Published June 2005

Business Briefs

Red Robin opens in Monroe
Red Robin Gourmet Burgers has opened a restaurant in Monroe, the company’s 31st in Washington state.

The opening included a weeklong celebration from May 23 through 29, with 50 cents from every gourmet burger sold going to benefit the Monroe Fire Department. The money raised will go toward the purchase of new CPR manikins and education materials for the department’s community and child injury prevention programs.

The new 6,350-square-foot restaurant is located at 14797 N. Kelsey St., just east of the Galaxy Theater. It seats 202 guests, will employ more than 120 team members and is 100 percent smoke-free, the company said.

“Monroe is a vital, growing community, and we are honored to be supporting the Monroe Fire Department with our grand-opening activities,” said Mike Snyder, Red Robin president, chairman and chief executive officer.

First Tee of Snohomish County
opening celebration June 10
The opening of The First Tee of Snohomish County will be celebrated June 10 in Snohomish at the Lobo Ridge Golf Course, 12015 84th Street SE, a nine-hole, par 3, executive golf course and clubhouse a mile northeast of Highway 2 at the 88th St. SE exit.

As a new local charity formed to help provide access to golf for local youth, First Tee stresses golf principles and value, such as honesty, confidence, responsibility and respect, said board Secretary Jeff Cornish.

The First Tee chapter, a division of the nonprofit World Golf Foundation, will reach young people across the county. Through partnerships with local youth agencies, area schools, churches, recreational departments and other community groups, hundreds of young people will benefit from The First Tee Life Skills Experience, a curriculum created by a team of youth development experts to teach life skills through the game of golf.

The First Tee has opened more than 200 golf-learning facilities and introduced golf to more than 450,000 young people.

Contact Jeff Cornish at 425-9527 or visit www.grassrootsjrgolf.org.

Mackenzie Castings bought
by two of its employees
Two longtime employees of Arlington-based Mackenzie Castings LLC have bought the 28-year-old foundry from Dorothy Nerison, the woman who kept the business afloat for two decades after its founder died.

Tony Cooper, the new majority owner, and Steve Greene officially took over ownership from Nerison in May. Cooper, who previously was the company’s vice president, has worked at Mackenzie Castings since 1981. Greene, who was operations and technical manager, has been there since 1983.

Nerison, 69, is a former teacher and real estate agent who said she never intended to operate a foundry, but she took over after the 1985 death of her husband, Roy Mackenzie, who founded the company in 1977 on the northeast side of Arlington Airport. She also served as the first woman on the board of directors of the American Foundry Society.

New MacGregor directory
MacGregor Publishing Co. has entered the south Snohomish County market with its new South Snohomish County Directory, recently mailed to homes and businesses in Lynnwood, Edmonds, Mill Creek, Bothell, Mountlake Terrace, Woodway and Brier. The south county “Plaid Book” follows publication of the North Snohomish County and Everett directories.

World Wrapps opens
in the Village at Alderwood
World Wrapps has opened a new location in the Village at Alderwood in Lynnwood. World Wrapps offers a variety of gourmet “meals” wrapped in flavorful tortillas. Its goal is to deliver a delicious, healthy alternative to traditional fast food. To learn more about World Wrapps call 425-774-9727 or visit its Internet site at www.worldwrapps.com.

Phoenix Savings Bank
changes name, opens new office
Lynnwood-based Phoenix Savings Bank has changed its name to Pacific Crest Savings Bank and opened a lending office in Lake Tahoe, Nev., said John Fairchild, chairman and CEO.

“Our 20th anniversary was a great time for a change, and it was clear that the name Phoenix just didn’t reflect who we are,” Fairchild said. “We originally chose the name to represent our rising from the ashes of an earlier mortgage company, but in the minds of many consumers and Realtors, we were an out-of-state bank.”

The name Pacific Crest was chosen after a lengthy process, which included meeting with employees, clients and referral sources, he said. Fairchild said Lake Tahoe’s booming real estate market presents exciting opportunities.

Pacific Crest Savings Bank has nearly $100 million in assets, making it the 20th largest savings bank in Washington, with nearly 100 employees in Seattle, Lynnwood and Bellevue, plus a mortgage lending office in Stateline, Nev., and construction lending offices in Tacoma and Lynnwood. For more information, visit online at www.pacificcrestbank.com.

UW Bothell open to freshmen
beginning in 2006
The University of Washington branch campus in Bothell will begin admitting freshmen in fall 2006 under a bill signed into law by the governor in May.

It is one of three branch campuses — typically open only to juniors, seniors and graduate students — to gain four-year college status. The others are UW Tacoma and Washington State University’s Vancouver, Wash., campus.

The shift aims to avert a pending enrollment crisis as the state’s overcrowded research universities turn students away. The Bothell campus will be allowed to admit 125 lower-division students starting in 2006.

The school plans to start with 75 freshmen, mirroring the 75-student growth it will be allowed each year for upper-division courses. Some of those students will come through dual-enrollment agreements the college will create with Cascadia and Shoreline community colleges. The new plans will allow students to simultaneously take both lower- and upper-division classes.

Agreements with other community colleges, including Everett Community College, would be added later. Under the new law, the branch campus can directly admit freshmen and sophomores only to lower-division courses not already offered at local community colleges.

Ten acres sold on
Bothell Everett Highway
Towne or Country Real Estate, a Marysville commercial real estate office, reports that Pryde Enterprises LLC has acquired 10 acres on the Bothell Everett Highway for $4.5 million. Located adjacent to the Mill Creek city limits, the land is zoned for multi-family housing and neighborhood businesses.

Pryde Enterprises LLC is constructing 79 detached condominium units on the property, along with 28 units immediately south of the newly acquired parcels. Nathan Chapman of Towne or Country Real Estate represented the owners.

Lynnwood Convention Center
selects audio-visual provider
Seattle-based Audio Visual Factory has been selected to be the in-house preferred audiovisual services provider to the Lynnwood Convention Center. The new 55,000-square-foot facility, which opened in late April, provides meeting and exhibition space for local, regional and national events.

Audio Visual Factory will maintain an office and staff on site to provide audiovisual equipment and technical support to clients and the community, company officials said.

“Our company is excited to be partnering with a facility that residents of Western Washington have chosen as the ‘Best New Building.’ We look forward to assisting in the advancement of technology within the region as well as to developing an even greater presence within the Lynnwood area,” President Steve Barr said.

Lawsuit tossed out against
Providence medical center
A lawsuit by neighbors fighting Providence Everett Medical Center’s $400 million expansion plan was tossed out on a technicality in May.

The lawsuit by Everett Neighbors for Responsible Growth was filed improperly and too late, Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Thomas Wynne ruled. The neighborhood group was seeking to reverse the Everett City Council’s March 16 approval of the hospital plans and review of the process.

The group also wanted to halt demolition of 21 historic homes owned by the hospital. But notice of the lawsuit wasn’t filed until April 7, the day after the group received the official resolution from the Everett City Clerk’s office, according to a lawyer for the neighborhood group. The suit was supposed to be filed by April 6 — 21 days from the City Council’s action, Wynne said.

Tulalip Tribes to support new Boeing pier
The Tulalip Tribes have agreed not to block construction of a new pier in Everett to handle Boeing Co. jet parts.

Tribal Chairman Stan Jones said in a statement May 12 that the tribes will provide a letter of support for the pier to the Army Corps of Engineers, which was withholding a key permit for the project until tribal officials indicated they would back it. The announcement ended two years of negotiations.

The agreement allows the Port of Everett to quickly seek bids for construction of the pier, initially estimated to cost $15.5 million. The state agreed to pay for the pier as part of a deal with Boeing to build the new 787 Dreamliner in Everett. Many parts for the new plane, as well as for other models, will be built overseas and shipped to the Everett plant.

Reaching agreement in May was essential so the port could select a builder and get the work done from November to February, when underwater work won’t harm young salmon.

Without the agreement, the work would have been delayed a year, according to port officials, adding that the project now will likely cost an additional $5 million for a variety of reasons, including the rising cost of steel, a $600,000 deal to reduce train noise made with Mukilteo residents so they wouldn’t hold things up in court, and expenses for the tribal deal. The Tulalips, Swinomish and Suquamish tribes all claim the area as part of their usual and accustomed fishing grounds.

Compass Health drop-in center reopens
An Everett drop-in center for mentally ill and homeless adults, closed in January due to budget woes, reopened May 9, Compass Health officials said.

The center, at 3322 Broadway, first opened in 2000. It provided stability and a kind of familiar second home to people with serious mental illnesses such as severe depression, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder by offering hot meals and a place to hang out.

The community rallied to support the center when it closed in January. Two donations of $30,000 each came from the EverTrust Foundation and Snohomish County’s Mental Health Advisory Board. The city of Everett made a $3,000 donation.

A fund-raising event in March at the Historic Everett Theatre, attended by about 300 people, raised $22,000, including a $1,000 contribution from actor Jack Nicholson. The event was a tribute to Dr. Dean Brooks, a longtime member of the Compass Health board, who met Nicholson as a cast member in the 1975 movie “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.”

The contributions guarantee that the drop-in center can remain open for 16 months, said Terry Clark, a development director for the mental health agency. However, it will operate on a pared-down budget of $63,000. It will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday. It will have some limited meal service, but will not be able to offer the hot breakfasts and lunches it did before.

Cascade Bank opens
new Silver Lake branch
The newest branch of Cascade Bank opened for business in May at 10524 19th Ave. SE in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Everett, the bank’s 17th office.

“Adding new branches is an important part of Cascade’s growth strategy,” said President and CEO Carol Nelson.

Turi Jess, former branch manager of Cascade Bank’s Issaquah branch, will serve as vice president and branch manager of the new Silver Lake branch, with a team that includes Deborah Morey, assistant manager; Edward Chea, senior financial services representative; and Kathy O’Brien, financial services representative.

Naval Station Everett to remain open
Local leaders in May learned that Naval Station Everett and other Puget Sound-area installations were not on the Pentagon’s list of military bases to be closed.

“The list is out. And Naval Station Everett is not only the sailor’s choice, it’s the Pentagon’s choice for the future of the Navy,” Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., said May 13, the day Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld released the base-closure list in Washington, D.C.

The list does recommend closing the Army Reserve Center in Everett, if the Army can find land to build a new facility in the Everett area. National Guard troops from Everett and Snohomish would move to the new reserve center if Washington state agrees to relocate those troops.

Cocoon House within $300,000
of reaching fund-raising goal
Cocoon House is now within $300,000 of reaching its $4.2 million fund-raising campaign goal to build two new shelters in Snohomish County to help homeless teenagers. The money must be raised by June 30. The Kresge Foundation, based in Troy, Mich., has promised to donate $200,000 if $300,000 can be raised locally by the June deadline.

The nonprofit organization, which provides emergency shelter, housing and help for homeless teens, first announced a goal in February 2003 to open shelters in north and east Snohomish County.

A site has been found in Arlington to build one of the two planned shelters. The planned 13,000-square-foot building, at 525 Highland Drive, would house eight homeless teens, said Petrina Lin, spokeswoman for Cocoon House. No specific site has been found for the shelter planned for the Skykomish Valley. It is expected to open in 2008.

The two shelters would allow Cocoon House to serve 300 more youths each year, tripling its current capacity. For more information, go online to www.cocoonhouse.org.

Edward Jones ranks high
in customer satisfaction
Financial services company Edward Jones has been ranked first in J.D. Power and Associates’ annual survey of customer satisfaction among full-service investors, according to Eric Cumley, an Edward Jones investment representative in Everett.

“I’m thrilled about our placement on the J.D. Power and Associates ranking,” Cumley said. “We are committed to providing the highest level of service to our clients.”

The ranking, released as the “2005 Full-Service Investor Satisfaction Study,” was based on responses from more than 6,600 investors who primarily invest with one of the 20 firms in the study.

John L. Scott ranks eighth
in productivity nationally
Following John L. Scott Real Estate’s most successful year in its 74-year history, the Pacific Northwest-based company recently was ranked the eighth most productive independent real estate company in the nation by two national real estate surveys, issued by REAL Trends and National Relocation and Real Estate magazine, both national real estate trade publications.

Jobless rate drops to 4.5 percent
The unemployment rates in Snohomish County at the end of April continued to improve as the economy recovers, dropping to 4.5 percent from 5.2 percent in March.

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