Published October 2003

Business Briefs

Marshbank Construction tapped
for State Ave. project
In September, the Marysville City Council awarded a $6.2 million contract for the State Avenue improvement project to low bidder Marshbank Construction of Lake Stevens.

The project, expected to begin in late October, will provide improvements for nearly a mile-long stretch of State Avenue between First Street and Grove Street.

Divided into three stages, the project, which will include roadway reconstruction, widening of road lanes and sidewalks, relocation of overhead utilities, replacement of a water main, repairs to the sanitary sewer system and beautification measures, is scheduled for completion in summer 2004, said Assistant City Engineer Jeff Massie.

The first stage spans from Eighth to Grove Street, with stage two focusing on the area of State between Fourth and Eighth, and stage three improvements designated from First to Fourth in the downtown central business core.

In addition to Marysville real estate and excise tax, traffic mitigation and utility revenues, the project is funded by state Transportation Improvement Board and Federal Highway Administration grants.

Tulalip Casino’s James
survives assembly vote
The Tulalip Tribes in a general council meeting for tribal members in September voted down a no-confidence petition that sought to oust Tulalip Casino chief operating officer Chuck James.

The no-confidence petition was defeated by an 80 percent margin, said Stan Jones Sr., tribal vice chairman.

“Chuck had a good report,” he said. “We’re gaining every day, and I get a lot of good remarks from people on the outside about how well things are going.”

It is the third time in less than four years that petitioners have called for a no-confidence vote on James. Jones said this time it wore him and others down.

Jones attributes the no-confidence petitions to a small group of disgruntled tribal members, and said he’s very happy with the direction the casino is taking.

“I’m really disappointed in the people that even brought this up,” he said Sept 20. “But today was a vote of confidence in Chuck.”

Jones said the casino got off to a bumpy start; it was understaffed and two of its four restaurants didn't open right away. But now Jones believes the casino is a model for other tribal casinos in the region, and even the country.

Boys & Girls Club opens in Snohomish
In September, a new Boys & Girls Club opened at 402 Second St. in Snohomish.

Located next to a skate park and pool, the $1 million facility houses an arts-and-crafts room, gym, games room, community room, teen center and technology center.

A fund-raising campaign, chaired by Rich Boyden and Hank Robinett, raised more than $1.6 million to finance the new building, according to the nonprofit organization.

“We are thrilled to be opening our 11th club in Snohomish County, especially in a community that has stepped forward to raise the funds for the new building,” said Bill Tsoukalas, executive director of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Snohomish County.

Neah Power Systems
receives $2 million grant
Neah Power Systems of Bothell recently received a $2 million federal research grant for its work developing micro fuel cells.

U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee was on hand in September to present the Advanced Technology Program grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology.

“It’s such a home-grown success,” the 1st District Democrat said of the company.

The federal dollars will help fund the next two years of research and development work on Neah Power’s micro fuel cells, said David Dorheim, the company’s chief executive officer.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for us,” he said. “It’s a good validation for our technology and its potential.”

Neah, which got started in 1999, is on track to have its first cells ready for the commercial market in 2005. The methanol-powered cells use silicon at their heart, allowing them to produce more energy in a smaller space.

REI plans move to Alderwood Mall
Recreational Equipment Inc. is bringing hiking boots, tents and a bit of mountain climbing to the Alderwood Mall.

The Seattle-based retail cooperative will move its Lynnwood store from 194th Street SW to a new location at the mall in fall 2004.

The new 22,500-square-foot store will feature a 23-foot-tall climbing pinnacle and more display space, REI spokesman Mike Foley said.

The new store will be in the yet-to-be-built outdoor section of the mall called The Village, located on the mall’s north end about where the old Nordstrom store is today.

In addition to the climbing peak, which will be enclosed within a glass facade, the new store will have other interactive features, including a water filter test station, a test trail that customers can use to try out shoes and boots, and a camp stove demonstration table.

An outdoor gear rental department and repair shop for bikes and skis will round out the store’s offerings. While it will be slightly smaller than the existing store in total square footage, the new store should have more sales space because of a more efficient layout, Foley said.

Boeing, Mariners give
Alderwood Little League a boost
Alderwood Little League will receive a $75,000 grant from the Boeing Co. and the Seattle Mariners, officials announced in September.

The Boeing Mariners Care Athletic Field Grant will provide money to complete a third field on Alderwood Manor Youth Club property at 19711 24th Ave. W., in Lynnwood.

The field is 85 percent complete, with recent work including installation of the irrigation system and seeding the outfield grass. The grant will make it possible to finish the dugouts and scorekeeper’s booth and build a grandstand for observers.

When the field is finished, the league will be able to schedule games for all its lower division teams. The league currently uses Snohomish County Parks and Edmonds School District fields to accommodate its 65 teams.

Boeing Vice President Bob Watt, who is in charge of community and government relations, said the grant program demonstrates Boeing’s commitment to support the communities where the company’s employees live and work.

The new field will be completed in time for the 2004 Little League season. Project Manager Larry Swartz said volunteers from Alderwood Little League have been working on the project for almost four years.

Bellevue recycling company
moves into Bomarc
A Bellevue recycling company is relocating its corporate headquarters and processing facilities into a Boeing-owned building in south Everett.

Fibres International Inc. has leased more than 49,000 square feet in Building 45-70 at the Bomarc Business Park along Airport Road, Boeing Realty Corp. announced. The space previously was vacant.

Employing about 30 people in the region, Fibres International was at its Bellevue site for nearly three decades. Last year, it sold the 5-acre property to Barrier Motors, which is putting its headquarters and a car dealership there.

The move is immediate, as the company already has begun transferring its operations from Bellevue, said John Bauer, a senior associate with CB Richard Ellis, the property firm that represented Fibres International in the lease deal. Construction of an office area within the industrial space it has leased still needs to be finished, however.

Fibres International collects, and then sells on the recycled materials market, everything from paper and glass to metals and plastics. Dealing primarily with large businesses, the company has operations across North America.

With this lease to Fibres International and the recent lease of 105,000 square feet to Giddens Industries, Building 45-70 is now about one-third filled, said Boeing spokesman Dean Tougas.

Adult businesses banned
from downtown Everett, transit hub
The Everett City Council in September made permanent its moratorium on minicasinos and certain types of adult businesses in the downtown and Everett Station areas.

Council members said they feared that peep shows, strip clubs and minicasinos could hurt city officials’ efforts to attract new businesses to the area.

“We need to send a strong signal to the development community that we intend to have a high-class, high-quality downtown and gateway corridor area,” Councilman Mark Olson said.

The council enacted the moratorium April 9; it expires in October.

The ban applies only to the downtown and Everett Station areas, along with most of Broadway, which council members described as a “gateway” to the heart of the city.

Among the types of new businesses barred are strip clubs and places with adult-video booths. The law does not bar the sale of adult magazines, books, videos or toys. The ban is not retroactive, so the one minicasino downtown, Club Broadway, will remain open.

South Everett apartments
sold for nearly $26 million
Portsmith Apartment Homes, a 268-unit complex in south Everett, has sold for nearly $26 million.

Developer Continental-Bentall LLC of Bellevue sold the property to Kirkland-based Weidner Investment Services, according to Snohomish County property records.

Located at 12121 Admiralty Way, between Airport Road and Evergreen Way, Portsmith was built in 2000.

The complex includes more than 20 buildings on 16 acres, according to GVA Kidder Mathews, the Seattle commercial property firm that handled the sale. The “luxury” units, which average nearly 1,100 square feet, feature 9-foot-tall ceilings, covered parking and floor plans with up to three bedrooms.

Portsmith’s average rent is more than $1,000 a month. About 7 to 8 percent of the units are vacant, close to the average vacancy rate in the current slow rental market.

GVA Kidder Mathews’ Dennis Evans and Geza Berger represented Weidner in the deal, while the firm’s Bruce Peart and Peter Shelton represented the seller.

Weidner, which also will manage Portsmith, already owns and manages several local apartment properties, including Lakeside Apartments and Andorra Estates in Mountlake Terrace and Renaissance Apartment Homes, Whispering Cedars and Heather Ridge in Lynnwood.

Port of Everett receives two free cranes
In September, the Port of Everett received two giant cranes for a great price: free.

Acquired as unneeded property from the Port of Seattle, which wants to upgrade the terminal where they’re located, the cranes are expected to help the Port of Everett handle container ships more efficiently at its South Terminal.

Typically, new cranes of similar size and style would cost $3 million to $5 million each, said Ed Paskovskis, deputy port director.

While the port didn’t have to buy the cranes, there will be considerable cost in readying the South Terminal to receive them. It will take an estimated $2 million, for example, to beef up the wharf to handle the 40-ton cranes.

But the port’s long-term plans have called for a bigger move into container shipping, so the improvements would have been required whether the port acquired the Seattle cranes or bought new ones, Paskovskis said.

The port is pursuing a permit for the wharf work and will store the cranes for as long as 24 months until the job is done. When installed, the cranes will be about 175 feet tall with the boom lowered, about the same height as the large waterfront dome that stores alumina ore. Fully extended, they would rise some 230 feet.

Paskovskis said the cranes should be helpful to Boeing, which now sends oversized containers to Seattle or Tacoma, then ships them by barge to Everett, where they are sent by rail to the jetmaker’s assembly plant here.

EvCC offers workshop series
for entrepreneurs
Everett Community College’s Continuing Education Department is offering its Entrepreneurial Workshop Series during the fall quarter, providing low-cost seminars that cover a range of business topics, from marketing and financing to e-commerce.

Offered during evening hours, the workshops are presented by Jamie Curtismith, former director of the Northwest Women’s Business Center and current owner of Curtismith Consulting.

For more information, go online to www.evcc.ctc.edu or call the Continuing Education Department at 425- 267-0150.

SBA district office: lending activity
up 45% from year ago
Officials at the Seattle District Office of the U. S. Small Business Administration reported in that the office exceeded all previous levels for small-business funding in Western Washington during fiscal year 2003, with $286.2 million in loans to a total of 1,329 small companies.

The agency guarantees bank loans to small businesses, and it estimates that more than 7,500 jobs were created or maintained as a result of the SBA loan program this past year.

Bob Meredith, Seattle district director, said the record volume of activity reflects a 45 percent increase over last year’s levels in the number of firms assisted with the government guarantee loan program.

About 30 percent of the loans were to startup businesses, with the remainder of the lending portfolio going to established firms, Meredith said.

More than 80 lending organizations in Western Washington participate in the SBA loan program. The top three lending institutions in the Seattle SBA portfolio for fiscal year 2003 are Bank of America (383 loans), U.S. Bank (100 loans) and Wells Fargo Bank (71 loans).

Business community
donates to Christmas House
Several Snohomish County businesses and organizations have donated to Christmas House, an Everett-based nonprofit charity that gives clothing, blankets and toys to underprivileged children at Christmas.

CityBank, the Elizabeth A. Lynn Foundation and the Everett Clinic Foundation each gave $5,000; Cascade Bank gave $2,000; the Providence General Foundation gave $1,500; the Coastal Community Bank Employee Giving Fund, Frontier Bank and New Belgium Brewing Co. each gave $1,000; Regence BlueShield gave $750; and Office Depot $500.

New businesses, locations
n Barlow Escrow has opened for business at 3819 Colby Ave. in Everett. The office will be open from 8:30 a.m. until 5 p.m. The owner is Sheri Barlow, who has worked in the field locally for 30 years. The phone number is 425-259-4999.

n Lodge Podge has opened its doors at 901-1/2 First St. in Snohomish. The store, which held its grand opening in September, features decor and gift items, hand-painted furniture and vintage and antique items.

n Carol L. Moore, a registered nurse who has provided home health care for the past 12 years, has started a new business providing haircuts and styling services in people’s homes. Moore is a recent beauty school graduate focusing her business on people who find it difficult to get out for a haircut. The new business is HomeCuts at 425-772-3048.

n The Assistance League of Everett is opening a new thrift store at 5107 Evergreen Way, Everett, after operating from a temporary facility for the last 18 months. Hours will be 9:30 a.m. until 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Proceeds will go toward buying school clothes for children throughout Snohomish County.

n Jamie Curtismith, formerly the director of the Northwest Women’s Business Center in Everett, has started Curtismith Consulting. In addition to small-business development assistance, the company offers assistance to companies in financial trouble as well as those wishing to capitalize on intellectual property. The company can be reached at 425-252-4165 or by e-mail to curtismith@comcast.net.

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