Q: What is the Port of Everett doing at the Mukilteo waterfront in 2026?
A: The Port of Everett is assembling a developer-ready site on the Mukilteo waterfront. In February 2026, the Port Commission accepted the former NOAA parcel next to the Silver Cloud Hotel via a federal quitclaim deed, and authorized staff to purchase the neighboring Ivar’s Mukilteo Landing property — pairing a 1.1-acre stretch with a 0.55-acre site and a 9,637-square-foot building. The Port has hired architecture and planning firm NBBJ to support the effort and plans to issue a formal solicitation for a private development partner this spring. The vision: a pedestrian-oriented Front Street with restaurants, retail, small-scale housing, and a waterfront promenade.

The Port of Everett’s Other Waterfront: Here’s What’s Coming Together in Mukilteo Right Now

Everybody knows what the Port of Everett is doing on the Everett side of the water. Waterfront Place is essentially full, the esplanade has its new Bowen bronze sculpture, Rustic Cork is four months in and the rooftop still lives up to the hype. The story on that side is “what opens next.”

The story on the Mukilteo side is something else entirely. It’s less finished, less visible, and — depending on how the next six months shake out — possibly the biggest new waterfront play the Port takes on this decade. If you haven’t been paying attention to what is happening on Front Street in Mukilteo, now is the time. A request for developers is going out this spring.

Here’s what the Port has quietly assembled so far, and what the RFP is going to ask the market to build.

The Property Puzzle the Port Just Finished Solving

For years, the Mukilteo waterfront has been a jigsaw puzzle. The Port owns a parklet and an interim parking lot on the site of the former Washington State Ferry terminal. The Silver Cloud Hotel sits right on the water. And tucked in between — and right next door — were two parcels that had to come together before anything serious could get built.

Parcel one: the former NOAA site. A 1.1-acre stretch east of the Silver Cloud at 710 Front Street. The U.S. Air Force conveyed the site to NOAA in 2013 for a planned research facility. Under a congressional directive, if NOAA didn’t move forward with the research facility, the site would transfer to the Port for public-use redevelopment. NOAA didn’t move forward. On February 3, 2026, the Port Commission formally authorized accepting the quitclaim transfer from the federal government.

Parcel two: Ivar’s Mukilteo Landing. The same February meeting authorized Port staff to enter a Purchase and Sale Agreement with MSI Mukilteo, LLC for a 0.55-acre site that includes a 9,637-square-foot building, a parking lot, and a long-term lease with Ivar’s that stays in place. The Port anticipates closing on the sale in July 2026 after the due diligence period wraps up.

Put those two pieces together with the parklet and the former ferry terminal site the Port already holds, and you have a contiguous Mukilteo waterfront stretch ready to be planned as one project instead of five.

Why NBBJ Is the Name to Know

NBBJ is the Seattle-based architecture and planning firm that led the visioning work for the Port on the Mukilteo concept — the workshops, the community input sessions, the renderings of a walkable Front Street. The Port selected NBBJ through a competitive process to support the development push going forward.

Having the visioning architect carried forward into the development phase is meaningful. A lot of waterfront projects get visioned by one firm, then handed off to a developer’s in-house team, and the community concept quietly drifts during value engineering. Keeping NBBJ in the seat as the Port goes to market for a development partner is the Port telling the community: the vision is the baseline, not a nice-to-have.

What “This Spring” Actually Means

The Port’s language in its February announcement was specific: a formal solicitation to identify a private development partner this spring. That means a Request for Qualifications — or a similar competitive call — for developers to put their financials, their track record, and their general approach in front of the commission. It is not a Request for Proposals with final site plans. It is the screening round that creates the short list.

From there, expect a longer RFP-style phase with selected developers, site-specific concept plans, and eventual negotiation on a development agreement. The timeline from “RFQ issued” to “shovels in the ground” on a project this size is typically measured in years, not quarters. The important thing is that the clock starts this spring. If it starts.

What the Vision Actually Calls For

The community vision that came out of NBBJ’s planning work and the Port’s outreach is about as Pacific Northwest waterfront as it gets: a pedestrian-oriented Front Street tied directly to the water, restaurants and retail at the ground level, small-scale housing above, and a promenade outfitted with what the Port has described as “a unique, beachy charm” — which means walkable, human-scaled, not a monolith.

That is a different flavor than what the Port is doing at Waterfront Place. Everett’s Waterfront Place is a larger mixed-use district with bigger buildings, a marina-scale esplanade, and commercial scope that reflects the Port’s industrial working side just to the north. Mukilteo is smaller, tighter, more fine-grained, and leans harder into the “charming village by the ferry” aesthetic that Mukilteo residents have said for years they want to protect.

The Ivar’s long-term lease staying in place is a tell. The Port isn’t planning to wipe the slate. The redevelopment wraps around the existing restaurant and builds a new pedestrian district out from it.

Why This Matters Beyond Mukilteo

For Everett neighbors, the obvious question is why the Port of Everett’s Mukilteo play matters to us. Three reasons.

First, the Port is one of the most important economic engines in Snohomish County, and its Mukilteo work is part of the same agency’s portfolio as the Millwright District, Waterfront Place, and the Central Marina. Its financial health there affects its financial health here.

Second, the Mukilteo waterfront and the Everett waterfront are part of one regional story — a Snohomish County shoreline that is being redeveloped piece by piece, with the Port as the through-line connecting the dots. How Mukilteo lands will set expectations for the rest of the shoreline.

Third, the community process the Port is using in Mukilteo — visioning first, then property assembly, then carry the vision architect into development — is a template. If it works, it’s the Port’s playbook for how it handles its next land opportunity, wherever that is. If it doesn’t work, the Port will try something else next time.

What We’re Watching Over the Next Six Months

A few concrete things to track. First: the actual RFQ document when it drops. What the Port asks for from developers tells you what it cares about — experience on mixed-use waterfront sites, a willingness to accept the community vision as the starting point, the ability to close the Ivar’s lease without disrupting the restaurant.

Second: the Ivar’s closing in July. Until that sale actually closes, the puzzle isn’t fully assembled. Due diligence on waterfront real estate can get complicated — environmental history, title quirks, shoreline jurisdiction — so the July target is something to verify when the month arrives.

Third: Port commission meetings in May and June. The real substantive discussion on the Mukilteo solicitation will happen in those meetings. The agendas are public. Worth watching.

Fourth: Mukilteo City Council, which has its own land-use authority and will have its own opinions. How aligned the city and the Port stay through the RFQ process will shape how quickly this project moves.

The Mukilteo waterfront is one of the most beautiful sites on the Puget Sound. The Port has just finished assembling the pieces required to redevelop it as one project. Now the hard part starts.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Port of Everett doing in Mukilteo?
The Port is assembling a contiguous waterfront site along Front Street in Mukilteo to be redeveloped as a walkable, mixed-use district. In February 2026, it accepted the former NOAA parcel from the federal government and authorized staff to purchase the neighboring Ivar’s Mukilteo Landing property. It plans to solicit a private development partner this spring.

How big is the site?
The NOAA parcel is 1.1 acres. The Ivar’s parcel is 0.55 acres with a 9,637-square-foot building. Together with the Port’s existing parklet and the former Washington State Ferry terminal site, the Port has assembled a contiguous stretch along Front Street.

Who is designing it?
Architecture and planning firm NBBJ led the community visioning and was selected by the Port through a competitive process to continue supporting the development effort.

Is Ivar’s leaving?
No. The Ivar’s long-term lease stays in place as part of the Port’s purchase. The redevelopment is planned to wrap around the existing Ivar’s Mukilteo Landing.

When will construction start?
The Port plans to issue the formal solicitation for a development partner this spring. After that, it takes a selection process, concept plans, a development agreement, permitting, and financing before anything breaks ground. Waterfront projects of this size typically run on a timeline measured in years.

What will get built?
The Port’s stated vision is a pedestrian-oriented Front Street with restaurants, retail, small-scale housing, and a waterfront promenade — walkable, human-scaled, and in keeping with Mukilteo’s existing waterfront character.

How does this relate to Waterfront Place in Everett?
Both are Port of Everett redevelopment projects, but they are different scales and different flavors. Waterfront Place in Everett is a larger mixed-use district anchored by a marina and commercial buildings. The Mukilteo project is tighter, smaller, and focused on a walkable village district around Ivar’s and the former ferry terminal site.

Q: What did Everett and Community Transit announce on April 22, 2026?
A: Everett Mayor Cassie Franklin and Community Transit CEO Ric Ilgenfritz announced the resumption of joint efforts to consolidate Everett Transit into Community Transit. The two agencies plan to draft an interlocal agreement this summer, aim for a final vote before the end of 2026, and phase in service changes over about a year. Under a 2025 state law amended in 2026, the merger can be approved by the Everett City Council and the Community Transit Board after a public hearing — no ballot measure required.

Everett Transit Is Merging Into Community Transit: What Yesterday’s Announcement Actually Changes for Riders

We knew this conversation was coming back. On Wednesday, April 22, 2026, Everett Mayor Cassie Franklin and Community Transit CEO Ric Ilgenfritz stood together and restarted one of the biggest quiet-but-consequential conversations in Snohomish County: folding Everett Transit into Community Transit as a single, countywide system.

If you ride the 7, the 8, or any of the routes that loop between downtown Everett, Casino Road, and Silver Lake, this is your future. And if you care about how Everett connects to Link light rail when it finally shows up, this is arguably the most important local story of the week — bigger than the stadium vote, bigger than the next Port of Everett press release.

Here is what we actually know, what is still being drafted, and what neighbors are already asking.

What Was Actually Announced on April 22

The formal announcement came as a joint statement from the City of Everett and Community Transit. The headline: the two agencies will draft an interlocal agreement for the City of Everett to annex into Community Transit’s service district. That draft will move through the Everett City Council and the Community Transit Board of Directors this fall, with the hope of having a final version ready to vote on before the end of 2026.

If both bodies approve, service changes would phase in over about a year. In the transition, the existing bus networks of both agencies would largely continue to run the way they do today. The point is not to yank routes on day one. The point is a slow merge where riders see better frequency, fewer transfers, and a single system map where Everett isn’t a walled-off island inside the county.

Why This Is Suddenly Possible After Years of False Starts

Everett and Community Transit have looked at this merger before. It has failed before. What’s different in 2026 is a state law, originally passed in 2025 and amended this year, that allows a public transportation benefit area like Community Transit to annex a municipal transit agency through an interlocal agreement — approved by the boards of both governing bodies after a public hearing. No countywide ballot measure. No citywide ballot measure. No two-year petition campaign.

That is the mechanism. The politics have also shifted. With Sound Transit facing a reported $34.5 billion system-wide deficit and the Everett Link extension timeline already pushed from 2036 into the 2037–2041 window, both the city and the county have a strong interest in making sure that when light rail does land at Everett Station, the local bus network feeding it is unified and legible, not two separate agencies handing off riders at the boundary.

Mayor Franklin framed it pretty bluntly. Through annexation, Everett can offer residents more connections, more destinations, more frequent buses, shorter waits, and evening service that actually exists.

The Sales Tax Question Is the One Everybody’s Asking

This is the part that will show up on a lot of kitchen tables. Everett Transit is funded by a local transit sales tax of roughly 0.6 percent. Community Transit’s rate is roughly 1.2 percent. If the annexation goes through, Community Transit’s rate applies in Everett.

That math is real. The city and county are already acknowledging it in their communications. The pitch they are making to riders and to taxpayers is that the service delivered in exchange — more frequency, better span of service, integration with the rest of the county, and a cleaner handoff to Link light rail — is worth the step up. Some riders will agree. Some won’t. And the “Keep Everett Transit” organizing we’ve seen over the last couple of years has not disappeared; expect a real public hearing to feel like a real public hearing.

There’s also a letter already running in the Daily Herald arguing the merger should go to a public vote, not just a council and board vote. Whether that argument picks up momentum over the next few months is one of the things to watch.

How This Fits Into Everything Else Happening on the Waterfront

Zoom out. Everett is building out the Millwright District and Waterfront Place at the same time. The AquaSox and USL stadium is heading for a pivotal design-funding vote on April 29. Eclipse Mill Park on the Riverfront is on a two-phase build that runs through 2028. The Sound Transit Everett Link extension is somewhere on the horizon, delayed but not dead.

All of that assumes a transit network that can actually move people between the new places. Right now, the bus ride between the waterfront and Silver Lake isn’t the same agency as the bus ride between Silver Lake and Lynnwood — which means transfers, separate ORCA card logic for passes, and a system that feels fragmented by geography instead of by trip. A merger does not fix frequency overnight. It does set the table for the next capital plan to fix frequency as one network instead of two.

Timeline, If Everything Holds

Here is the rough calendar as Franklin and Ilgenfritz described it:

• Summer 2026: Staff from Everett and Community Transit draft the interlocal agreement. Public outreach runs alongside it.
• Fall 2026: Everett City Council and the Community Transit Board take up the draft. Public hearings in both bodies.
• End of 2026: Target for final approval of the interlocal agreement.
• 2027 into 2028: Service integration phased in over roughly a year. Route numbers, pass products, and scheduling gradually consolidate.

That timeline can slip. Interlocal agreements are messy documents — they have to resolve labor representation, asset transfers, paratransit service coverage, and debt. Everett Transit has buses, a fleet yard, maintenance staff, and a paratransit operation that have to land somewhere in the final structure.

What We’re Watching Over the Next Six Months

A few things will tell us whether this merger is actually going to land. First: how detailed and transparent the interlocal agreement draft is when it goes public in late summer. Second: whether the fall public hearings surface any major structural objection that the two boards didn’t anticipate. Third: whether Everett Transit operators and maintenance workers — who are represented labor — end up with a clear path into Community Transit’s workforce. Fourth: whether the city finds a clean way to handle the sales tax transition so it doesn’t show up as a surprise on one month’s receipts.

If all four land cleanly, Everett heads into 2027 as part of one countywide system. If any of them stumbles, this conversation rolls into 2027 and the next council session. Either way, yesterday was the moment the merger went from “studying it” to “drafting the agreement.” That’s real movement.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will this go to a public vote?
Under the 2025–2026 state law that makes the annexation possible, the merger can be approved by the Everett City Council and the Community Transit Board after a public hearing, without a citywide or countywide ballot measure. At least one letter to the Daily Herald has argued it should still go on a ballot. The formal process, as described by the two agencies on April 22, does not require a public vote.

When would the merger actually take effect?
The two agencies are aiming for a final vote on an interlocal agreement by the end of 2026. Service integration would then phase in over roughly a year — so many visible changes would roll through 2027 and into 2028.

What happens to the Everett Transit sales tax?
Everett’s current transit sales tax is about 0.6 percent. Community Transit’s is about 1.2 percent. If the annexation goes through, Community Transit’s rate applies inside Everett.

Do my current routes disappear?
Not on day one. The two agencies have said the existing networks will largely be preserved during the transition and integrated over about a year. Expect route numbers and some coverage patterns to change as the single-network map is drawn, but not a hard cutover.

How does this connect to Sound Transit Link light rail in Everett?
The stated rationale for merging includes making sure the local bus network is unified when the Everett Link extension eventually opens. A single agency running the last-mile bus service to and from Everett Station is easier to plan around than two separate agencies handing riders off at the city line.

Who pushed this forward now?
Mayor Cassie Franklin on the Everett side and CEO Ric Ilgenfritz on the Community Transit side made the April 22 joint announcement. The state law that makes the mechanism possible was sponsored by Sen. Marko Liias of Edmonds.

What happens to Everett Transit employees?
That is one of the main issues the interlocal agreement has to resolve. The details — labor representation, wages, benefits, seniority — will be in the public draft when it is released later this year.

Deeper Coverage in the Exploring Everett Series

For a more comprehensive treatment of the issues raised in this article, see:

• The Everett Transit Merger Into Community Transit: Complete 2026 Guide

What is the Everett housing market doing in April 2026? Everett’s median home price is sitting in the mid-$500s — around $577K based on early-month data — while broader Snohomish County is around a $730K median, with average home values down roughly 5.8% year-over-year. The market has split sharply by price point: homes under $750K are moving quickly, the $750K-$949K range has cooled, and rentals are down about 2% year-over-year. Mortgage rates are holding near 6.17% and inventory is around 1.9 months countywide.

We’ve been tracking the Everett housing market every couple of weeks because the story keeps moving. April 2026 is the month where a few of the trendlines finally settled into a clear picture, and that picture is more interesting than the simple “up or down” narrative the headlines tend to default to. Everett isn’t one market. It’s at least three markets stacked on top of each other, and each one is behaving differently.

Here’s where things stand right now and what it means if you’re thinking about buying, selling, or holding.

The headline numbers

• Everett median home price: Approximately $577,000 (per early-April 2026 reporting, based on March 2026 closed sales)
• Snohomish County median: Approximately $730,000 (per recent county-wide tracking)
• Average Snohomish County home value: $705,515, down approximately 5.8% year-over-year (Zillow / county tracking)
• Inventory: Approximately 1.9 months of supply countywide
• Mortgage rates: Holding near 6.17% on the 30-year fixed (April 2026)
• Sales activity intensity: 43.9% — characterized by local market trackers as a “functional, more rational” market rather than the buyer’s-market or seller’s-market extremes of the last few years
• Rents: Down approximately 2% year-over-year on average

None of those numbers are dramatic. That’s the point. The story of April 2026 is that the Everett market has stopped doing dramatic things and started behaving like a normal real estate market again. After several years of rate-driven volatility, that’s actually the news.

Three markets, not one

Average median prices hide what’s actually happening on the ground. Once you split Everett by price band, you get three very different markets:

The under-$750K market: still moving

Homes priced under $750K in Everett are moving quickly in April 2026. This is the bracket where most first-time buyers and step-up buyers are competing. With rates holding around 6.17% and inventory tight, well-priced homes in this range are still getting multiple-offer activity, especially in Bayside, Delta, View Ridge, and parts of Silver Lake where the inventory is older and well-located.

If you’re a seller in this band, the playbook hasn’t changed much: price right, prep the house, and you’ll get traction inside two weeks in most cases. Overprice it and it’ll sit — buyers in this range are payment-sensitive and rate-aware.

The $750K-$949K market: mixed, slower

This is where April 2026 is getting harder to read. Homes in the upper-$700s through mid-$900s in Everett are showing mixed activity. Some are moving on the first weekend; others are sitting through multiple price cuts. The buyer pool here is thinner — payment math at $850K and 6.17% is meaningfully different than $550K and 6.17%, and the buyer profiles split between move-up families and second-home or investor activity that has cooled.

Sellers in this band are increasingly pricing slightly below comps and offering rate buy-down credits to drive traffic. That’s a meaningful change from the seller-driven posture of 2021-2023.

The $950K+ market: case-by-case

Above $950K in Everett, the market is essentially case-by-case. There aren’t many transactions, the inventory turns over slowly, and individual deals can swing the median for an entire neighborhood. View-corridor homes in NW Everett, View Ridge, and Boulevard Bluffs are the most active subset; everything else moves on a longer timeline. If you’re selling here, you’re playing the patient seller’s game.

Rentals: the other side of the same story

Everett’s rental market is the quieter half of the housing story but it’s running in parallel. Average rents are down approximately 2% year-over-year in April 2026, the first sustained softening we’ve tracked since 2021. The driver is supply — the Sawyer, the Carling, and several smaller new-construction projects added meaningful inventory in 2024-2025, and the absorption has been steady but not aggressive.

What that means in practice: tenants have meaningfully more leverage in April 2026 than they did 12 months ago. Concessions are more common. Renewal increases are smaller. New buildings are negotiating on price, parking, and free-month incentives. None of this looks like a collapse — vacancy is still low and the underlying demand is real — but the pricing power has shifted modestly back toward the renter side.

For homeowners thinking about converting a unit to a long-term rental, the math now requires a sharper pencil. The “rent it out for whatever the market gives” approach that worked in 2022 doesn’t pencil cleanly in April 2026.

What’s holding the market together

Despite the year-over-year price softening, a few structural factors are keeping Everett’s market from following any sharper down-cycle pattern:

Supply remains tight. 1.9 months of inventory countywide is still well below balanced-market territory (typically 4-6 months). Even in a softer pricing environment, a tight supply base prevents prices from falling faster.

Mortgage rates are stable, not spiking. 6.17% isn’t cheap by 2020-2021 standards, but it’s predictable. Buyers can plan around it. The market damage in 2022-2023 came from rates moving fast, not from rates being high.

Boeing employment is stable to growing. The North Line ramp at Paine Field and the broader 737/777X production cadence support a meaningful slice of the local buyer pool. As long as Boeing is hiring at Everett’s plants and SPEEA contract negotiations land cleanly, the wage base behind the housing market holds.

Waterfront and downtown investment is real. The Sawyer/Carling occupancy at 95%, the new restaurants opening at Restaurant Row, the Millwright pre-leasing momentum, and the stadium decision queue up a credible “things are getting better” story for downtown-adjacent neighborhoods. That doesn’t move the median tomorrow, but it shapes the medium-term confidence story.

What we’d watch next

A few things to watch over the next 60-90 days:

• The April 29 stadium vote. Whatever way it goes, it’ll affect downtown-adjacent housing demand and developer confidence in projects near the proposed site.
• Rate moves. Anything that pulls the 30-year below 6% would meaningfully reactivate the upper-$700s through mid-$900s band that’s currently cooled.
• The Millwright Phase 2 buildout sequencing. 300+ new units coming online over the next 18-24 months will affect both the for-sale and rental markets in the immediate waterfront/downtown corridor.
• The Sound Transit Everett Link decision path. The DEIS coming this fall and the board decisions through 2027 will shape long-term demand around future station locations.

What to do if you’re a buyer right now

If you’re shopping under $750K, accept that you’re still in a competitive market and price your offers accordingly. Get fully underwritten before you tour. Move fast on the right house. Don’t chase, but don’t dawdle.

If you’re shopping $750K-$949K, you have meaningfully more room than you did a year ago. Use it. Negotiate rate buy-downs into your offer. Ask for closing-cost contributions. The leverage is closer to balanced here than it has been in years.

If you’re shopping $950K+, you have time. Tour broadly, take your time on the comps, and don’t be afraid to make a number-driven offer well under list. The patient buyer wins this band right now.

What to do if you’re a seller right now

Price right out of the gate. The “list high and see what happens” strategy of 2021-2022 actively hurts sellers in April 2026 — buyers are watching days-on-market and they read aggressive overpricing as desperation when the price drops eventually come.

Prep the house. Buyers in 2026 are payment-sensitive and risk-averse. They want to see a house that won’t surprise them with $40K of immediate work. Pre-inspect, fix the obvious stuff, and price accordingly.

If you’re selling above $950K, plan for a longer marketing window and consider a creative concession structure — rate buy-down, closing-cost credit, or short-term rate lock — rather than another price cut.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the median home price in Everett, WA right now?
Approximately $577,000 as of early April 2026 reporting based on March 2026 closed sales. The county-wide Snohomish median is closer to $730,000.

Are home prices in Everett going up or down in 2026?
Year-over-year, average Snohomish County home values are down approximately 5.8%. Within Everett specifically, the picture is split by price point — under $750K is holding firm with active demand, $750K-$949K is mixed, and $950K+ is case-by-case.

What are mortgage rates doing in April 2026?
The 30-year fixed is holding near 6.17%. Rates have been more stable than at any point since 2022, which has helped the market settle into a more predictable rhythm.

Is now a good time to buy in Everett?
It depends on price band. Buyers in the $750K-$949K range have meaningfully more leverage than they did a year ago. Buyers under $750K are still in a competitive market. Buyers above $950K can take their time and negotiate.

Are rents going up or down in Everett?
Average rents are down approximately 2% year-over-year in April 2026, driven by new supply from projects including the Sawyer and Carling at Waterfront Place plus several smaller new-construction projects.

How much inventory is on the market?
Approximately 1.9 months of supply countywide — still below balanced-market territory (typically 4-6 months), which is one reason prices haven’t softened faster despite the year-over-year decline.

Which Everett neighborhoods are seeing the most activity?
Bayside, Delta, View Ridge, and parts of Silver Lake remain active in the under-$750K band where most transaction volume is happening. Downtown-adjacent neighborhoods are getting interest tied to the Waterfront Place buildout and the stadium decision pipeline.

What is planned for retail in Millwright District Phase 2? The Port of Everett and Lincoln Property Company are targeting family-entertainment retail for Phase 2 of the Millwright District at Waterfront Place — including a movie theater, miniature golf, an arcade, bowling, plus smaller shops, gyms, and salons. Retail is anticipated to be completed by mid-2029, behind the up-to-120,000 sq. ft. of Class-A office space currently in pre-leasing.

We’ve spent a lot of time on the office side of the Millwright District story — the up-to-120,000 square feet of Class-A space across three interconnected buildings, the 5,000 sq. ft. minimum suite, the pre-leasing campaign Lincoln Property Company has been running since 2025. It’s a real story and we’ll keep covering it. But the part we get asked about more often, by people who actually live in Everett, is the other part: what’s going to be on the ground floor?

Now we have at least a directional answer. According to recent Port presentations and Phase 2 planning materials, the family-entertainment retail vision for Millwright is starting to come into focus — and it’s a meaningful departure from the Restaurant Row playbook the Port used at Fisherman’s Harbor. Phase 1 went all-in on dining. Phase 2 is leaning toward things you do, not just things you eat.

What’s on the wishlist

The Port has publicly described the Millwright Phase 2 retail mix as family-entertainment-style retail, with specific concepts named in planning conversations including:

• A movie theater — the kind of anchor Everett has been thin on since the closure of older downtown screens. Whether that’s a multiplex format or a smaller boutique theater isn’t yet specified, but the floorplate at Millwright supports either.
• Miniature golf — likely indoor or partially-indoor given the Everett rain calendar, leaning into the date-night and family-outing market.
• Arcade and bowling — both commonly bundled in modern entertainment retail concepts (think Pinstripes or Bowlero in larger markets, or smaller independent operators in mid-size cities like ours).
• Small shops, gyms, and salons — the day-to-day service retail layer that an apartment cluster of this size needs to function.

That’s the menu. None of it is signed yet — the Port and Lincoln have not announced specific tenants for Phase 2 retail as of late April 2026 — but the program direction is set, and that direction tells you a lot about how the next five years on the waterfront are going to look.

Why the entertainment-retail pivot makes sense

Here’s the math the Port is working with. By the time Phase 2 opens, the immediate Waterfront Place neighborhood will have:

• The 266 existing apartments at the Sawyer and Carling (currently 95% occupied)
• The 300+ new units breaking ground in Millwright Phase 2
• Two existing hotels
• 1.6+ million annual visitors based on 2024 numbers
• 14 existing food and beverage venues with five more opening in 2025-2026

That’s a lot of people who already eat here. What they don’t have within walking distance is somewhere to go after dinner that isn’t another bar. The entertainment-retail pivot answers that gap directly. It also pulls in a market the Port hasn’t aggressively chased yet — families with kids old enough to want their own thing — and it gives apartment residents a reason to stay on the waterfront on a Saturday afternoon instead of driving to Lynnwood or Alderwood for a movie.

The math also works for retail tenants. Ground-floor entertainment concepts need foot traffic and parking. Waterfront Place provides both: 1.6M annual visitors, free public parking through the lots and garages, and a captive resident population growing toward 600+ units within a five-minute walk. That’s a stronger pre-opening pitch than most ground-floor retail in suburban Snohomish County can offer.

How the Port is staging the buildout

The current sequencing on Millwright Phase 2 is roughly:

• 2025-2026: Office pre-leasing campaign with Lincoln Property Company. Targeting up to 120,000 sq. ft. of Class-A space across up to three buildings.
• 2026: 300+ apartment units breaking ground.
• 2027-2028: Office and apartment delivery. Vertical construction across the Millwright site.
• Mid-2029 target: Retail phase completion — including the family-entertainment tenants the Port is now pursuing.

The retail trails the office and residential delivery on purpose. You don’t open a movie theater into an empty district. You open it once the residents are moved in, the office workers are filling the cafes at lunch, and the foot-traffic baseline is established. Mid-2029 lines up roughly with the Sawyer/Carling stabilizing fully and the new 300+ units hitting their first turnover cycle.

Where this fits in Everett’s bigger entertainment-retail picture

Everett doesn’t have a lot of entertainment retail right now. The closest comparable concepts are scattered: Round1 at Alderwood Mall, the AMC at Alderwood, a couple of bowling centers, the venues that anchor the Mill Creek and Lynnwood ends of the county. Within Everett city limits, the nearest movie theater operating today is the Stanwood Cinemas/Galaxy chain reach, plus the historic Everett Theatre downtown for a different kind of programming.

What that means is Millwright’s family-entertainment vision doesn’t have to fight an existing concentration in the immediate area. It can fill a real gap. The downtown stadium project, if it moves forward, will pull additional event-night traffic to the same general district. The Eclipse Mill Park signature park project will add green-space programming in the same corridor. Combine those and you start to see the outlines of an actual entertainment district — waterfront restaurants, ballpark, family-entertainment retail, signature park — within a 15-minute walk of each other.

That’s the bet. It’s a long bet — mid-2029 is three years out — but the supporting pieces are stacking up.

What could change this

Three things to watch:

1. Office pre-leasing momentum. If Lincoln signs anchor office tenants ahead of schedule, the entire Millwright timeline pulls forward and retail gets in faster. If office pre-leasing stalls, the retail phase slides right.

2. The downtown stadium decision. The April 29 City Council vote on the additional $10.6M design funding will tell us a lot about whether the stadium becomes the second anchor of the entertainment district or gets restructured. Either way, it shapes the foot-traffic math the retail tenants will run.

3. Tenant economics. Modern entertainment retail concepts — especially anchor formats like movie theaters and full bowling centers — have been navigating real headwinds nationally. A signed deal with a national anchor would meaningfully de-risk the timeline. A series of smaller independent operators is also possible and would shape the district differently.

The bottom line for Everett

The Millwright Phase 2 retail vision is one of the more interesting development bets currently on the table for Everett. It’s not a guarantee — none of the named concepts are signed, and the timeline runs into 2029. But the Port is signaling clearly where they want this to go, and that signal matters because it’s directional information for everyone else: prospective office tenants, restaurant operators looking at the last Fisherman’s Harbor parcels, residential developers eyeing parcels north and south of Millwright, and small-business owners thinking about whether the waterfront is where they want their next location.

Three years from now, if all of this lands, walking Waterfront Place on a Saturday night could mean dinner at Tapped Public House, a movie at the Millwright theater, a round of mini-golf, and a beer at Sound to Summit before heading home to a Sawyer apartment. That’s a different city than the one we have today.

Frequently Asked Questions

What kind of retail is planned for Millwright District Phase 2?
Family-entertainment-style retail, with specific concepts including a movie theater, miniature golf, an arcade, bowling, plus smaller shops, gyms, and salons.

When will Millwright District Phase 2 retail open?
The Port has indicated mid-2029 as the target for retail phase completion, behind the office and residential delivery scheduled for 2027-2028.

Have any specific retail tenants been announced?
Not as of late April 2026. The Port and Lincoln Property Company have described the retail vision and program direction publicly, but no signed tenants have been named for Phase 2 retail.

How much office space is in Millwright Phase 2?
Up to 120,000 square feet of Class-A office space across up to three interconnected buildings. Suites range from 5,000 sq. ft. up to the full 120,000 sq. ft. Pre-leasing is being run by Lincoln Property Company.

How many apartments will Phase 2 add?
300+ new residential units, which will join the existing 266 units at the Sawyer and Carling — bringing total Waterfront Place housing close to 600 units when Phase 2 stabilizes.

How does this compare to Phase 1 at Fisherman’s Harbor?
Phase 1 led with dining — Restaurant Row now hosts Fisherman Jack’s, South Fork Baking Company, Rustic Cork, The Net Shed, Tapped Public House, with Marina Azul and Menchie’s opening soon. Phase 2 is leaning toward entertainment retail rather than additional restaurants, on the theory that the dining base has been established and residents now need somewhere to go after dinner.

Where is Millwright District located?
Just north of Fisherman’s Harbor at the Port of Everett’s Waterfront Place. It’s part of the same 65+ acre waterfront redevelopment, walking distance from Boxcar Park and the Central Marina esplanade.

What is the new bronze sculpture at the Port of Everett? A bronze figure of a young girl looking out over the marina, installed in late 2025 along the Central Marina esplanade between Pacific Rim Plaza and Boxcar Park. Sultan-based artist Kevin Pettelle created the piece, inspired by a 1940s photograph of Kathy Reinell Bowen — daughter of Reinell Boats founder Edward Reinell — taken by her father between what were then Pier 1 and Pier 2 of the Everett boat harbor.

If you’ve walked the Central Marina esplanade at the Port of Everett anytime in the last few months, you’ve probably already met her. A small bronze figure in a plaid jacket and saddle shoes, looking past the slips toward what is now a working international Seaport. She doesn’t have a plaque calling her by name, but she has one — and the story behind her is one of the more quietly remarkable pieces of public art the Port has installed.

We’ve been spending a lot of time on the waterfront chasing what’s coming next — the Sawyer and Carling at 95 percent occupancy, the steakhouse pitch for the last Restaurant Row parcel, Marina Azul almost open, the next phase of Millwright office space pre-leasing. It’s easy in that mode to walk right past the things that are already finished. The Bowen bronze is one of them. And it’s worth a stop.

Who is the girl in the bronze?

Her name is Kathy Reinell Bowen. The original photograph was taken in the 1940s by her father, Edward Reinell, founder of Reinell Boats — one of the boat-building names woven into Everett’s mid-century maritime history. In the photo she’s about four or five years old, standing at the edge of the small Everett boat harbor that sat between what was then Pier 1 and Pier 2. The pose is unposed in the way good family photos are: she’s just looking out at the water, the way a kid does when grownups are talking and the boats are more interesting.

The photograph hung at the Everett Yacht Club for years. According to Historic Everett, a former classmate of Bowen’s spotted it on the wall, recognized her, and that’s how the Port and the artist were eventually able to put a name to the picture. That’s the kind of detail that makes this piece land differently than most public art commissions. It isn’t a generic bronze of a generic kid. It’s a real person, identified by the people who knew her, immortalized at a place her family helped build.

The artist: Kevin Pettelle, Sultan, WA

The sculpture was created by Kevin Pettelle, a bronze artist based in Sultan, Washington — about an hour east of Everett up the Skykomish Valley. Pettelle has done figurative bronze work across the Pacific Northwest for decades, and the Bowen piece is among the last bronze sculptures he says he plans to make in his career. That detail alone makes the installation feel less like another city beautification line item and more like a closing chapter from a working artist who chose to spend it on Everett.

The bronze itself is full of details you only catch on a second look. The buttons on her coat are stamped with the Port’s Waterfront Place logo. The patina on her scarf fans out in a pattern designed to mimic light moving across water. She’s wearing the same plaid jacket and saddle shoes from the photograph, in the same pose. Pettelle didn’t redraw the girl — he reached back into the original frame and pulled her out three-dimensionally.

Where to find her

The sculpture sits along the Central Marina esplanade, in the stretch between Pacific Rim Plaza and Boxcar Park. If you’re parking at Waterfront Place and walking south toward Boxcar, you’ll pass her on the water side of the path. The vista was deliberately chosen — she’s looking out across the marina toward the slips, not at the buildings behind her. The whole installation is essentially asking you to share her view for a minute.

It’s an easy add to any waterfront walk. From the Bluewater Distilling end of Fisherman’s Harbor it’s about a five-minute stroll south along the esplanade. From Boxcar Park itself it’s even closer — head north along the water and you’ll be there in two or three minutes.

How the piece fits the Port’s bigger public art push

The Bowen bronze isn’t standing alone out there. The Port has been quietly building a public art collection along Waterfront Place for several years now — most visibly the illuminated orca installation that anchors the southern end of Boxcar Park, plus several smaller historical interpretation pieces and signage installations through Pacific Rim Plaza. The Port’s stated goal is to layer in art that connects the working maritime past to the redeveloped present without feeling like a museum tour.

That layering matters for a place like Waterfront Place. This is a redevelopment of a working harbor — the Port still moves around 16 million tons of cargo a year, the marina is the largest public marina on the West Coast with 2,300 slips, and 1.6 million people visited the waterfront in 2024 alone. There’s real potential for the new restaurants, hotels, and apartments to flatten that history into background. The Bowen piece is a small but pointed counter to that — a reminder that the Reinell name and the boat-building families and the kids who grew up on these docks are part of why this place is worth redeveloping in the first place.

Why this matters more than a typical public art install

Most public art at master-planned developments is decorative. A nice piece, well-lit, photographed for the marketing site, mostly invisible to the people who live there after the first month. The Bowen bronze is doing something different. It’s connecting a specific local family — Reinell Boats, the photograph, the yacht club, the classmate who recognized her — to a specific physical spot on the redeveloped waterfront. That’s harder to walk past.

It also pairs really well with the Port’s broader case for the waterfront, which is essentially: this place was always something to people. The redevelopment isn’t building a destination from scratch. It’s building a destination on top of a working harbor that already had stories, families, and kids who looked out at boats. The bronze makes that argument quietly and without a press release.

What we’d like to see next

One thing that’s still missing: signage. Right now there’s no plaque at the sculpture explaining who Bowen is, who Pettelle is, or what the original photograph was. People stop, look, take a picture, and walk on without the story. Adding a small interpretive sign — even just a QR code linking to the Port’s public art page — would multiply the value of the piece without changing it. The Port has done this well at other Waterfront Place installations and at Boxcar Park; this one deserves the same treatment.

Beyond that, the Bowen bronze sets a real bar for what additional public art on the waterfront should look like. As Phase 2 of Waterfront Place opens up new public spaces around Eclipse Mill Park and the Millwright District, the Port has a chance to keep going in this direction — local families, real people, specific photographs, named artists. Not generic.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is the new Port of Everett bronze sculpture located?
Along the Central Marina esplanade at Waterfront Place, between Pacific Rim Plaza and Boxcar Park. It’s on the water side of the walking path.

Who is the girl depicted in the bronze?
Kathy Reinell Bowen, daughter of Edward Reinell, founder of Reinell Boats. The original photograph was taken by her father in the 1940s when she was approximately 4-5 years old.

Who created the sculpture?
Sultan, WA-based bronze artist Kevin Pettelle. The Port of Everett commissioned the piece, and Pettelle has indicated it’s among the last bronze sculptures he plans to make in his career.

When was the sculpture installed?
Late 2025, with a public unveiling held in February 2026.

Are there other public art pieces at the Port of Everett?
Yes. The Port has been building a public art collection along Waterfront Place for several years, including the illuminated orca installation at Boxcar Park, historical interpretation pieces at Pacific Rim Plaza, and signage installations throughout the development.

Is there a fee to see it?
No. The esplanade is a public walkway. Free parking is available throughout Waterfront Place — see the Port’s 2026 visitor parking guide for current rates and locations.

What was the original photograph?
A 1940s candid taken by Edward Reinell of his daughter Kathy looking out over the small Everett boat harbor that sat between what were then Pier 1 and Pier 2. The photograph hung at the Everett Yacht Club for decades, where a classmate of Bowen’s eventually recognized her.

Featured Snippet

Q: When will Eclipse Mill Park at Everett’s Riverfront actually open?

A: The park will now be built in two phases. The City of Everett’s waterside portion — the pier, floating dock, playground, and fish habitat work — starts July 2026 and wraps in November 2026 after the Washington Department of Ecology pushed the original start back for additional site-condition review. The second, larger phase, built by developer Shelter Holdings, runs from fall 2026 through spring 2028, with the full Eclipse Mill Park opening projected for spring 2028.

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Eclipse Mill Park Gets a New Timeline: Why Everett’s Riverfront Signature Park Is Now a Spring 2028 Opening

We’ve been watching the Riverfront development on the west bank of the Snohomish River for years now, and if you drive past it on the way to the new Costco at I-5 and 41st, you already know the shape of the thing. Apartments are up. Retail pads are framed out. The trail along the river is there if you know where to look for it. But the piece that was supposed to tie the whole development together — Eclipse Mill Park, the 3-acre public park that’s going to be the signature green space for the new neighborhood — has a new timeline, and it’s worth understanding what changed.

Here’s where things actually stand as of late April 2026, and what it means for the Riverfront buildout.

The Short Version: A Two-Phase Park With Two Different Builders

Eclipse Mill Park isn’t being built as a single contract or by a single entity. The 3-acre park is split into two phases, with two different builders on two different timelines. That’s the first thing to understand, because the confusion over “when does the park open” has largely come from people treating it as one project when it’s really two.

Phase 1 — City of Everett’s portion. This is the waterside end. Playground. Pier. Floating dock. Fish habitat improvements along the riverbank. The City Council approved a $3.6 million construction contract last May to build this phase.

Phase 2 — Shelter Holdings’ portion. This is the upland section of the park, built by the private developer as part of their Development Agreement with the City. This is the larger portion of the park’s 3 acres.

Two builders. Two contracts. Two timelines. And two different reasons the opening keeps sliding.

Why Phase 1 Slid to July 2026

The original plan had City of Everett crews starting Phase 1 work earlier, with the waterside amenities coming online in 2026. That timeline got redrawn after the Washington Department of Ecology requested additional review of site conditions along the riverbank — a standard request for any project that touches fish habitat on a river as ecologically significant as the Snohomish.

The revised schedule now has:

• Construction mobilization: July 2026
• Waterside amenities complete: November 2026

So the pier, the floating dock (which Port officials have said could eventually be used to launch personal watercraft), the playground, and the fish habitat restoration work are all targeting a late-2026 completion on the City’s end. That’s a real, visible change Riverfront residents will see this year — crews on site by midsummer, open amenities by late fall.

Why Phase 2 Runs Fall 2026 to Spring 2028

Once the City’s portion wraps, Shelter Holdings picks up the baton. Their phase of the park is scheduled from fall 2026 through spring 2028, which puts the full-park opening at spring 2028 — about 18 months later than anyone in the neighborhood was hoping when the Riverfront plan was first approved.

Why so long? A few honest reasons. The Phase 2 work is the larger share of the 3 acres. It’s being built by the developer, not the City, which means it’s coordinated with the rest of the Shelter Holdings buildout — apartments, retail pads, parking, internal streets — and you can’t pour the signature park in the middle of active mixed-use construction without risking damaging it. So the park goes last, and it goes slow, and the opening date sits at spring 2028.

What Gets Built: The Actual Park Design

The published park program is generous for a 3-acre urban waterfront park. Here’s what the full build includes once both phases are done:

• A waterfront pier extending into the Snohomish River
• A floating dock sized for personal watercraft launch
• A playground at the City’s end of the park
• A signature open lawn and gathering space on the Shelter Holdings side
• Fish habitat improvements built into the riverbank along the full frontage
• Trails connecting the park to the broader Riverfront trail network
• Integration with the apartments and retail to the east so the park reads as the neighborhood’s front porch, not just leftover space

It’s not the acreage of Grand Avenue Park or Forest Park. But for the kind of neighborhood Riverfront is trying to become — dense, mixed-use, transit-accessible, and built on a former industrial site — a 3-acre programmed park with a working pier is a meaningful amenity.

The Bigger Picture: Riverfront’s Slow Build Continues

Eclipse Mill Park’s slip to 2028 is part of a pattern we’ve been tracking for a while. The Riverfront project was originally approved as a 40-acre, 1,250-unit mixed-use development that would include a multiplex cinema, a specialty grocer, a 250-room hotel, office space, and 3 acres of park. The cinema has since been swapped for pickleball courts (reflecting where the indoor entertainment dollar is going in 2026), the grocer has moved around on the site plan, and the timeline for each piece has shifted.

Two mixed-use apartment buildings are already up. Phase 2 housing — the piece that really fills out the neighborhood — is underway. The hotel is still a future phase. And now the park, which was supposed to open alongside Phase 2 apartments, slides to 2028.

None of this is unusual for a redevelopment of an old industrial site on a federally regulated river. Every interaction with Ecology, every seasonal fish window, every shared utility trench adds weeks. If you’ve watched any of Seattle’s waterfront projects unfold, you know the shape of it.

What Residents Will Actually See This Year

Even with the park pushed to 2028, there’s real work happening on the Riverfront waterline this year that residents can watch in real time:

• Summer 2026: City crews mobilize for Phase 1 park construction. Expect fencing, equipment staging, and in-water work during the permitted fish window.
• Fall 2026: Phase 1 waterside amenities near completion. The pier and floating dock take shape.
• November 2026: City portion hits substantial completion.
• Fall 2026 — concurrent: Shelter Holdings begins Phase 2 park construction, running through 2027.
• Through 2026-2027: Remaining Shelter Holdings residential buildings continue vertical construction.

The Riverfront trail along the Snohomish River stays open throughout, which is the piece most residents actually use day to day. If you walk the trail now, you’ll see the raw edge where the riverbank will be reshaped for fish habitat — watching that transform from fall through next year is going to be one of the more visible pieces of construction on the east side of Everett.

How the Riverfront Delay Compares to Waterfront Place

For context, the Waterfront Place development over on the Port of Everett side is running its own slipping timeline. Millwright District Phase 2 is breaking ground this year with 300+ apartments targeting tenant move-ins by late 2026, but the Class-A office buildings aren’t expected to open until as early as 2028. S3 Maritime just opened. Menchie’s and Marina Azul are in the pipeline. The flagship restaurant parcel is still in tenant search.

Both the Riverfront and the Waterfront are doing the same kind of work on different sites — converting former industrial edges into mixed-use neighborhoods, with parks, restaurants, and apartments. Both are running into the same realities: Ecology review windows, developer coordination, fish seasons, infrastructure sequencing, and the plain fact that you can’t stand up a neighborhood in 18 months.

The difference between watching these projects with frustration and watching them with curiosity is mostly about whether you understand what the timelines actually mean. An extra year on Eclipse Mill Park isn’t a failure — it’s the cost of doing riverbank restoration right, in a phased build, with a private developer stitching into a public park.

What Comes Next

The next milestone to watch is July 2026 mobilization at the park’s waterside. If that holds, the Phase 1 amenities will be open by Thanksgiving. Shelter Holdings’ Phase 2 timeline is tied to the rest of their buildout, so the next market update on Riverfront housing will be the better indicator of whether the park’s 2028 opening slips again.

We’ll be back at the Riverfront site later this summer with photos once the fencing goes up and the equipment stages in. If you’re a resident of one of the existing Riverfront buildings and you see activity before then, we want to know what you’re seeing from your windows.

Frequently Asked Questions

When will Eclipse Mill Park open in Everett?

The full 3-acre park is projected to open in spring 2028. The City of Everett’s phase (playground, pier, floating dock, fish habitat work) is scheduled to be complete by November 2026, but the full park including Shelter Holdings’ Phase 2 won’t open until spring 2028.

Why was Eclipse Mill Park delayed?

The Washington Department of Ecology requested additional review of site conditions along the riverbank, which pushed construction mobilization to July 2026. The Phase 2 timeline is tied to developer Shelter Holdings’ broader Riverfront buildout.

Who is building Eclipse Mill Park?

Two builders. The City of Everett is building Phase 1 (waterside amenities) under a $3.6 million construction contract approved by the City Council in May. Shelter Holdings, the private developer of the Riverfront project, is building Phase 2 (the larger upland portion) under their Development Agreement with the City.

What will be in Eclipse Mill Park?

A pier, floating dock for personal watercraft, playground, open lawn and gathering space, fish habitat improvements along the Snohomish riverbank, and trails connecting to the broader Riverfront trail system.

Where is the Riverfront development in Everett?

Riverfront is on the west bank of the Snohomish River, east of I-5, near the Hewitt Avenue Trestle. It’s a 40-acre former industrial site being redeveloped into a mixed-use neighborhood with housing, retail, a hotel, and parks.

How is Riverfront different from Waterfront Place?

Riverfront is on the Snohomish River on Everett’s east side, developed by Shelter Holdings. Waterfront Place is on Puget Sound on Everett’s west side, developed by the Port of Everett with various partners. Both are converting former industrial sites into mixed-use neighborhoods — they just face different waterways.

What else is happening at Riverfront in 2026?

Phase 2 residential construction continues. The cinema originally planned has been replaced with pickleball courts. Remaining apartment buildings are under vertical construction. The Riverfront trail stays open throughout construction.

Featured Snippet

Q: Is rent going up or down in Everett in 2026?

A: Rent in Everett is actually down about 2% year-over-year as of April 2026. The average apartment rent in Everett is $1,849, down from $1,887 a year ago. Studios sit around $1,476, one-bedrooms around $1,676, two-bedrooms around $1,930, and three-bedrooms around $2,340. That makes 2026 a noticeably renter-friendlier market than 2022-2023, driven by new apartment supply from the Waterfront Place, Riverfront, and downtown buildouts finally coming online.

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Everett’s Rental Market Just Flipped: Why Apartment Rents Are Down 2% and What That Means for 2026

Everybody in Everett has spent the last three years talking about how for-sale home prices have moved — the median is $547K, down 11.6% from last year, with the downtown and Northwest Everett markets moving in completely different directions than the 98208 zip code. We wrote about that last week. But the story on the rental side is quieter, and most people in Everett haven’t noticed it yet: apartment rents here are actually going down.

Not dramatically. Not uniformly. But down, year-over-year, in a market that’s been running the other direction for most of the past decade. Here’s the full picture as of mid-April 2026.

The Headline Numbers

The average rent for an apartment in Everett right now is $1,849 per month, down about 2.04% from $1,887 a year ago. That’s a ~$38/month reduction on the average unit, or roughly $456/year back in renters’ pockets for the same apartment that cost more last April.

That’s a meaningful shift. For context, Everett rents climbed 15-20% over the three years from 2020 to 2023. Getting to any year-over-year decline at all is a sign of a market that’s rebalancing — and for a lot of working Everett renters, it’s the first real relief in years.

Different data sources have slightly different numbers (rental data always has spread because it’s collected differently by each source), but the direction is consistent:

• Apartments.com: Average rent down ~2% year-over-year
• Apartment List: Rents down 1.6% year-over-year
• Zumper / Rent.com / Point2: Comparable declines of 0.9-2% year-over-year

The median advertised rent for Everett is approximately $1,830 per month. Over the past 3-6 months, the rental market has been mostly stable with only moderate advertised rent movement, which is the market doing what a market does when supply catches up to demand.

The Full Apartment-Size Breakdown

Here’s what renters are paying by unit size in Everett right now:

• Studio: $1,476/month (roughly 500 sq ft)
• One-bedroom: $1,676/month (685 sq ft — $2.45/sq ft)
• Two-bedroom: $1,930/month (941 sq ft — $2.05/sq ft)
• Three-bedroom: $2,340/month (1,186 sq ft — $1.97/sq ft)

Two things jump out. First, the price-per-square-foot actually gets cheaper as units get bigger — which is classic rental economics, because larger units attract longer leases and families looking to stay put. Second, the jump from studio to one-bedroom is only about $200/month, which suggests Everett’s studio supply is relatively tight compared to one-bedrooms. If you can qualify for a one-bedroom, the “extra room” premium is small enough that it’s worth taking.

What’s Causing Rents to Soften

Everett isn’t an outlier here. The broader Puget Sound rental market has softened in 2025-2026 after a brutal run-up. But Everett has its own specific reasons, and all of them are connected to the construction we’ve been tracking on this desk for months.

New supply is finally hitting the market. Waterfront Place’s 266 units at The Sawyer and The Carling are stabilized and leasing at current prices. Riverfront Phase 1 apartments are leased and Phase 2 is delivering. Downtown has added units in new mid-rise buildings. Millwright District Phase 2 is breaking ground this year for 300+ more units. Every apartment that opens pulls some renter out of the existing stock and forces older buildings to compete on price.

Boeing hiring hasn’t fully absorbed the supply yet. The North Line is ramping, but the jobs are being filled over the course of 2026, not all at once. Until the workforce fully shows up and signs leases, the demand side of the equation hasn’t caught up to the supply wave.

Home purchase re-entry. Everett’s median sale price is down 11.6% year-over-year to $547K. Every renter who decides that finally makes a down payment pencil out is a renter leaving the rental pool. That’s small in aggregate but real at the margins.

Broader regional mix. Seattle and Bellevue rent softness bleeds north. When Seattle apartments drop, people who priced themselves out of Seattle and moved north to Everett start seeing Seattle back in reach. That slight outbound migration from Everett’s rental market is real even if the numbers are modest.

What It Means Block by Block

Not every Everett neighborhood is seeing the same rent behavior. Based on advertised listings across the city:

Downtown Everett. Newer mid-rise buildings along Hewitt, Colby, and Rucker are where the most competitive pricing is showing up. These buildings opened into a softening market and are offering concessions (one month free, reduced deposits, waived admin fees) more often than we’ve seen in years. If you’re apartment-hunting in downtown in April-May 2026, ask about concessions — don’t accept the advertised rate as final.

Waterfront Place area. The Sawyer and Carling at Waterfront Place list 13 units available as of this week, with rents ranging from $2,202 to $2,800. That’s premium pricing consistent with the amenity package (two rooftop decks, speakeasy lounge, fitness, concierge) but it’s also a signal of a complex that’s about 95% leased — so scarcity pricing still applies at the top end of the market even when the broader market is softening.

Northwest Everett. Older buildings along Grand Avenue, near Forest Park, and in Bayside are the slowest to cut. These are often owner-operated or small-portfolio landlords who don’t reprice as aggressively as institutional operators. Rents here are more sticky — less upside but less downside.

98208 (Silver Lake / south Everett). This is where the mix skews toward larger two- and three-bedroom units, and where the rent-per-square-foot is actually the cheapest in the city. Families relocating for Boeing, Naval Station Everett, or Providence Regional Medical Center jobs often end up here because the space-for-money math works.

The Renter’s Playbook for Spring 2026

If you’re renting in Everett right now or shopping for a new lease this spring, here’s what we’d tell a friend:

Ask for concessions, always. A softening market is a concession market. One month free on a 13-month lease is a ~7.7% effective rent reduction. That’s often a better deal than a nominally cheaper rent elsewhere.

Don’t auto-renew without comparing. If you’re approaching a renewal, pull three to five comparable units on Apartments.com or Zumper before your landlord sends the renewal letter. You now have negotiating leverage you didn’t have two years ago.

Look at buildings that opened in 2024 or 2025. These properties are stabilizing their rent rolls and are the most likely to run promotions. Older buildings (especially small privately-owned ones) are less flexible.

If you’re shopping waterfront-adjacent, understand the premium. Waterfront Place pricing ($2,202-$2,800) isn’t representative of Everett as a whole. If you want the view and amenities, you pay for them. If you want value, you go downtown or into Northwest Everett.

Check your credit and documentation now. A balanced market still favors renters with clean paper. Boeing pay stubs, Navy LES statements, and steady employment get leases signed faster than thin credit files, even when the market is soft.

What Comes Next

The rental market in Everett is not going to stay soft forever. By late 2026 and into 2027, two things happen at once:

1. Boeing North Line hiring fully absorbs into the local rental market.

2. The Millwright District 300+ apartments and other Waterfront Place housing deliveries slow down the supply pipeline.

When supply slows and demand firms, rents resume climbing. That’s not a prediction — that’s what the math does. Renters who sign 14-month or 18-month leases this spring at today’s softer rates are locking in a floor that may feel like a deal in 2027.

For landlords, the message is the opposite. The days of 8-10% annual rent increases as a default assumption are gone. The next year or two is about occupancy — filling units, keeping residents, earning the privilege of raising rents again when the market turns.

Everett is going through the quiet part of its rental cycle right now. It won’t last. But while it’s here, it’s the first renter-friendly window this city has had in a long time, and worth knowing about.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the average rent in Everett WA in 2026?

The average apartment rent in Everett is approximately $1,849 per month as of April 2026, down about 2% from $1,887 a year ago.

Is rent going up or down in Everett?

Rent is currently going down in Everett. Average rents are off roughly 2% year-over-year across most data sources (Apartments.com, Apartment List, Zumper), driven largely by new apartment supply hitting the market and a broader Puget Sound rental softening.

How much is a one-bedroom apartment in Everett?

A one-bedroom apartment in Everett rents for approximately $1,676 per month on average, for a typical 685 square foot unit. Rent per square foot is about $2.45 at that size.

How much is a two-bedroom apartment in Everett?

A two-bedroom apartment in Everett rents for about $1,930 per month on average, for roughly 941 square feet. That works out to about $2.05 per square foot.

Is now a good time to rent in Everett?

Spring 2026 is one of the most renter-friendly windows Everett has had in years. Concessions (free months, reduced deposits) are common in newer downtown buildings, and lease negotiations have more room than they did in 2022 or 2023.

Why are Everett rents going down?

Three main reasons: new apartment supply at Waterfront Place, Riverfront, and downtown is hitting the market; Boeing North Line hiring is ramping but not fully absorbed; and the broader Puget Sound rental market is softening, which pulls Everett with it.

Will rents go back up in Everett?

Likely yes, by late 2026 or 2027 as Boeing North Line fully staffs up and new apartment supply slows. Locking in a longer lease this spring at today’s rates is a reasonable hedge for tenants who plan to stay.

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Q: Are there apartments available at Waterfront Place in Everett?

A: Yes — but not many. As of late April 2026, The Sawyer and The Carling at Waterfront Place have roughly 13 of their 266 total units available for lease, putting the complex at approximately 95% occupied. Available rents run from $2,202 to $2,800 per month, depending on unit size and floor. At just under a 5% vacancy rate against a softening broader Everett rental market, Waterfront Place is leasing above the city average — which tells you something about where the demand is on the Everett waterfront.

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Waterfront Place Is 95% Full: What the Sawyer and Carling’s Occupancy Tells Us About Everett’s Waterfront Housing Demand

We’ve been tracking the rental market on this desk long enough to know that when the broader city rents are softening and one specific complex is still running at 95% occupied, there’s something worth understanding about what’s different.

The two apartment buildings at the Port of Everett’s Waterfront Place — The Sawyer to the north and The Carling to the south, 266 total units between them — are currently showing 13 available apartments across both buildings, with rents running $2,202 to $2,800/month. Do the math: that’s a vacancy rate of roughly 4.9%, which for a stabilized four-story mid-rise in a premium location is tight.

Meanwhile, the rest of Everett’s rental market is softening. Average rents across the city are down about 2% year-over-year. Downtown newer buildings are offering concessions. And yet Waterfront Place is leasing at a premium to the Everett average, keeping occupancy high, and not needing the same promotions to fill units.

Here’s what’s actually going on.

The Buildings, By the Numbers

The Sawyer + The Carling (the combined Waterfront Place apartment complex):

• Location: 1300 W Marine View Drive, Everett, WA 98201
• Total units: 266 across two four-story buildings
• Square footage: approximately 247,000 square feet total
• Current availability: ~13 units listed
• Current rent range: $2,202 to $2,800/month
• Developer / builder: Built by Graham Construction
• Ownership: Sea Level Properties
• Opened: Phase 1 delivered as part of Waterfront Place Central’s first residential component

For context against the Everett average rent of $1,849/month, Waterfront Place runs about 19% to 51% above the market average. That’s a real premium — but it’s buying a product that doesn’t exist anywhere else in Everett.

What You’re Paying For (Beyond Four Walls)

The amenity package at Waterfront Place is the reason for the premium. These aren’t standard Snohomish County apartment amenities — these are the kind of amenities you’d see in a Seattle Belltown or Kirkland waterfront building:

• Two rooftop decks (one per building) with views of Puget Sound, the marina, Hat Island, and the Olympic mountains beyond
• Speakeasy-style bar and game room for residents
• Full fitness center and yoga studio
• Two-level lobby with fireplace
• Secure bike storage (meaningful on the waterfront)
• On-site resident concierge
• Walking distance to every Waterfront Place retail tenant — Tapped, Fisherman Jack’s, The Net Shed, Menchie’s, Marina Azul (opening), and the public marina

That last point matters more than any single on-site amenity. If you’re a Waterfront Place resident, your front door opens onto the largest public marina on the West Coast, and your daily walk to grab coffee goes past the boats and the harbor seals. You can’t replicate that amenity by building it — you have to live in a unit that’s physically there. That’s what the premium buys.

Why 95% Occupancy in a Softening Market

When a neighborhood’s rental market is going the wrong direction (down ~2% year-over-year) and one specific building is still nearly full, there’s usually a combination of reasons. For Waterfront Place:

Location cannot be copied. You either live on the Port of Everett waterfront or you don’t. New units at Millwright District (300+ breaking ground this year) will eventually compete, but those are 18-24 months away from actually drawing residents. Meanwhile, The Sawyer and The Carling are the only stabilized Class-A waterfront apartments on the Port side of Everett.

Boeing and Navy professional segment. Waterfront Place’s price point — $2,200 to $2,800 per month — lines up well with a Boeing 737 North Line engineer, a Navy officer stationed at NAVSTA Everett, or a remote-work professional who picked Everett for the cost differential against Seattle. These tenant segments don’t bargain the same way transient renters do. They lock in a lease, they stay.

Short commute to major employers. It’s a ~3-mile drive to Boeing’s Everett factory and ~1.5 miles to Naval Station Everett. You can live at Waterfront Place, work on the 737 North Line, walk to dinner on the waterfront, and never deal with I-5. That matters to the specific professional tenant base this property attracts.

The retail is actually happening. For a long time, waterfront apartment buildings in Everett came with a promise of retail that never fully materialized. That’s now changing. Fisherman Jack’s is running with a full menu. The Net Shed is stabilized three months in. Tapped Public House has its rooftop. Menchie’s and Marina Azul are almost open. That retail buildout removes the “Yeah, but there’s nothing to walk to” objection that used to come with waterfront apartment living in Everett.

Renters who are already in don’t want to leave. Tenure matters in apartment math. A complex that retains 70%+ of its residents at lease renewal runs at 95% occupancy almost automatically. We don’t have public retention numbers for Waterfront Place, but the indirect signal — consistent occupancy in a softening market, limited concession pressure — suggests the retention rate is strong.

What the 13 Available Units Look Like

Pulled from current listings, the available inventory at Waterfront Place covers a spread:

• Smaller units at the lower end: Starting around $2,202 for one-bedroom floor plans in the 650-750 sq ft range
• Larger one-bedrooms and compact two-bedrooms: $2,400-$2,600 range
• Two-bedroom floor plans with better views: $2,700-$2,800

The pattern you’d expect: smallest-and-interior-facing units available first, view units and two-bedrooms last. Anyone hunting for a specific floor plan or view orientation should call the property directly at (425) 622-9130 because the online listings don’t always reflect the full current inventory.

What This Means for the Rest of Waterfront Place Development

A 95% occupied Phase 1 apartment complex is the data point that makes the Millwright District Phase 2 apartment deal make sense on paper. The Port of Everett and its development partners are about to break ground on 300+ more apartment units in the Millwright District this year, targeting tenant move-ins by late 2026. That’s a lot of new units for a soft market.

But if Waterfront Place is running at 95% occupancy at rents that are 19-51% above the Everett average, the market is signaling that waterfront-location demand is a different demand curve than the general Everett rental market. The Millwright apartments won’t have to compete on price with Hewitt Avenue mid-rises. They’ll compete with the Sawyer and the Carling. And at 95% occupancy, the Sawyer and the Carling aren’t a comp that’s begging for competition.

Put simply: the demand is there. The 300+ new units won’t flood a soft market — they’ll fill the bucket that Waterfront Place is already filling, for the kind of tenant who values being physically on the waterfront and is willing to pay for it.

What Comes Next for Waterfront Place Housing

Beyond the Millwright District 300+ apartments breaking ground this year, the Port of Everett’s Waterfront Place master plan calls for up to 660 waterfront homes total across the full buildout — a mix of apartments, condominiums, and townhomes/lofts. The 266 units at The Sawyer and The Carling are Phase 1. Millwright is Phase 2. Future phases will include additional rental and for-sale inventory as more Waterfront Place parcels develop.

For current or prospective Waterfront Place renters, this is the honest read: pricing holds at today’s levels as long as occupancy stays above ~92-93%. If the Millwright District units come online and temporarily push occupancy below that, Waterfront Place will see modest concession pressure — probably for a six-to-twelve-month window in late 2026 or early 2027. Then the market re-stabilizes and pricing firms again.

For renters who want to be on the Everett waterfront and don’t need to move in immediately, the best pricing window is going to be right when Millwright District opens — because both complexes will be competing for the same tenant segment for a short time.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many apartments are at Waterfront Place in Everett?

There are 266 total apartment units across two four-story buildings — The Sawyer (north) and The Carling (south) — at the Port of Everett’s Waterfront Place development at 1300 W Marine View Drive.

How much does it cost to rent at Waterfront Place Everett?

Current rents range from $2,202 to $2,800 per month depending on floor plan, square footage, and view. That’s roughly 19% to 51% above the Everett average apartment rent of $1,849.

Are there units available at Waterfront Place?

As of late April 2026, approximately 13 of 266 units are available, putting the complex at about 95% occupied. Contact the property directly at (425) 622-9130 for current specific unit availability.

Who built the Waterfront Place apartments?

Graham Construction built the two buildings. Sea Level Properties owns and operates the complex. The project is part of the Port of Everett’s broader Waterfront Place mixed-use master plan.

What amenities are at Waterfront Place?

Two rooftop decks, a speakeasy-style bar and game room, fitness center and yoga studio, two-level lobby with fireplace, secure bike storage, on-site resident concierge, and walking access to all Waterfront Place retail and restaurants.

How close is Waterfront Place to Boeing and Naval Station Everett?

Approximately 3 miles to Boeing’s Everett factory and about 1.5 miles to Naval Station Everett. Both are accessible without using I-5, making the daily commute simple for waterfront residents working at those employers.

Will the new Millwright District apartments compete with Waterfront Place?

Yes — 300+ new apartments breaking ground this year in the Millwright District at Waterfront Place will compete for the same tenant segment. Expect a modest concession window in late 2026 and early 2027 as those units lease up, followed by market stabilization.