By Jack Stubbs
Marking the latest chapter for an underway mixed-use, transit-oriented development in Mountlake Terrace—a city just south of Lynnwood and northwest of Bothell—a plot of land recently changed hands.
On August 30th, Seattle-based real estate firm Rainier Pacific Properties, through an entity named MLT Station II LLC, spent $10.25 million to acquire a two-acre parcel of vacant land from Woodinville-based Sierra Construction Company Inc., according to Snohomish County records.
The recent transaction includes just over two acres of vacant land, according to public documents which, according to the buyer’s web site, is the site of a planned mixed-use development slated for completion in September 2020. Terrace Station, which will ultimately include 258 apartments and 258,000 square feet of retail, is the first of a planned three-phase development in the area. The retail component of the development, on which Rainier Pacific Properties began construction in August 2018 in partnership with Lake Union Partners, is 100 percent pre-leased to a world-class fitness operator and a premier childcare facility.
According to The Registry’s reporting, Rainier Pacific Properties in mid-June 2018 spent $17 million to acquire roughly fifteen acres—at the same address as the recently-acquired parcel—from Sierra construction.
Located just south of 236th St. SW and 60th Ave. W. and south of Veterans Memorial Park, Terrace Station will hope to capitalize on prominent transit nodes in the immediate vicinity. The project is across the street from the existing Mountlake Terrace Metro Transit Station, and is adjacent to the underway Mountlake Terrace Link Light Rail station.
The station is part of the larger Lynnwood Link Extension, a 8.5-mile corridor that will ultimately serve four stations in Lynnwood, Shoreline and Mountlake Terrace. Scheduled to open in 2024—following the Northgate Light Rail Extension in 2021—the station’s new infrastructure will provide further connectivity between Snohomish County cities, downtown Seattle and the Eastside, according to Sound Transit’s web site.
The project has an expected daily ridership of between 47,000 and 55,000 by 2026, and will allow passengers to travel from Lynnwood to Seattle’s Central Business District in half an hour; Shoreline to the University of Washington in 10 minutes; and Mountlake Terrace to downtown Bellevue in just under an hour.
Founded in 1986, Rainier Pacific Properties is a family-owned real estate firm that acquires, develops and operates commercial investments of all property types throughout the greater Puget Sound region, according to the company’s web site.
In addition to the underway Terrace Station in Mountlake Terrace, some of the company’s other investments throughout the region include Tesla at Bellevue, a 36,000 square foot development in Bellevue; Verizon at Eastgate, a 134,000 square foot Class A office building in Bellevue; and an-in-the-works 23,000 square foot project in Seattle’s Columbia City neighborhood, on which Rainier Pacific is partnering with Lake Union Partners on a 242-unit mixed-use project slated for future development.
As the recent transaction indicates, Mountlake Terrace continues to be viewed as a desirable area ripe for future development, and further transactions have occurred in the city since the beginning of this year. In May 2019, Seattle-based Security Properties spent $136.25 million, or approximately $266,113 per unit, to acquire the 512-unit Taluswood Apartments—located at 4208 236th Street SW—from Waterton Associates based in Chicago. In late June 2019, Santa Monica, California-based MJW Investments spent $18.9 million, or roughly $168,750 per unit, to acquire the 112-unit Greenview Apartments from Samuel and Co. Inc. based in Arizona.
