Published March 2004

A city on the move
Business, tourism, retail projects
set direction for growth

Snohomish County Business Journal/ JOHN WOLCOTT Lynnwood Mayor Mike McKinnon (left) and Economic Development Director David Kleitsch discuss the “city center” project that would include mixed-use, higher-density development.

By John Wolcott
SCBJ Editor

Lynnwood is on the move, preparing for its dynamic new role in Snohomish County’s economy.

After decades as primarily a residential area overshadowed by the giant Alderwood Mall, this 7.7-square-mile community — conveniently located at the nexus of I-5 and I-405 — is about to become a powerful magnet for new businesses, new jobs and new convention, entertainment and shopping experiences.

“I’m fortunate to be able to continue building on much of the work my predecessor, Mayor Tina Roberts-Martinez, began,” said Lynnwood Mayor Mike McKinnon, who has grabbed the torch as a catalyst to guide the economic development of the city’s future.

Working with the City Council and Economic Development Director David Kleitsch, McKinnon has assembled a roster of major economic events that will impact Lynnwood’s future, events that are already under way.

Within the next 18 months, Lynnwood expects to celebrate numerous events, including:

• Completion of a $50 million expansion of the Alderwood Mall — making it perhaps the largest mall in the state, with 170 businesses, including Nordstrom, Bon-Macy’s, J.C. Penney, Sears and a 16-screen movie theater.
• Opening of a 55,000-square-foot, two-story, brick-and-glass, $32 million convention center on 196th Street SW, one of the city’s major commercial arterials.
• Finishing the $64 million Lynnwood Transit Center and new HOV links to I-5.
• Promoting further business development along Highway 99 now that its three-phase, $33.5 million widening to seven lanes is complete from the Snohomish County line to Everett.
• Dedicating its new Heritage Park, featuring the restored historic Wicker grocery and post office, which will become a tourism center for the city.
• Completing an economic development plan for the city that includes a 20-year plan to create a mixed-use city core with buildings as tall as 20 stories.

At the same time, in anticipation of future growth, Lynnwood is reviewing its special-permit ordinances to increase the city’s competitiveness and flexibility for businesses’ marketing promotions and streamlining business license approvals and renewals.

“We’ve heard from developers who have looked at the I-5 corridor from Everett to Tacoma that when the economy turns around, Lynnwood will be ready to burst. We have freeway access, a friendly business atmosphere and projects under way that have the potential to provide this city with one of the quickest economy recoveries in the whole area,” McKinnon said.

As the region begins coming out of its economic doldrums this year, Lynnwood officials believe its new growth, improved infrastructure and expanding business community will be highly attractive to new businesses and residents, particularly as King County’s scarce land and high real estate prices help drive growth northward into Lynnwood.

Already, Cypress Semiconductor has moved into a new $11 million building on 164th Street SW as the first tenant in the new Opus Northpointe Corporate Campus. The San Jose, Calif.-based electronics company consolidated its Bothell and Woodinville facilities, bringing 150 employees to the Lynnwood site.

Downtown, the Sparling Technology Center building near City Hall and the Cosmos Lynnwood Center near the Fisher Building have expanded the city’s available Class A office space, ready for the possibility of attracting King County businesses or new vendors and partners on Boeing’s 7E7 project a few miles north at Paine Field.

Snohomish County Business Journal/ JOHN WOLCOTT The Cosmos Lynnwood Center, a recent addition to the city, has expanded the area’s available Class A office space.

With more than 3,000 businesses in the city, further growth will create a significantly stronger economic center in south Snohomish County, to the benefit of Lynnwood’s 34,000 population. The city’s enhancements and an improving economy should provide new jobs for present residents, as well as enticing many of the 100,000 people who drive through Lynnwood each day for work in Seattle and King County.

The city’s plans to develop a core area of the community near I-5 as a “city center” is expected to provide 14,000 new jobs in that area over the next two decades, with the stimulus of a new skyline of five- to 25-story buildings that will dwarf today’s tallest structure, the Fisher Building near the Alderwood Mall.

Tourism and convention revenues also are expected to increase, creating new jobs in those sectors as well. Until now, convention business has been limited to facilities at some of the city’s hotels, particularly Embassy Suites, but the new convention center will add Lynnwood’s name to the roster of local spaces able to handle large conferences.

“None of the local hotels have meeting space this large, so we won’t be taking business away from local hotels,” said Grant Dull, executive director of the Lynnwood Public Facilities District, which is developing the new convention center. “In fact, it’s just the opposite — the larger conventions that normally wouldn’t come to Lynnwood now will, and people will stay at local hotels.”

To McKinnon, Kleitsch and many others, Lynnwood’s current growth pace began with a convergence of the right mixture of projects, ripe economic conditions and strong support from residents, the business community and government agencies. Poised for explosive growth over the next 20 years, Lynnwood’s success will be measured by its leadership role and community involvement, McKinnon said.

“Instead of Lynnwood just following a natural flow of development as the economy improves, we want the city to become a leader and a catalyst for the right kind of growth in south Snohomish County,” he said.

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