Q: What do Everett’s riverfront retail delays mean for businesses and prospective tenants in 2026?
A: The Snohomish River waterfront’s grocery anchor has been pushed to 2030, the cinema was replaced by pickleball, and some ground-floor retail spaces remain vacant. For businesses considering a riverfront location, this signals a neighborhood still building toward critical mass — not one that’s prematurely full. The site’s advantages (Interurban Trail access, growing residential density, river views) are real. The timeline for foot traffic to reach sustainable retail levels is 2028–2030. Whether that gap works for your business model is the central question.

The Riverfront’s Retail Situation in Plain Terms

Bellevue-based Shelter Holdings has been developing Everett’s Snohomish River waterfront for years. The housing pipeline is active — up to 1,250 units are planned across phases, and buildings are open and occupied. The retail side of the program is where the challenges are concentrated.

The grocery anchor was pushed to 2030. The cinema was replaced by pickleball. Ground-floor commercial spaces in completed buildings have vacancy. Eclipse Mill Park — the public green space that’s supposed to drive foot traffic — begins construction this summer and won’t fully open until spring 2028. That’s the honest picture for any business owner or developer assessing the riverfront as a location today.

What’s Driving the Vacancy

Snohomish County’s overall retail market is the tightest in Puget Sound — 3.4% vacancy at year-end 2025, compared to Seattle’s 4.0% and Portland’s 4.8%. At first glance, that tight market should make retail leasing easier everywhere in the county. In practice, it means tenants with options are being selective about where they locate — and a new neighborhood that hasn’t yet reached full resident density is a calculated risk.

The math for most retail businesses is straightforward: you need a certain volume of foot traffic — walk-in and drive-in combined — to make the unit economics work. The riverfront neighborhood has the Interurban Trail (cyclists, walkers, commuters), the existing residential buildings, and a beautiful site. It does not yet have the grocery anchor that pulls non-resident traffic, the park that creates weekend dwell time, or the entertainment venue that drives evening activity. Those arrive between 2026 and 2030. Until they do, foot traffic projections carry risk.

The Opportunity Argument for Prospective Tenants

The flip side of the vacancy story is the early-mover argument. Ground-floor retail rents in neighborhoods that haven’t reached full maturity are typically lower than in fully-built districts. If you sign a 5-year lease today on riverfront commercial space, you’re locking in 2026 rents against a 2030+ market. By the time the grocery anchor opens, the park is complete, and the residential density reaches its full program, you’re established — not a new entrant competing for lease terms in a tight market.

That argument works best for businesses that can survive and build community loyalty during the build-out phase: a coffee shop with a loyal residential base, a fitness studio serving Interurban Trail users, a service business (salon, dry cleaning, childcare) that doesn’t depend on anchor-generated foot traffic. It works less well for restaurants that need consistent evening foot traffic from the start, or for retail concepts that need the grocery anchor to pull complementary customers.

Comparing to Waterfront Place and Millwright Phase 2

Everett has two other major retail development stories running simultaneously. Waterfront Place at the Port of Everett — the restaurant row that opened in 2025 — is already generating foot traffic and has demonstrated that Everett’s waterfront dining market is real. Millwright District Phase 2, the mixed-use development at the Port, is in pre-leasing. Those two projects, alongside the riverfront, represent three distinct Everett retail corridors at three different stages of maturity. Understanding the differences helps you place your own location decision in context.

The riverfront is the youngest of the three in retail terms. It’s the highest-upside/highest-patience bet of the group. Waterfront Place is the proven commodity. Millwright is the middle option — more established than the riverfront, less certain than Waterfront Place.

Developer-Specific Considerations

For developers assessing the broader Snohomish County riverfront context — not just the Shelter Holdings site — the Q1 2026 Kidder Mathews retail data shows vacancy “creeping higher” after years of extreme tightness. That’s not a distress signal; it’s a softening at the margins of a fundamentally undersupplied market. For developers planning projects that need ground-floor retail lease-up to pencil, that softening gives prospective tenants more options and slightly more leverage on terms than they had 12 months ago.

The riverfront’s 1,250-unit residential program, when complete, will make it one of the highest-density residential concentrations near downtown Everett. That’s the long-term retail case. Getting from here to there is the investor’s patience question.

Frequently Asked Questions for Business Owners and Developers

Are there retail spaces available at the Everett riverfront right now?

Yes. Some ground-floor commercial spaces in completed Shelter Holdings buildings have availability. Prospective tenants should contact Shelter Holdings directly for current leasing status and rates.

When will the riverfront have enough foot traffic to support a food and beverage business?

Conservative answer: 2028–2030, when Eclipse Mill Park is complete and the grocery anchor opens. More optimistic answer: coffee and trail-adjacent food concepts could reach viability earlier, as the Interurban Trail generates consistent foot traffic and the existing residential base is growing now.

What business types are best suited to the riverfront’s current stage of development?

Service businesses with a residential customer base (fitness, childcare, salon), coffee shops targeting trail users and residential commuters, and specialty retail serving the existing condo and apartment population. Restaurant concepts that depend on evening destination traffic from outside the neighborhood are higher risk until the grocery anchor and park open.

How does the Snohomish River waterfront compare to other Everett retail opportunities?

The riverfront is the newest and highest-potential-but-longest-timeline option. Waterfront Place at the Port of Everett is the most proven corridor. Millwright District Phase 2 is in active pre-leasing and is further along than the riverfront in its build-out. Each location serves a different risk/return profile.

What is the park construction timeline and how does it affect foot traffic projections?

Eclipse Mill Park waterside construction starts summer 2026 (city portion, targeting November 2026 completion). Shelter Holdings’ land-side Phase 1 completes spring 2028. A complete park with dock, playground, and trail connection will materially increase weekend foot traffic — that’s when foot traffic projections for neighboring retail businesses get meaningfully more attractive.

Q: Where does the Everett Snohomish River waterfront development stand in 2026?
A: The City of Everett begins Phase 1 construction on Eclipse Mill Park — the signature 3-acre public green space — in summer 2026, targeting waterside completion by November 2026. Developer Shelter Holdings’ land-side Phase 1 work follows from fall 2026 through spring 2028. The broader Snohomish River waterfront, which envisions up to 1,250 housing units and ground-floor retail, is advancing on housing but faces significant retail delays: a planned grocery store has been pushed to 2030, and a cinema concept was replaced by a pickleball facility. Empty storefronts persist, but the park construction is real and imminent.

The Park Construction Is Real and It’s Starting This Summer

Eclipse Mill Park is a 3-acre public green space planned at the heart of Everett’s new Snohomish River waterfront neighborhood — the project Bellevue-based developer Shelter Holdings has been building on a former landfill and lumber mill site on the city’s eastern edge. After years of renderings and timelines, the park has a construction start date: summer 2026.

The construction has a split structure. The City of Everett handles the waterside portion first: bank stabilization, a floating dock, and waterfront amenities. That city work begins this summer, with a November 2026 completion target. Once the city finishes its portion, Shelter Holdings has an 18-month window to complete the land-side Phase 1 — a playground, trail connection, play lawn, and parking. That clock runs from fall 2026 through spring 2028. Full park opening: spring 2028.

This is worth emphasizing clearly: Eclipse Mill Park is not a rendering anymore. It is a permitted, funded, construction-season project. For people who have been watching the riverfront site since the first buildings went up, the park has always been the most public-facing milestone. That milestone is arriving.

What’s Built, What’s Open, What’s Behind Schedule

Shelter Holdings’ Snohomish River waterfront development is one of the largest private development projects underway in Snohomish County. The housing side has been the most visible: residential buildings have gone up, streets have been built, and a neighborhood has materialized where none existed five years ago. The 1,250-unit vision for the full site is advancing — the housing construction pipeline is real and active.

The retail side is where the story gets more complicated. An August 2025 Everett Herald investigation captured resident frustration with delays, empty storefronts, and a timeline that has shifted repeatedly. Here’s where specific commitments stand:

Grocery Store: Delayed to 2030

A grocery store was among the most anticipated retail anchors for the riverfront neighborhood. That opening has been pushed to 2030. For residents already living in the buildings on-site — and for the thousands expected in subsequent phases — that’s a meaningful gap. Grocery access remains a car trip for the near future.

Cinema: Replaced by Pickleball

A cinema concept that was part of the riverfront’s entertainment vision has been replaced by a pickleball facility. This is not a trivial swap in terms of community character: a cinema anchors evening foot traffic from a broad demographic; pickleball serves a narrower (though currently popular) market. The change reflects the broader challenges facing entertainment retail nationally, but it’s still a notable shift from the original vision.

Empty Storefronts: The Persistent Challenge

Ground-floor retail in completed residential buildings sits partially vacant. This is partly a function of Snohomish County’s broader retail market — the county has the tightest retail vacancy rate in Puget Sound at 3.4%, which means tenants have options and can be selective. But it also reflects the reality that the riverfront neighborhood hasn’t yet reached the critical mass of residents to attract the most desirable tenants. That equation changes as more housing opens.

The Site Context: What Everett Is Building Here

The Snohomish River waterfront site sits on the east side of downtown Everett, bounded by the river, Marine View Drive, and the Interurban Trail. It was previously a landfill and the former site of a sawmill — the “Eclipse Mill” that gives the park its name. Shelter Holdings acquired the development rights and has been executing a phased master plan that encompasses housing (rental apartments), ground-floor retail, a park, and riverfront public access.

The site is distinct from Everett’s Port waterfront development, which is happening on the west side of downtown around Waterfront Place and the Port of Everett marina. The riverfront is a different neighborhood — quieter, more residential in character, oriented toward the Snohomish River and the Interurban Trail rather than the maritime activity of the Port.

The Bigger Picture: What the Riverfront Means for Everett

Everett is simultaneously developing two major waterfronts — the Snohomish River site on the east and the Port marina on the west. Both projects have been slower than initial projections. Both have had to adapt their retail programs to the realities of a selective tenant market and changing entertainment preferences. Both are still real, active construction projects with genuine momentum.

The riverfront site specifically represents something Everett has not had before: a walkable residential neighborhood built to urban density on a large contiguous parcel close to downtown. When complete, it will house thousands of residents within walking distance of the Snohomish River, the Interurban Trail, and downtown Everett’s amenities. Eclipse Mill Park — the public anchor of that neighborhood — starts construction this summer. That matters.

For residents and families considering the area, the community services guide for Everett covers the wider network of services and resources available in the city.

Frequently Asked Questions

When does Eclipse Mill Park construction start?

City of Everett construction on the waterside portion of Phase 1 begins in summer 2026, targeting November 2026 completion. Shelter Holdings’ land-side Phase 1 work follows from fall 2026 through spring 2028, with full park opening projected for spring 2028.

Who is the developer of the Snohomish River waterfront in Everett?

Shelter Holdings, a Bellevue-based developer, holds the development rights and is leading the master plan for the site. The City of Everett is a partner on public infrastructure including the park’s waterside portion.

How many housing units will the Everett riverfront development include?

The full master plan envisions up to 1,250 housing units across multiple phases. The residential construction is active and ongoing; the retail component has faced delays.

Why was the grocery store delayed and when will it open?

The grocery store anchor has been pushed to 2030. The specific reasons have not been publicly detailed by Shelter Holdings, but grocery retailers have been cautious about committing to new locations in markets that haven’t yet reached resident density thresholds.

Is the Snohomish River waterfront the same as Waterfront Place at the Port of Everett?

No. These are two distinct developments. The Snohomish River waterfront (Eclipse Mill, Shelter Holdings) is on the east side of downtown Everett, oriented toward the river and the Interurban Trail. Waterfront Place is at the Port of Everett on the west side, along Port Gardner Bay, and is focused on marina-adjacent dining and retail.

What happened to the cinema that was planned for the riverfront?

The cinema concept was replaced by a pickleball facility. This reflects broader trends in entertainment retail nationally, where cinema anchor tenants have become harder to secure, and also reflects adjustments to the retail program based on the current tenant market.

Q: Where does Everett’s Snohomish River riverfront development stand in 2026?
A: The City of Everett will begin Phase 1 construction on Eclipse Mill Park — the signature 3-acre public park for the Snohomish River waterfront — in summer 2026, with waterside amenities targeted for completion by November 2026. Developer Shelter Holdings’ land-side Phase 1 park work follows from fall 2026 through spring 2028. The broader riverfront development, which envisions up to 1,250 housing units and ground-floor retail, is advancing — but the retail side has faced significant delays, with a planned grocery store pushed to 2030 and a cinema concept replaced by a pickleball facility.

The Park Construction Is Coming This Summer

If you’ve driven along the Snohomish River lately, you’ve seen it: the buildings going up on what used to be a former landfill and lumber mill site, the streets carved into a neighborhood that didn’t exist five years ago, the quiet accumulation of infrastructure on one of Everett’s most ambitious bets on its own future.

The riverfront project, led by Bellevue-based developer Shelter Holdings, is one of the largest private development projects underway in Snohomish County. It’s also one of the most publicly scrutinized. An August 2025 Everett Herald story captured the resident frustration that’s built alongside the housing: delays, empty storefronts, and a timeline that keeps moving.

With the 2026 construction season now arriving, here’s the most complete picture of where the Everett riverfront actually stands.

The most concrete near-term milestone is Eclipse Mill Park, the 3-acre public green space planned as the social heart of the new riverfront neighborhood. The project has a split structure. The City of Everett handles the waterside portion: bank stabilization, a floating dock, and waterfront amenities that will make the park usable from the river side. That work is slated to begin over the summer of 2026, with the city targeting completion of its portion by November 2026.

Once the city finishes, Shelter Holdings has 18 months to complete its land-side portion of Phase 1 — the amenities including parking, a playground, a trail connection, and a play lawn. That puts the Phase 1 park completion in spring 2028, with a full park opening projected for that same window.

What’s worth emphasizing now — with Phase 1 city work just months away — is that this is a real construction event, not a distant promise. By late summer 2026, heavy equipment will be working the riverbank at the Eclipse Mill Park site, and by Thanksgiving the city portion should be visibly taking shape.

The Housing Side: What’s Built and What’s Coming

The housing portion of the Shelter Holdings development is further along than the retail side. Phase 1 launched with 333 apartments as the initial residential component. The broader vision calls for up to 1,250 multi-family housing units across all phases — which would make this one of the largest residential additions in Everett’s history once fully built out.

The units that are occupied are generating a resident base, which is exactly what the development needs to attract the commercial tenants the neighborhood has been waiting for. More residents means more foot traffic; more foot traffic means a business case for retail operators. The tension is that the sequencing hasn’t worked out that cleanly. The housing came first, but the retail hasn’t followed fast enough for residents who moved in expecting a neighborhood with a coffee shop, a grocery store, and things to do within walking distance.

The Retail Gap: What Got Delayed, What Got Dropped

This is the most candid part of the 2026 picture.

The original Phase 1 vision for the Everett riverfront included a movie theater, a specialty grocer, ground-floor restaurants, and a commercial district that would activate the neighborhood from day one. Almost none of that has materialized on the original schedule.

The cinema is gone. In 2024, the Everett City Council agreed to let Shelter Holdings replace the planned movie theater with a pay-to-play pickleball facility, citing the post-COVID difficulties facing the movie business. The deadline for that facility was also pushed from Phase 1 to Phase 3 of the development, which is likely several years away.

The grocery store has been delayed to 2030. When Shelter Holdings asked the city for the extension in June 2025, the explanation was direct: grocery store operators “want to see additional surrounding population density to support a grocery store at the Riverfront.” With Phase 1 apartments occupied but the broader neighborhood still building out, the density threshold for a grocer to make the numbers work hasn’t been reached.

The Herald’s August 2025 coverage of empty storefronts and resident frustration captured a real tension that anyone who has walked the riverfront neighborhood can see. The ground-floor retail bays that were supposed to activate the street-level experience are sitting empty. The buildings are there. The windows are there. The tenants aren’t.

Why This Matters for Everett’s Development Story

The Snohomish River waterfront project is one of three simultaneous waterfront and development efforts reshaping Everett. The Port of Everett’s Waterfront Place on Port Gardner Bay is further along commercially — Tapped Public House, Marina Azul, Menchie’s, Rustic Cork, and Jetty Bar & Grille are all operating. Millwright District Phase 2 targets a mid-2029 entertainment retail opening. The riverfront is the youngest and most interior of the three, running on the longest clock.

The structural challenge is one that most large mixed-use developments face: the first residents arrive before the amenities that make the development worth living in. Developers manage this by phasing construction so that commercial critical mass arrives shortly after residential density. At the Everett riverfront, that sequence got disrupted — first by COVID’s impact on the cinema sector, then by the grocery sector’s density requirements, then by the general commercial retail slowdown of 2023–2025.

The 2026 construction season offers a reset moment. Eclipse Mill Park Phase 1 city work beginning over the summer is a visible, tangible marker of progress — exactly the kind of milestone that builds confidence in the neighborhood among both prospective residents and prospective retail tenants. The floating dock, the riverbank improvements, and the infrastructure going in this year will make the Snohomish River accessible to the neighborhood in a way it hasn’t been yet.

What to Watch in the Second Half of 2026

The markers worth tracking between now and December 2026:

City park construction progress. The city targets its riverbank and floating dock work by November 2026. Any slippage to that schedule pushes back Shelter Holdings’ Phase 1 timeline and the spring 2028 park opening.

Retail tenant announcements. With 2030 now the grocery anchor target, any pre-2030 commercial lease signing in the riverfront district would be meaningful news. Even a smaller-format coffee shop or neighborhood retail commit would signal that the density threshold is being crossed.

Phase 2 housing permit filings. More housing permits mean more residents on the way, which advances the case for retail faster than anything else the developer can do.

The Everett riverfront isn’t behind the way a stalled project is behind. It’s behind the way ambitious urban development always is when it tries to build a neighborhood from scratch on challenging land. The bones of a genuinely good waterfront district are visible — the housing, the infrastructure, the park framework. The retail chapter is just taking longer to write.

This summer’s construction season will be the most visible progress the riverfront has shown in a year. When the city starts moving dirt at Eclipse Mill Park, it’ll be the clearest sign yet that Everett’s Snohomish River waterfront is still building toward what it promised to be.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: When will Eclipse Mill Park open?
Eclipse Mill Park Phase 1 is projected to fully open in spring 2028. The City of Everett will complete its waterside construction by November 2026, after which Shelter Holdings has 18 months to complete the land-side Phase 1 amenities.

Q: Who is developing the Everett riverfront?
Shelter Holdings, a Bellevue-based developer, is the primary private developer for the Snohomish River waterfront project. The City of Everett is separately responsible for Eclipse Mill Park’s waterside construction phase.

Q: How many housing units are planned for the Everett riverfront?
The full Shelter Holdings development envisions up to 1,250 multi-family housing units across all phases. Phase 1 launched with 333 apartments.

Q: Why was the riverfront cinema cancelled?
The Everett City Council approved Shelter Holdings’ request in 2024 to replace the planned movie theater with a pay-to-play pickleball facility, citing challenges facing the cinema industry since COVID-19. The project’s deadline was also moved from Phase 1 to Phase 3.

Q: When will the riverfront grocery store open?
The grocery store has been delayed to 2030. Shelter Holdings cited grocery operators’ requirements for greater surrounding population density before they will commit to a store.

Q: Where is the Everett riverfront development located?
The Shelter Holdings riverfront development sits along the Snohomish River in Everett, on the site of a former city landfill and lumber mills. It’s distinct from the Port of Everett’s Waterfront Place development on Port Gardner Bay to the west.

Q: How does Snohomish County’s retail vacancy compare to the rest of the Puget Sound region?
A: Snohomish County ended Q4 2025 at 3.4% retail vacancy — the tightest rate in the Seattle-Puget Sound metro, according to Kidder Mathews. While the broader Seattle market finished 2025 at 4.0% and continued rising into Q1 2026, Snohomish County’s retail market has stayed tighter because almost no new retail square footage has been built in years. That scarcity protects existing landlords but creates a challenging environment for major new developments like Waterfront Place and Millwright Phase 2 that need to recruit tenants into a market where selectivity is rising.

Why Snohomish County Retail Stays Tight

Here’s a number that doesn’t get talked about enough: Snohomish County’s retail vacancy rate ended 2025 at 3.4 percent.

For context, the broader Seattle metro finished 2025 at 4.0 percent, and that number was climbing. King County’s vacancy was trending higher through the back half of the year. Portland hit 4.8 percent in Q1 2026. By every regional benchmark, Snohomish County’s retail market is the tightest in Puget Sound — and it has been for most of the past three years.

That’s a complicated backdrop for everything happening on Everett’s waterfront right now.

The short answer, according to Kidder Mathews’ Q4 2025 retail market data cited by the Everett Herald in February 2026, is construction — or rather, the lack of it. Almost nothing has been built. The last major new shopping center project in Snohomish County was years ago, which means existing retail square footage is scarce. When tenants look for space, their options are limited — which keeps occupancy high and keeps asking rents elevated.

The Everett Herald framed it plainly: “Few vacant retail spaces in Snohomish County.” At 3.4 percent vacancy, that’s not just a real estate headline — it’s a physical reality that shapes which businesses can afford to open here.

But Q1 2026’s Kidder Mathews data, published by The Registry Pacific Northwest on April 8, 2026, introduced something new into the conversation: a trend line. Vacancy is “creeping higher.” Tenants are “growing more selective.” The words are measured — this is not a market in distress — but they signal that the floor-tight conditions of the past two years are starting to soften at the margins.

What This Means for Waterfront Place

The Port of Everett’s Waterfront Place development has approximately 63,000 square feet of planned retail and restaurant space across the full buildout of Fisherman’s Harbor and Marina Village. A meaningful portion of that is already occupied and generating activity: Tapped Public House opened in March 2026 with the largest waterfront rooftop deck in Snohomish County; Marina Azul Cocina & Cantina arrived in spring 2026; Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt opened at the marina in March; Rustic Cork Wine Bar has been operating for months; Jetty Bar & Grille remains a marina staple; South Fork Baking Co. and Anthony’s HomePort anchor the established tenant base.

That’s a functioning dining and retail district — and it’s operating in a county where retail space is genuinely scarce. In a 3.4 percent vacancy environment, every new restaurant that opens at Waterfront Place is competing not just with other waterfront tenants, but with a county-wide retail market where operators are getting more selective about where they commit.

The remaining Parcel A7 restaurant site — the Port’s search for a flagship dining tenant at the last undeveloped waterfront pad — is an open question in this context. A tight market should theoretically accelerate recruitment. But Q1 2026’s rising selectivity from prospective tenants complicates that math. Operators have more choices than they used to, and they’re using them.

The Millwright Phase 2 Question

The more significant long-term implication of the Q1 2026 retail data is for Millwright District Phase 2, which envisions up to 120,000 square feet of retail, entertainment, and dining — the movie theater, mini golf, arcade, bowling, specialty shops, gyms, and salons announced as the anchor concept, with a projected opening window of mid-2029.

Between now and 2029, the retail market will complete several more cycles. The current “vacancy creeping higher, tenants more selective” phase could resolve in either direction. What the Q1 2026 data confirms is that the foundation is solid. A county that has held below 3.5 percent vacancy for multiple years, with no meaningful new inventory in the pipeline, is a county where well-positioned retail real estate still works. Millwright Phase 2’s 120,000 square feet will be the largest single retail addition Snohomish County has seen in years — arriving into a market that will almost certainly still be undersupplied by mid-decade.

Downtown Everett and the Bank of America Signal

One notable data point in downtown Everett’s retail landscape deserves separate attention: the 12,000-square-foot Bank of America building at 1602 Hewitt Avenue, which came to market this spring for the first time in 60 years. Skotdal is marketing the building with a three-lane drive-through and 92 covered parking spaces.

At 3.4 percent county-wide retail vacancy, a 12,000-square-foot class-A footprint in downtown Everett should theoretically be in high demand. The fact that it’s available at all is a testament to how thoroughly the banking sector has contracted its physical footprint. The question is whether the retail market’s tightness is enough to attract a non-bank tenant willing to work with that building’s legacy configuration.

The comparison to the office market is instructive: Snohomish County office vacancy hit 10.7 percent in Q1 2026 — nearly triple the retail rate. Office space is available and under pressure; retail space is not. That divergence matters for how developers think about the use mix at Waterfront Place and Millwright Phase 2. Retail and dining are still the anchor draw. Office demand follows workers, not the other way around.

The Snohomish County Retail Advantage — For Now

For anyone tracking Everett’s development story, the retail market data adds an important piece of context. The waterfront, downtown, the riverfront, and Millwright are all recruiting tenants into a county that remains the most retail-constrained in the region. That constraint cuts both ways.

It means existing retailers perform well. It means new entrants can establish market position before competition multiplies. And it means the large-format entertainment retail vision at Millwright Phase 2 — the first genuine new retail district Snohomish County will have seen in years — will arrive into conditions that still favor well-capitalized landlords.

The Q1 2026 signal worth watching is whether rising tenant selectivity translates into slower absorption at Waterfront Place. The next few quarters of lease announcements will be a real-time test of whether the Port’s restaurant row momentum can hold through a softening. Based on what the data shows right now, there’s no reason to expect it won’t — but the days of almost any tenant being available are giving way to a market that’s starting to pick and choose.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is Snohomish County’s retail vacancy rate?
Snohomish County ended Q4 2025 at 3.4 percent retail vacancy, the lowest in the Puget Sound metro according to Kidder Mathews. Q1 2026 showed the rate beginning to edge higher as tenants grew more selective.

Q: How does Snohomish County compare to Seattle’s retail market?
The broader Seattle metro finished 2025 at 4.0 percent retail vacancy, roughly half a point higher than Snohomish County. Q1 2026 continued that divergence, with the Seattle-area rate climbing while Snohomish County remained below regional averages.

Q: How much retail space is planned at Waterfront Place?
The Port of Everett’s Waterfront Place development plans for approximately 63,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space across Fisherman’s Harbor and Marina Village, with multiple tenants already operating.

Q: How much retail is coming to Millwright District Phase 2?
Millwright District Phase 2 envisions up to 120,000 square feet of entertainment-anchored retail — including a movie theater, mini golf, arcade, bowling, and specialty shops — with a projected opening window of mid-2029.

Q: Why is Snohomish County retail vacancy so low?
The primary driver is a near-complete absence of new retail construction in the county for multiple years. With no significant new inventory entering the market, existing space stays occupied and asking rents remain elevated.

Q: What is happening at the Bank of America building on Hewitt Avenue in downtown Everett?
The 12,000-square-foot former Bank of America building at 1602 Hewitt Avenue became available for the first time in roughly 60 years in spring 2026. Skotdal is marketing the space with a three-lane drive-through and 92 covered parking spaces in downtown Everett.

How is the Snohomish County apartment investment market performing in 2026?
Snohomish County apartment sales reached $640 million across 32 deals in 2025 — more than doubling from 2023 transaction volumes — as flat rents and stable vacancy created entry conditions that yield-focused investors found compelling. Average pricing settled around $294,557 per unit, and with 17,089 units still under construction regionally, capital is moving before the next supply cycle closes.

Snohomish County’s Apartment Investment Market Hit $640 Million in 2025 — And the Capital Is Still Moving

Most of the housing market coverage you’ve read about Snohomish County this year has been about buyers, sellers, and mortgage rates. That’s not the whole picture.

While the for-sale residential market has been digesting a 51% inventory surge and buyers have been navigating 6.4% rates, a parallel story has been unfolding in the investment market — the institutional and private capital that buys, holds, and sells apartment buildings. And that story has a very different tone.

Snohomish County apartment sales hit $640 million in 2025, according to a Kidder Mathews analysis reported by The Registry Pacific Northwest. That’s across 32 deals. The volume more than doubled from 2023 levels — the trough of what had been a significant pullback in multifamily transaction activity driven by rising interest rates and reset expectations.

The question worth asking now: what do those investors see in Snohomish County, and what does their move back into the market mean for Everett specifically?

Why the Market Reset the Way It Did

To understand where we are, it helps to understand where we came from.

The 2021-2022 apartment investment boom was driven by cheap debt and outsized rent growth. Cap rates compressed dramatically. Then the Federal Reserve raised rates, borrowing costs spiked, and sellers who bought in 2021-2022 at aggressive prices couldn’t hit the numbers that 2023-2024 buyers needed to see. Transaction volume crashed nationally, and Snohomish County wasn’t immune.

The recovery that’s now playing out isn’t a return to 2021 pricing. It’s something more durable: a market where seller expectations have adjusted, where buyers can underwrite deals to current rent levels and get a yield, and where the operating fundamentals — occupancy, rent trends — are stable enough to justify putting capital to work.

The Kidder Mathews data point on average price per unit illustrates this. At approximately $294,557 per unit with a 4% year-over-year decline from 2024 levels, pricing is off the peaks but far from distressed. That’s a reachable entry point for buyers who couldn’t compete in 2021-2022 and have been waiting.

What Makes Snohomish County Attractive Right Now

Apartment investors look at fundamentals first: vacancy rates, rent trends, and the supply pipeline.

On vacancy, Kidder Mathews’ Q4 2025 Seattle-Puget Sound regional data shows multifamily vacancy holding at 7.4% year-over-year. That’s not tight — but it’s not distressed either. For a county where the job base is anchored by Boeing, Paine Field aerospace, the Naval Station, and a growing tech cluster along I-5, that vacancy rate reflects a market with durable demand drivers.

On rent, the story for 2025 was flat. Everett’s rental market saw rents down roughly 2% year-over-year in 2025, to an average around $1,849 according to prior market data. That’s the downside. But for investors, flat rents in a well-employed market with a constrained land supply are different from flat rents in a market with weak fundamentals. Investors who can buy at current prices and hold for a rent recovery cycle are making a different bet than investors who overpaid during the growth phase.

On supply, the regional construction pipeline is thinning. Roughly 17,089 units remain under construction across the Seattle-Puget Sound metro — a 23% decline from the prior year. That contraction means the supply overhang that compressed rents will start to clear in 2026 and 2027. Capital that moves now is positioning ahead of that clearing.

What This Means for Everett Specifically

Everett is not a monolith in this investment market. The specific submarkets attracting attention are worth understanding.

The premium waterfront product — the Sawyer and Carling at Waterfront Place — has been holding occupancy at roughly 95% even as broader rents softened, with $2,202-$2,800 monthly rents demonstrating that the waterfront premium survives a soft market. For institutional investors, that occupancy and rent spread is a data point about the durability of location-driven demand.

Lincoln Properties is underway on Phase 2 of Millwright District — 300-plus units in a mixed-use waterfront setting that will be the first large new-to-the-market supply at the Port of Everett waterfront in this cycle. When those units come online, they’ll reset the comp set for waterfront multifamily in Everett.

Further south, the adaptive reuse pipeline is active. The Sage Investment Group conversion of the former Econo Lodge at 9602 19th St SE into 124 studio apartments (Phase 1 leasing August 2026) represents the workforce housing angle that Kidder Mathews noted in its investment outlook: value-add and workforce housing offer compelling yield opportunities where class-A development doesn’t pencil.

The downtown core and the corridors adjacent to the new stadium site are also drawing attention from development capital, though in earlier-stage planning. The city’s approval of the $10.6 million stadium design package in late April sets a September 2026 construction start target for the 5,000-seat Outdoor Event Center — and stadium-adjacent development is a real category of investment thesis that capital is starting to evaluate.

The Investor’s Lens vs. the Resident’s Lens

It’s worth being honest about the tension here.

When apartment investment capital flows into a market like Everett, it’s not always aligned with what existing residents need. Yield-focused buyers have incentives to optimize revenue per unit. Workforce housing conversions can displace existing tenants if not managed carefully. Rising investor interest in a market can precede rent pressure once the supply overhang clears.

The city’s tools to manage this tension — the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, inclusionary zoning in new developments, the Housing Hope ecosystem, the EHA pipeline — matter precisely because the market is now active enough to require them.

The $640 million in 2025 transaction volume tells us that capital has made a judgment: Snohomish County is on the right side of the Puget Sound affordability gradient, close enough to Seattle employment to benefit from overspill demand, with enough job diversity to hold occupancy through economic cycles. That judgment drives development, drives transactions, and ultimately drives the housing conditions that Everett residents live inside.

Understanding how this capital thinks is part of understanding where Everett’s housing goes next.

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Frequently Asked Questions

How much did apartment sales reach in Snohomish County in 2025?
Snohomish County apartment sales reached $640 million across 32 deals in 2025, according to a Kidder Mathews analysis, more than doubling transaction volume from 2023 levels.

What is the average price per apartment unit in Snohomish County?
Average pricing was approximately $294,557 per unit in the most recent market data, down about 4% year-over-year from 2024 — reflecting pricing adjustments from the 2021-2022 peak.

What is the apartment vacancy rate in the Snohomish County area?
Kidder Mathews’ Q4 2025 data showed multifamily vacancy holding at 7.4% year-over-year across the Seattle-Puget Sound region. Everett’s specific figures track roughly with the broader market.

Why are investors buying apartments in Snohomish County now?
Flat rents, stable vacancy, and adjusted pricing from the 2021-2022 peak have created entry conditions that yield-focused buyers find workable. The thinning construction pipeline also suggests supply overhang will clear in 2026-2027, giving investors who buy now exposure to the next rent recovery cycle.

What new apartment projects are coming to Everett?
Lincoln Properties is underway on 300-plus units at Millwright District (Waterfront Place). Sage Investment Group is converting the former Econo Lodge on 19th St SE into 124 studio apartments with Phase 1 leasing targeting August 2026. Stadium-adjacent development opportunities are also being evaluated as the downtown Outdoor Event Center advances toward a September 2026 construction start.

How does Everett’s apartment investment market compare to King County?
Snohomish County typically offers lower per-unit pricing than King County submarkets like Bellevue or Seattle proper, while maintaining access to the same labor market. That affordability gradient is part of what draws yield-focused capital — investors can enter at lower basis points while capturing similar demand dynamics.

What happened to the Bank of America in downtown Everett?
Bank of America closed its branch at 1602 Hewitt Avenue in April 2026, ending more than 60 years at the same corner location. The 62,000-square-foot building — owned by Skotdal Real Estate — is now available for lease for the first time since 1965, with availability starting mid-May 2026.

Downtown Everett’s Most Iconic Corner Is Open for Business — For the First Time in 60 Years

If you’ve driven down Hewitt Avenue lately, you’ve noticed something different at the corner of Hewitt and Colby. The Bank of America signs are gone. The drive-through lanes sit empty. And for the first time since 1965, the building at 1602–1604 Hewitt Avenue is looking for a new tenant.

We’ve been watching this space for a while. The closure was quiet — no press release, no farewell event, no real announcement beyond a letter to longtime customers. One week it was open, the next week the signs came down and the LoopNet listing went up. But what happens next in that building matters for downtown Everett in a way that’s hard to overstate.

What the Building Actually Is

The property at 1602–1604 Hewitt Ave is a 62,000-square-foot building on one of the most visible corners in downtown Everett — Hewitt and Colby, at the heart of the Hewitt Avenue commercial corridor. Skotdal Real Estate, the Everett-based commercial property firm that has been one of downtown’s most active investors for decades, owns and is now actively marketing the building.

The space coming available is approximately 12,000 square feet of the ground floor — the former bank branch and lobby. That footprint includes two things that are genuinely rare in downtown Everett: a three-lane drive-through and 92 covered parking spots. For any retail or service business that depends on vehicle access or parking, those features are nearly impossible to find this close to the core of downtown.

The space features full-corner frontage with dual street exposure on both Hewitt and Colby, large windows, a sweeping interior staircase, a private elevator, and what Skotdal describes as abundant natural light. It’s a landmark-grade build-out that doesn’t require a tenant to start from scratch.

Availability is listed as mid-May 2026.

Why Bank of America Left — and Why It Matters

Bank of America notified customers in writing beginning in November 2025 that the Hewitt location would close. The official company statement: “The financial center at 1602 Hewitt Avenue was one of the oldest and largest financial centers in our local network, and we have several other locations nearby that are more modern and aligned with how our clients bank today.”

It’s the same story playing out in downtowns across the country. More than 6,000 commercial bank branches nationally have closed over the past five years as mobile banking erodes the foot-traffic case for urban branches. The lobby at Hewitt and Colby had been shrinking for years — from a full teller line to one or two staff, serving mostly customers who needed cashier’s checks, in-person account services, or one of the few downtown locations where you could cash a check without an account.

But the closure stings a little more here because of what that corner has meant to Everett.

The building’s history on that block goes back to 1892, when the First National Bank of Everett opened at or near that address. The current structure dates to 1965 — built for what eventually became Seafirst Bank, which was acquired by Bank of America in 1983 and rebranded in 1999. That means Bank of America, or its direct predecessors, occupied this corner for over 60 consecutive years.

What Could Come Next

Skotdal Real Estate has been one of the most consequential forces in downtown Everett’s commercial real estate story. Their portfolio includes marquee buildings along the Hewitt and Colby corridors, and they’ve been central to attracting the office and retail tenants that have given downtown its current momentum.

The pitch for this space is straightforward: you get a flagship corner in a downtown that is actively transforming. The $10.6 million stadium design package approved by City Council in late April puts a 5,000-seat outdoor event center on track for a September 2026 construction start a few blocks away. The Everett Art Walk returns May 21. New restaurants on Hewitt — including R Harn Thai, which just opened — are drawing people back to the corridor.

The drive-through and parking are the X factor. Most retail or service concepts that need both would not normally be able to place themselves at Hewitt and Colby. A credit union, a pharmacy, a coffee-and-banking hybrid, a medical or dental clinic with patient parking, a high-volume quick-service restaurant — all of these would normally rule out a downtown corner and look for a suburban pad site instead. Here, the existing infrastructure changes that calculus.

The bigger-picture question is what this vacancy signals. Downtown Everett has been building momentum for several years, but it has also been honest about the challenges. Earlier this year the city documented a vacancy count along the commercial corridors that showed real gaps. The BofA closure adds to that count in one of the most visible spots possible. The answer to what comes next matters not just for Skotdal and the building’s future tenant — it matters for whether Hewitt Avenue’s commercial rebound stays on track.

What’s Already in the Neighborhood

The space doesn’t exist in isolation. Within a short walk:

• The Everett Art Walk’s gallery circuit runs along this stretch of downtown, including multiple galleries that have opened or expanded in recent years
• Narrative Coffee, STRGZR Coffee & Kitchen, and The Loft Coffee Bar anchor the coffee-and-remote-work scene on adjacent blocks
• New restaurant openings on Hewitt (R Harn Thai, Luca Italian, The New Mexicans) have added foot traffic
• The historic Everett Theatre at 2911 Colby is booking major acts through the summer

For a retailer or service business evaluating downtown Everett, the current moment is both encouraging and uncertain. The direction is clearly positive — but the pace of infill matters, and a vacant flagship corner is not a neutral signal.

The Practical Picture

Nearest Bank of America branches for former customers: Evergreen Way (5019 Evergreen Way), Greentree Plaza (305 SE Everett Mall Way, Suite 31), Silver Lake (1803 112th St SE), and Marysville (415 State Ave). Each is roughly 10–16 minutes by car.

The Skotdal listing for 1602–1604 Hewitt is active on LoopNet and directly at skotdal.com. The available footprint is described as ground-floor retail or office use, with the drive-through lanes and parking as potential differentiators for the right tenant.

We’ll be watching. When Skotdal secures a tenant for this space, it will be one of the bigger commercial announcements downtown Everett has seen in years.

Frequently Asked Questions

When did Bank of America close its downtown Everett branch?
Bank of America officially closed its branch at 1602 Hewitt Avenue in Everett in mid-April 2026. Customers were notified in writing beginning in November 2025.

Who owns the Bank of America building in downtown Everett?
Skotdal Real Estate, an Everett-based commercial property company, owns the building at 1602–1604 Hewitt Ave and is managing the lease-up of the vacated space.

How big is the former Bank of America space available for lease?
Approximately 12,000 square feet of ground-floor space is available, within a larger 62,000-square-foot building. The space includes a 3-lane drive-through and 92 covered parking spots.

When is the downtown Everett Bank of America space available?
Skotdal is listing availability as mid-May 2026. The building is actively being marketed on LoopNet and skotdal.com.

What was at that corner before Bank of America?
The current building dates to 1965 and was built for Seafirst Bank. Before that, the First National Bank of Everett — established in 1892 — operated at or near that address. Bank of America acquired Seafirst in 1983 and rebranded in 1999.

What other Bank of America locations serve downtown Everett customers?
The nearest locations are on Evergreen Way (~10 min), Greentree Plaza SE (~14 min), Silver Lake (~16 min), and Marysville (~14 min).

If you own or operate a business near the old Everett Mall — restaurant, retail, service, professional — Brixton Capital’s May 19, 2026 pre-application meeting with the City of Everett is a meaningful change to your demand picture. The Topgolf-anchored entertainment program was going to bring evening and weekend foot traffic. The new pre-application program — self-storage plus a 60,000-square-foot proposed office where Topgolf was going to be built — produces a different customer pattern. This is the business owner’s read.

What the new program does to your foot traffic forecast

Three structural shifts to model:

• Evening and weekend traffic — significantly lower than the Topgolf base case. Self-storage produces customer visits during typical loading hours and on weekends, but volume per visit is low. Office produces almost no evening or weekend activity. Restaurants and entertainment-adjacent retail in the surrounding blocks should rebase forecasts that assumed Topgolf overflow.
• Weekday daytime traffic — depends on the office tenant. A 60,000 sq ft office can host 200-400 employees depending on density. That’s a meaningful weekday lunch and coffee market, but only if the office actually leases. Office vacancy in suburban Snohomish County has been challenging since the post-2020 hybrid-work pattern stabilized.
• Aggregate property foot traffic — lower than the original Hub vision. The Topgolf-Chicken N Pickle anchor pair was projected to be a regional destination drawing customers from across the Snohomish County market. The self-storage and office program is a local-services and tenant-services use mix. Regional draw drops materially.

What that means for specific business categories

Restaurants and bars within walking distance. Rebase any growth forecast tied to evening Topgolf overflow. The compensating opportunity is weekday lunch from any future office tenant — but that requires the office to actually lease, which is a 12-24 month wait at minimum.

Retail in the half-open mall corridors. The existing partial-tenant program continues to operate. The pre-application is for the larger program shape, not an immediate displacement. But the Topgolf-anchored regional-draw narrative that some tenants signed against has changed.

Professional services in surrounding office buildings. A new 60,000 sq ft office at the Hub site is a competitor for the next round of office leasing in the South Everett submarket. Watch the lease activity over the next 18 months.

Auto services and self-storage operators in the surrounding area. A new self-storage facility at the Hub site is direct competition for existing operators in the corridor. Capacity additions of this size are uncommon in suburban submarkets and tend to compress pricing for existing operators in the 12-24 months after delivery.

What this signals about Brixton’s read of the South Everett market

Property owners pivot away from entertainment anchors when the entertainment math stops working. Three readings are consistent with the Brixton pre-application:

• Topgolf’s portfolio review under new ownership produced a no. Topgolf’s CEO transition in 2025 and the Leonard Green & Partners 60% acquisition closing on January 1, 2026 are the kind of corporate events that trigger location pipeline reviews. The Everett pre-application is consistent with Everett moving out of the near-term build pipeline.
• The construction cost math on a venue this size has gotten harder. Build costs across the Pacific Northwest remain elevated. Entertainment venues are particularly sensitive to construction cost inflation because the revenue model is based on price points that don’t easily move.
• The owner sees a more reliable cash-flow program in self-storage and office than in waiting for the entertainment anchor. Self-storage is one of the most reliable suburban-property cash-flow uses. A property owner with capital constraints and a half-open building can rationally choose lower upside and higher reliability.

Practical next steps for business owners

• Update your forecast. Any growth assumption tied to Topgolf opening at the Hub @ Everett needs to be rebased.
• Watch for the formal land use application. Pre-applications typically convert to formal applications within months when the project is moving forward. The formal application is when the timeline gets clearer.
• Talk to your landlord. If your current lease was priced or structured around an assumed Topgolf opening, that assumption is now in question. Worth a conversation.
• Watch the office leasing activity. A 60,000 sq ft new office building in South Everett is a meaningful supply addition and a meaningful competitor for the local lunch and coffee market — if it leases.

Frequently asked questions for business owners

Is Topgolf coming or not?

Not officially cancelled, but the May 19, 2026 Brixton pre-application shows a different program in the Topgolf footprint. For business forecasting purposes, treat Topgolf as on hold rather than confirmed.

How big is the proposed office?

60,000 square feet, sitting in the site plan where the Topgolf venue was going to be built.

How big is the proposed self-storage?

The pre-application describes a conversion of “a portion of the building” into self-storage. The exact square footage will be specified in the formal land use application.

When could construction actually start?

The pre-application is the very early stage of the city process. A formal land use application would follow, then SEPA review, then permits, then construction. A realistic earliest construction start is late 2026 to 2027 if the program moves forward without significant changes.

What’s the impact on existing Hub @ Everett tenants?

The half-open corridors and existing partial-tenancy continue to operate. The pre-application is for the larger building program shape, not an immediate displacement.

Related Exploring Everett coverage for business owners

• The Hub @ Everett Is Half-Open and Topgolf Is Stuck: An April 2026 Status Check
• Everett Mall’s Hub Vision Just Got Smaller: Brixton Capital Files for Self-Storage and Office Where Topgolf Was Going
• Snohomish County’s April 2026 Housing Market Has a Number Most Reports Miss: Sales Activity Intensity at 54.9%