Published January 2005

Around the County

New visitor center for Sky Valley
A new Visitors Information Center is in the works for Sultan and the rest of the Sky Valley in east Snohomish County. Located at Fourth and Main Street in Sultan, the building that will house the center was purchased through a grant applied for by the city of Sultan and the Sky Valley Chamber of Commerce. When it opens — the target date for opening is March 2005 — the center will include a transportation interpretive center, visitor brochures, Internet access and business information. Debbie Copple, a member and volunteer of the chamber for the past 18 years, recently was selected to be the center’s director.

University Book Store opens
The University Book Store has opened in Mill Creek Town Center. The store at the corner of 153rd Street SE and Main Street opened in early December, just in time for the holiday rush. The 16,000-square-foot store, which carries books as well as University of Washington paraphernalia, also includes a coffee bar with tables, seats and couches surrounding a fireplace. Free wireless Internet access will be offered in that area, said Bryan Pearce, chief executive of the Seattle-based book retailer. He added that the new location, the ninth in the chain, also will carry some Washington State University attire and gifts.

Shopping center permit
applied for in Arlington
A permit application has been filed with the city of Arlington for a major 203,818-square-foot shopping center development on 172nd Street NE, a few blocks east of the Smokey Point I-5 interchange. The application names no specific brand-name tenants but includes plans for a retail center than includes “a discount retail store selling general consumer merchandise including household ... goods, hardware, electronics, auto goods, kitchen ware, sporting goods” and other merchandise. An in-house garden center and a tire-and-oil change store will also be included. Development of the 23.3-acre site is being planned by Pacific Northwest Developments of Tacoma.

Romano’s Macaroni Grill
opens at Alderwood
Romano’s Macaroni Grill entered the Washington restaurant market with the Dec. 6 opening of its location at Alderwood mall. The newly constructed restaurant brings more than 170 jobs and $3 million in capital investment to the Lynnwood area, according to Waterloo Restaurant Ventures, the restaurant’s franchisee. In addition to the existing restaurants in the Portland metro area and Boise, the Vancouver, Wash.-based franchisee is securing long-term leases to further expand into the Pacific Northwest market. Plans call for seven to eight restaurants to be opened in the Portland and Seattle metro areas by the end of 2005.

SonoSite donates to Iraqi hospital
SonoSite Inc. of Bothell has donated one of its hand-carried ultrasound units to a civilian hospital in Iraq. The device was included in a shipment of medical supplies delivered by the U.S. Army in December to a hospital in Haweja, about 30 miles west of Kirkuk, Iraq. SonoSite’s original hand-carried device was developed in 1999 with help from defense research money.

Everett Events Center
in running for award
The Everett Events Center recently was nominated for Best New Major Concert Venue of the Year by trade publication Pollstar Magazine. The 10,000-seat arena is competing against the 20,000-seat Fed Ex Forum in Memphis, Tenn., and the 20,000-seat Glendale Arena in Glendale, Ariz. Pollstar will announce the winner as part of its 16th annual Concert Industry Awards on Feb. 4 in Los Angeles.

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