Mukilteo's Gravel Park by the Ferry Gets a Developer Pick on Friday, and the Council Keeps the Final Say

There's a strip of open ground on Front Street, just west of the Mukilteo Ferry Terminal and east of Lighthouse Park, with gravel underfoot, a few benches and no way down to the beach. City documents call it Lot 5. On paper it's a park, and it was drawn as one in the City's 2016 Downtown Waterfront Master Plan.

Tomorrow, Friday, November 13, is the date the City of Mukilteo set for choosing a development team for that 1.19-acre lot. The selection picks the team the City will negotiate a lease with. What gets built, and whether anything gets built, still comes back to the City Council vote by vote.

What Friday's selection picks

The City's process, posted on its Waterfront RFQ page, started in July and narrowed in stages. The City labels each date an estimate subject to change:

1. July 29, 2026: Request for qualifications released
2. August 19: Site tour of Lots 2, 3 and 5 with City staff
3. September 23: Selected teams invited to submit full proposals
4. October 28: Proposals due, with conceptual designs, a pro forma, a timeline and proposed lease terms
5. November 11: Team interviews
6. November 13: Team selection
7. Mid to late November: The selected team presents to the City Council and the community
8. December 2026: Lease and development agreement negotiations begin

The Lynnwood Times reported in July that the City planned to invite two to three teams to the proposal stage. Its scoring gave 30 points each to financial resources and comparable experience, 25 to project approach and vision, and 15 to team qualifications and communication.

The deal itself is a long one. The selected partner would get a ground lease with an initial 50-year term and three 10-year extension options, up to 80 years in total. The City keeps ownership of the land while the partner builds, finances and operates the project. A separate development agreement would set milestones, design standards and public amenity commitments. The City's own RFQ calls this a multi-year undertaking that runs "from lease execution through permitting, design, and construction."

That puts the next public moment in the second half of November, when the chosen team presents to the Council and the community. The date will be posted on the City's RFQ page.

The October vote that made a commercial pick possible

Until last month, the City couldn't have leased Lot 5 for shops or restaurants at all. The lot was zoned Open Space. HeraldNet reported that on Monday, October 5, the City Council approved a comprehensive plan update that rezoned the roughly 1.2-acre lot to Waterfront Mixed Use. That zoning allows businesses like retail shops, restaurants and cafes.

The vote was 6-1. HeraldNet reported that community members were divided, with some hoping the land would stay a park and others saying businesses would make it more inviting and draw more visitors. Council member Bob Champion, the one no vote, told the Council he had received emails from residents asking to keep the zoning as it was:

"The snail's pace of government is slow, and I kind of think we're jumping the gun."

Council member Don Doran voted yes and said the rezone opens up options: "We can absolutely have this property look exactly the way this community wants it to look, whether that's with a commercial establishment or a park."

City planning director Andrew Galuska said at the meeting that the Council could still develop the land as a park in the future, and that "any of those future decisions about leasing the property, what the specific development would look like, those will all still be in the council's hands."

So the rezone made a commercial lease possible without approving one. Friday's selection follows the same pattern. Each step keeps more options open, and none of them commits the Council to a building.

What the rules already settle

The Council still has a lot to decide, but some limits on Lot 5 are already set. The Lynnwood Times' July coverage of the RFQ listed several of them:

• No housing, for now. A 2013 environmental covenant prohibits residential use on the lot. Changing it would take more investigation and approvals that could run up to three years, with no guarantee of success. Teams interested in housing had to show the project works as commercial only.
• What's under the gravel. The site sits on the former U.S. Air Force Mukilteo Tank Farm, which operated from 1951 to 1989. The surface is clean, but some contamination remains underground, which the City described as manageable. The Washington State Department of Ecology issued a No Further Action determination for the site in 2006.
• Utilities aren't there yet. Water, sewer, stormwater and modern electrical service all have to be extended, and that cost falls on the selected team.
• The neighboring lots are undecided. City-owned Lots 2 and 3, about 1.79 acres combined, could be folded into the project, leased separately for uses like parking, or sold as surplus. The Council decides that later.

The promenade is separate from all of this. Waterfront plans include a 20-foot-wide promenade with beach access. It would be built on land closer to the water that the October rezone didn't touch. The land for it has already been set aside along Lot 5, and the City listed contributions toward the promenade among the incentives it could offer a partner.

The Port of Everett owns the other half of Front Street

Lot 5 is only one piece of the waterfront. The corridor runs about 26 acres from Lighthouse Park toward Edgewater Beach, with roughly 10 to 11 owners, including the City, the Port of Everett, private owners, tribal interests and the State of Washington. About 70 percent of it is still undeveloped. The City's RFQ says its own parcels are moving "in coordination with the Port of Everett's parallel development program."

The Port has been adding to its Front Street holdings this year. According to the Port's February 25 announcement:

• The former NOAA site: This 1.1-acre stretch just east of the Silver Cloud Hotel came back to the Port from the federal government in early February. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration had once planned a research facility there. On February 10, the Port Commission voted to add the land to its Comprehensive Scheme of Harbor Improvements, and the Port said it was exploring interim uses while planning got underway.
• Ivar's Mukilteo Landing: On February 3, the Commission authorized a purchase and sale agreement for the 0.55-acre property at 710 Front Street. It includes the 9,637-square-foot restaurant building, the parking lot and a long-term lease with Ivar's, which the Port said "will continue to be, a staple of the Mukilteo waterfront for decades to come."

The agreed price for the Ivar's property is $10 million. A first amendment, which the Port Commission ratified at an April 16 special meeting, waived contingencies and seller financing and moved the planned closing date from July 1 to August 1, 2026.

The Port is working with the Seattle architecture and planning firm NBBJ, which helped lead the 2022 community visioning process with the City. It also said it would seek its own development partner for its Mukilteo properties. As the Lynnwood Times reported, the vision statement both agencies adopted describes the goal as "a welcoming and convenient gathering place" with "a year-round mix of uses" and "easy access to the beach, businesses and wonders of the Salish Sea."

The waterfront this winter

All of this paperwork leaves Front Street looking the same this winter as it does today. Lot 5 is still gravel with benches between Lighthouse Park and the ferry terminal, and Ivar's is still at 710 Front Street.

Across from Ivar's, the Port's interim lot at 707 Front Street sits on the former ferry holding lanes and is run by LAZ Parking. It has 99 visitor and commuter spaces with hourly, overnight and monthly options. Posted visitor rates, which may have taxes and fees added, are:

• $2.50 for up to 2 hours
• $5 for 2 to 4 hours
• $20 for 4 to 10 hours
• $28 for 10 to 24 hours

You can pay at the walk-up stations, in the LAZ Parking app, by text or online. Monthly permits go through [email protected]. The Port says it will keep evaluating demand and the parking mix.

The next big date on the community calendar is December 5. Discover Mukilteo's holiday calendar lists Merry Muk's annual tree lighting and gingerbread houses that day, followed by Merry Muk wreath-making on December 6, a community orchestra concert on December 13, and brunch with Santa and ornament-making on December 20. Check the calendar for locations and times.

By the time those events happen, the selected team should have presented to the Council, and lease negotiations will be about to start. That presentation in the second half of November is the first public look at what a team actually proposes for the gravel lot. The Council can then shape it, approve it or decide to keep the lot a park.

Over 33 years, Lynette has seen how a change like this one at the waterfront shapes the way buyers see a whole town. If you own a home in Mukilteo and want to know how waterfront plans and timelines like these could factor into a future sale, Lynette Thomas is glad to talk it through with you, starting with a free home valuation and a personalized marketing plan.