Published May 2001

Affordable Navy housing
on its way

By Kimberly Hilden
Herald Business Journal Assistant Editor

This fall, Navy families in Snohomish County will begin moving into a new housing development designed to fit their needs.

The 288 single-family attached townhomes, ranging from two-bedroom to four-bedroom units, will include oversized garages suited for a military family’s additional storage requirements. There will be a community center, tot lots, picnic areas, multi-use courts, open space and a nature trail for recreational activities.

And best of all, the sailors and their families will be offered rental rates that will enable them to use their housing allowance provided by the military without out-of-pocket expenses.

It’s all part of Carroll’s Creek Landing, a public-private venture between Gateway Everett LLC and the U.S. Navy, which broke ground in early March and is expected to take 15 months to complete, with the first families moving in this fall.

“This project is going to be a great benefit for Navy families,” Capt. Kim Buicke of Naval Station Everett said during the groundbreaking ceremony. He added that finding affordable, quality housing has been one of the naval station’s greatest challenges.

Under the terms of a 30-year agreement, Gateway Everett and the Navy will develop, operate and jointly own the homes on a 58-acre site north of 172nd Street NE off 25th Avenue NE near Smokey Point, according to Gateway officials. Thirty-eight of those acres have been designated as wetlands, leaving 20 acres for the development.

The Navy will contribute nearly $19 million to the $43 million development cost to buy military priority in rentals and to subsidize below-market rents, putting $12 million into the development up front and another $6.7 million over the next 15 years in rent subsidy payments. The townhomes will remain rental property for at least 15 years, and perhaps 30.

Kirtley-Cole Associates Inc. of Snohomish is the general contractor on Carroll’s Creek Landing, which is the second Navy housing project the design-build firm has worked on. The first, Country Manor in Smokey Point, was completed in 1997 and included 185 rent-to-own condominiums.

By the time Carroll’s Creek Landing is completed, the project will have provided more than $6 million in taxes and development impact fees for local, county and state government, said Dan Lund, President of Maryland-based Gateway Development Group, the parent company of Gateway Everett.

Pinnacle Realty Management Co. of Seattle will manage the complex.

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