spokeswoman for Wal-Mart Stores Inc., didn’t confirm any plans for a store along Highway 99.

“There’s nothing to talk about in Everett at this point,” Hill said.

A representative with PacLand in Seattle could not be reached for comment.

Much of the acreage being considered for the retail project is vacant or undeveloped, with the exception of an older mobile home park. John Peehl, owner of Mr. 99 & Associates commercial real estate firm, said he has heard that the land’s buyer may offer compensation to residents of that park.

Peehl, who previously tried to interest Wal-Mart in building along Highway 99, is touting the coming store in his marketing of nearby properties.

Wal-Mart’s only other stores in Snohomish County are at the Quil Ceda Village location and on 164th Street SW in Lynnwood. But reports about the retailer’s interest in other local sites circulate regularly.

Duane Bowman, development services director for the city of Edmonds, said in a meeting in November that Wal-Mart reportedly had looked at the former Kmart shopping center in that city during 2002, but decided against building a store there. An undeveloped retail site along 132nd Street SE east of Mill Creek also has been mentioned as a possible candidate for a Wal-Mart outlet.

Meanwhile, the company has started adding more than 70,000 square feet to its Quil Ceda store. Once the addition is finished this year, it will become the first Wal-Mart Supercenter, offering a full selection of groceries, in the Seattle-Tacoma -Everett area.

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