Snohomish County Business Journal


YOUR COUNTY.	YOUR BUSINESS JOURNAL.

Published March 2003

Tourists expected to flock
to Paine Field flight center

Snohomish County Business Journal/JOHN WOLCOTT
The popular Museum of Flight at Boeing Field will be the operator of the new $21.7 million National Flight Interpretive Center at Paine Field, displaying restored aircraft and aviation history in an environment that may be similar to this interior view of the Seattle facility.

By John Wolcott
SCBJ Editor

Tourism in Snohomish County is about to get a boost from construction of the $21.7 million, 63,650-square-foot National Flight Interpretive Center at Paine Field — a Public Facilities District project proposed for development and ownership by Snohomish County.

The PFD public portion of the facility will house an aviation museum, conference center, gift store and educational space, while the private portion will be leased to the Boeing Co. for operation of their Boeing Tour Center. The Museum of Flight in Seattle has been selected as operator of the public portion of the NFIC.

Following a Feb. 26 public hearing, the Snohomish County Council is expected to consider issuing General Obligation bonds to fund the project.

Bill Lewallen, deputy airport director, said, “The Architectural Planning and Design Team of Freiheit & Ho (the lead architect) and Merritt+Pardini (the design architect) has been chosen to make the NFIC facility an attractive and entertaining tourist destination in Snohomish County.”

Lewallen said the county is preparing to select a construction management firm in time to add a general contractor’s perspective to the design process and to oversee construction of the facility in 2004.

The tours at the Everett 747/ 767/777 assembly plant are consistently ranked as the most popular local tourism activity, with 75 percent of the visitors coming from outside the county, an indication of how appealing the new facility should be with the tour center co-located with the NFIC.

“The NFIC will add nearly $3.5 million in tourism dollars annually, with 200,000 visitors expected the first year, compared to 100,000 annual visitors to the current Boeing Tour Center,” said Dave Waggoner, director of the airport.

Ralph Bufano, CEO of the Museum of Flight, said, “The museum has wanted to have a bigger presence in Snohomish County for the past 10 years, but it never materialized. … This sounds very exciting, partnering with Boeing and the county is just wonderful.”

Among the attractions at the new NFIC will be:

Aircraft and aviation history displays.
An education center for students.
A restaurant, gift shop, meeting rooms and a theater.
Views of runway flight activity at Paine Field just as the Museum of Flight offers at Boeing Field.
Tours of the Boeing 747/767/777 assembly plant from the center.
Future construction of a 110-room hotel.

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