Published November 2004

Concept of urban village
put to test in mixed-use
Newberry Square project

Snohomish County Business Journal/JOHN WOLCOTT Newberry Square is an innovative, mixed-use development on the west side of I-5 at the Ash Way and 164th Street SW intersection near Lynnwood.

Urban villages are a concept making the news lately. Public hearings with neighborhood groups around the 128th Street exit off I-5 recently were all about the possibilities of designing and zoning for an urban village there.

Few know what an urban village is beyond a general sense you get from combining the words “urban” and “village,” so it’s worth some time to take a closer look. That might be best done by looking at a textbook example of one that just opened in south Snohomish County.

Newberry Square is a mixed-use development of multi-family, retail and office space on the west side of I-5 at the Ash Way and 164th Street SW intersection near Lynnwood. Like other urban village concepts, all three of these different uses are designed into the same development package, creating a more dense, but customer-friendly, urban village feeling.

Planning developments like Newberry Square allows more to be developed where transportation, utilities and other infrastructure are already located. Developers like the idea as it allows them to create more income on the same parcel.

One developer took a shine to the Lynnwood location early on. Larry Sundquist, a well-known name in home and condominium development in Snohomish County, made the urban village plunge. Newberry Square opens this month. Sundquist’s timing was tied to the expansion of the existing park-and-ride and an I-5 commuter overpass.

Sundquist feels that urban villages are about more than just the economics: “Densities can be planned sensibly so no one feels overcrowded. From the customer’s standpoint, having retail right on site makes for a great living situation.”

Retailers see a built-in grouping of customers in the multi-family apartments, so they find the urban village concept appealing as well. It’s the perfect complement. And just enough office space is designed in to support that need with a potential employment base living in the same complex.

Newberry Square has some unique advantages as an urban village. Sundquist designed a quality product that nicely blends in 123 units of apartments with about 30,000 square feet of office and 22,000 square feet of retail to create a comfortable presentation and flow with complimentary parking, territorial views and on-site amenities.

Property Manager Sherry King, of Coast Real Estate Services, offered this perspective: “Newberry Square is more than just a place to live. We’re offering people the kind of lifestyle that, until now, has only been offered in more urban settings. I’m really proud to be involved with it.”

Another advantage Newberry Square has is its location — ideally located for commutes in either direction of I-5. Yet getting to the Eastside is also possible from Newberry by jumping on I-405 at the next exit to the south.

With the new park-and-ride and express lane overpass at the Lynnwood/Mill Creek exit, it’s possible for residents of Newberry Square to walk to their bus or carpool group to work and back again, but without the less desirable elements that often accompany the lifestyle of living in a big city.

Restaurants, a coffee shop and other great services are planned to complete the urban village equation for residents.

How Newberry Square performs may be a bellwether for this and other similar locations throughout the county.

For more information about Newberry Square, go to www.newberrysquare.com or call 425-787 BEST.

Tom Hoban is CEO of Everett-based Coast Real Estate Services, a property management and real estate advisory company specializing in multi-family and commercial investment properties. He can be contacted by phone at 425-339-3638 or send e-mail to tomhoban@coastmgt.com.

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