MLT’s Arbor Village to receive award from Puget Sound Regional Council

Arbor Village sign, preview 026Mountlake Terrace’s Arbor Village has been selected to receive a VISION 2040 award by the Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC), an inter-jurisdictional group of cities, towns, ports, tribes, and transit agencies in King, Snohomish, Pierce and King Counties that pushes for regional transportation, growth management and economic development planning.

“This is a very prestigious award from PSRC to the superb work being done by public and private organizations to achieve our region’s growth, economic, and transportation strategy,” said Mountlake Terrace Interim Community and Economic Development Director Bill Trimm.

Arbor Village is the first large-scale mixed-use project to be developed in Mountlake Terrace’s Town Center district. The five-story complex at 236th Street Southwest and 56th Avenue West consists of 123 residential apartments, two underground levels of parking and seven ground floor commercial units. Mountlake Terrace officials hope Arbor Village becomes a catalyst for their Town Center vision of a livable downtown that is compact, promotes housing choices, is walkable and transit oriented.

The annual VISION 2040 awards are intended to recognize regional innovations in managing growth and sustaining quality of life. “Mountlake Terrace’s Arbor Village represents the renaissance of the city’s Town Center, as it attracts new development and establishes a sense of place in the city,” said Mayor Pro Tem Laura Sonmore.

The Arbor Village project has been closely watched by area developers to determine if markets outside of the Seattle/Bellevue area are feasible for investment. Arbor Village, which opened in August 2013, has all but seven two-bedroom units leased among its residential offerings.

While the leasing of its residential units has gone well, leasing the commercial space has been “fairly tough,” admitted Blake Taylor, broker for West Coast Commercial Realty. Only one of the seven commercial spaces has been leased.

“Part of it is the fact that we’re the first of these types of projects going up in town,” Taylor said.

Though interest has been slow on the space, Taylor believes they provide an opportunity for just the right tenant. “We still have some great commercial space that I really do personally view as an ideal opportunity for local or national retail, restaurant and office-oriented businesses to relocate or ideally expand into,” he stressed.

Taylor will be holding a broker’s open house for the commercial units in June hoping to attract more attention to the available spaces.

The PSRC awards will be presented May 29 at the organization’s annual general assembly VISION 2040 Awards Dinner in Seattle.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Real first and last names — as well as city of residence — are required for all commenters.
This is so we can verify your identity before approving your comment.

By commenting here you agree to abide by our Code of Conduct. Please read our code at the bottom of this page before commenting.