Everett has the largest concentration of jobs and residents in Snohomish County. The city includes a large historic central business district, a major port, and one of the state’s largest industrial centers. The city has continued to try to diversify its economy as can be seen in the arrival of electronics corporations and increasing numbers of service industries.

The 1990s were a quiet time for development in downtown Everett, despite a long history of planning efforts. While some downtowns attracted residents, downtown Everett remained a place to work but not to live. The late 1990s and early 2000s started to see this change, as residents throughout the region began looking at downtown living options.

Seeking to capitalize on this, Everett looked hard at its regulations and incentives, and can now point to a number of key accomplishments:

• Everett Station, a multimodal, multi-use transportation hub immediately adjacent to the center.
• Adoption of a plan to leverage the Everett Station investment with zoning changes to foster development.
• Multi-use special events center.
• New 4-year college with over 300 students enrolled
• Major streetscape improvements, including upgrading the underlying utilities, and curb bulbs at all the major intersections.

At Everett Station, the city was not willing to settle for a transportation-only facility, and successfully pursued adding a number of new uses to the building, including educational facilities and workforce training organizations. The city was aided by the PFD on some projects, and benefited from having a number of organizations interested in downtown development and marketing.

At almost 470 acres, the center accounts for only about 2% of the city's land.

• Around 2% of the city's population growth was focused in the center, with all of the growth being in the 35-49 and 50-64 age groups.
• Around 6% of the city's housing growth was focused in the center, with nearly all of the new households being renters. Rents continue to be more affordable in the center than the city as a whole.
• Around 16% of the city's employment growth was focused into the center with half of the employment growth in the government and education sector. Wages and incomes grew faster in the center than in the city as a whole.

Interviewees in Everett were confident that the downtown was now poised for redevelopment. While acknowledging that downtown had missed the boom of the 1990s, interviewees described the investments made during that period - wider sidewalks, street medians, curb bulbs, public art, and sewer and water upgrades - as having set the stage for future private investment. A lot of credit was given to city government - the past and current administrations - for forming partnerships to develop the special events center, securing the multimodal transportation station and integrating it into the downtown, and for downtown beautification efforts. Private sector interviewees were confident that value had been created, and that downtown was now a more secure investment.

As the center and city evolve, a number of challenges remain: coordinating and integrating the large number of organizations planning for the downtown, strengthening the housing focus in the center, more aggressively planning for the areas surrounding the major public investments so they truly become catalysts for private investment, and addressing the proliferation of residential buildings converting to commercial uses.

For more information, visit the following regional growth center related sites:

• City of Everett
  • Planning & Community Development
  • Development Sites
• Everett Area Chamber of Commerce
• Downtown Everett Action Committee
• Downtown Everett Association
• 2002 Regional Growth Centers Report, Everett Profile  [pdf]

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