Published June 2001

Real Estate Briefs

Monroe OKs three-story buildings
in downtown
The Monroe City Council has passed an ordinance that allows maximum heights of 45 feet for buildings downtown. That means new construction can be as tall as three stories when the previous limit was two.

The city’s Planning Commission, which brought the ordinance to the council, had a public hearing at which comments were generally favorable, Councilman Marc Mechling said.

The ordinance allows three-story buildings on Main Street between Blakeley Street and Railroad Avenue, and on Lewis Street between McDougall Street and the Burlington Northern railroad tracks.

But the extra 10 feet in height comes with some requirements:

• Buildings may be the maximum height only if they have an exterior architectural design that reflects the turn-of-the-century, circa 1900 look.
• They also must meet the city’s mixed-use definition and have a street-level use that is retail, restaurant or entertainment.
• The ordinance also requires that at least 60 percent of the first floor exterior facade fronting Main Street or Lewis Street be transparent, using glass windows, for example.

Lowe’s plans store for Mill Creek area
Plans for a new Lowe’s Home Improvement Warehouse are moving ahead for a Mill Creek site on the Bothell-Everett Highway south of 132nd Street SE. Construction could begin by mid- to late summer on the 18-acre property.

The facility will include a 30,000-square-foot garden center, Lowe’s spokeswoman Suzanne McCoy said.

The store will occupy land now used in part by Advent Lutheran Church, which is under contract to sell the property to the company. Escrow has closed on two other parcels, one formerly owned by Quality Food Centers and one housing a Snohomish County PUD substation.

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