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.
