Published March 2005

Real Estate Briefs

Port of Everett OKs sale
of Riverside Industrial Park
The Port of Everett agreed to sell its Riverside Industrial Park for $24 million in February to a California firm planning to build a modern sawmill.

Sierra Pacific Industries agreed to buy 106.8 acres of the property for $11.18 million and to pay $256,400 on an option to buy the remaining 54 acres later for $12.82 million.

The company plans to spend $60 million to $100 million building a sawmill designed to work with smaller logs. In addition, it will use the wood waste to create 25 megawatts of electricity, 7 megawatts that will power mill operations and 18 megawatts that can be sold on the open market. A megawatt provides enough power for about 1,000 homes.

The 200 direct jobs will pay an average of $17.80 an hour and include full benefits, said Eric Russell, the port’s property and development manager.

Red Emerson, president of Sierra, said he expected to have the construction permits within three to six months.

Pacific Ridge Homes donates
to Fred Hutchinson center
Pacific Ridge Homes recently presented the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center with a check for $70,000.

The donation came from the Building for Today — Building for Tomorrow program that the Everett-based home developer instituted early last year. The program generates a $1,000 donation from the purchase of each home in a community where construction has yet to begin. Homeowners in Pacific Ridge communities designated the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center as the recipient of these contributions.

For more information about Pacific Ridge Homes, visit www.pacificridgehomes.com or call 425-438-8444.

Home prices up 13 percent,
number of new listings still down
Median prices for home sales in Snohomish County were up 13 percent in January over the same month in 2004, selling at $254,100 compared to $225,000 a year ago, according to the latest data released by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service.

During January, 946 homes sold compared to 912 homes a year earlier, for a 3.73 percent increase in closed sales.

Pending sales of homes and condominiums in January were up 15.48 percent over a year ago, from 1,021 in January 2004 to 1,179.

However, new home and condo listings during January dropped 18.67 percent, from 1,960 listings a year ago to 1,867 coming into the marketplace in January. Overall listings, old and new, totaled 4,054 a year ago but only 3,297 in January’s total.

County to offer building permits online
A number of Snohomish County building permits are going online in March, a development which County Executive Aaron Reardon says will make working with the county more convenient, more efficient and less costly.

The county is joining MyBuildingPermit.com, a Web site owned and managed by several cities in King and Snohomish counties that have pooled resources to provide online permitting services.

The Snohomish County Department of Planning and Development Services will offer residential mechanical, residential plumbing and re-roof permits via the Internet. Licensed contractors and homeowners will be able to apply for a permit online, pay permit fees and obtain the permit without having to fax, e-mail, or mail the document to Planning and Development Services.

“Our goal is to ‘go live’ with online permitting at the end of the first quarter of 2005,” said Craig Ladiser, director of Planning and Development Services.

The project is being sponsored by Ladiser; Bob von Wolffradt, director of the county’s Department of Information Services; and Snohomish County Treasurer Bob Dantini. MyBuildingPermit.com is managed by eCityGov Alliance, a group of nine cities in King and Snohomish counties.

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