When the McMenamin brothers rolled into town last summer to unveil their plans to transform the historic W.A. Anderson Building into one of their distinguished hotels and entertainment complexes, the crowd cheered.

It was a big moment for Bothell City Manager Bob Stowe and his colleagues.

“That was great, and I think it showcased a lot of what the downtown plan and the visioning process was about,” he said. “Many people who may have been uncertain about what the downtown plan was going to deliver, and once they understood that there are businesses like McMenamins (coming), they really had the opportunity to say, ‘I’m all in now… I’m supportive of the downtown plan.'”

Stowe stressed that McMenamins is just one business — and an important tenant on Bothell Way Northeast — and city leaders are hoping to generate the same kind of excitement among residents with their slew of other projects in the downtown area scheduled to be completed over the next few years:

• The Crossroads Project will feature the realignment of State Route 522 through the former Bothell Landing area, creating two new downtown blocks that will extend Main Street with new pedestrian-oriented development.

• Development of a city center campus, anchored by a new 60,000-square-foot city hall that is designed to achieve LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold, on the block of 101st Avenue Northeast (bordered by northeast 183rd and 185th streets).

• The Park at Bothell Landing will be expanded to include outdoor dining, a canoe and kayak launching area, an enlarged playground, a nature play area, bike and boat rentals and walking paths.

• Main Street extension (featuring retail, entertainment and restaurant development) and a portion of State Route 527 (Bothell Way Northeast) that will be transformed into a wide, tree-lined boulevard with rain gardens and walking areas. There is also surplus city property in the downtown core that will be sold for redevelopment.

Bothell’s mammoth downtown revitalization is aimed at 529 acres at a cost of $150 million in planned infrastructure improvements that, according to economic studies, will leverage $650 million in private investment, reads a city fact sheet.

A MAIN PRIORITY

One of Main Street’s longtime fixtures, Hillcrest Bakery, sits near the corner of 522 and 527, and one of its owners, Barbara Holm, hopes her shop keeps its footing during the upcoming changes.

“We’re a little nervous about what the city of Bothell has in mind for us, but they keep telling us, that, ‘No, no, you’re in our plans and we want you here,'” she told the Reporter in April. “We keep in contact with Devin (Austin) from Ranch Drive-In, because it’s just this corner right here that I think might get affected a little bit from the street over here that’s going to be changed quite a bit.”

Stowe ensured that the enhancement plans will not affect existing downtown businesses’ sites — “I think it will enhance the business opportunities for both Hillcrest and Ranch Drive-In and those other businesses,” he said, noting that there will be street improvements and the addition of sidewalk furniture and more. This plan is subject to funding and planned over the next couple of years.

“The (527) boulevard was a project that was designed to knit together the historic development of downtown with all the new development we know is going to occur on the other side of the roadway,” Stowe said. He added that  city officials have received many positive and very few negative comments about the Main Street plan, and they encouraged everyone to have a say in the plan. That participation has energized the business community, Stowe said.

Lynn Asmann, former owner of FrameWright/Kaewyn Gallery on Main, has lived in Bothell for 28 years and participated on some of the committees that generated resident and business-owner input. She recently sold her business to Ken Stodola.

“I like what I see. I like that we are trying to retain downtown as a small downtown. I like that the city municipal offices are going to be in downtown along with a nice vibrant community and a nice old feel for Main Street. People like that,” she said, adding that the remodeling of the road surfaces in order to accommodate the greater traffic needs is also necessary.

However, 41-year Bothell residents Sue Kienast of the Historical Society and Pat Pierce of the Landmark Preservation Board have some concerns about knitting the city’s old and new parts together.

“It needs to be seamless, not a jarring kind of obvious change,” said Pierce, who noted that decorative brick elements on new buildings similar to the Anderson Building’s would work. Kienast added that she’d like to see historical elements like plaques to describe the city’s past as people walk through the new city-center plaza. The Historical Society has an original Main Street light fixture that Kienast said could be incorporated into the design, as well.

“We’ve had a lot of change, but the feeling downtown is just the same,” Kienast said of the charm and friendliness. “We have a heck of a lot of history that nobody knows about. I always say you can draw pretty pictures, you can realign, you can extend Main Street, but you’re never going to create a new Main Street. In the long run, it looks fine, but you need to make all those connections.”

Pierce fears that longtime residents are in jeopardy of losing the soul of Bothell with all the new projects on tap. “(The new plans) could be brilliant or it could be a loss for Bothell. It’ll be fine in the end for people that don’t know what they lost.”

The Bothell City Council accepted the city-center-block design architecture at its July 26 meeting from developer Vulcan Real Estate and The Miller Hull Partnership architectural firm.

Stowe said the community gave input on the project during three workshops and residents’ ideas were incorporated into the final design. The buildings are slated to feature brick, Terra cotta and other elements.

“One of the designs of this building process was not just to simply create civic spaces, but we wanted to really create a mixed-use vibrant space on the block that would stimulate other downtown redevelopment,” Stowe said.

“This was important for us because it’s really in the heart of the community, almost in the center of what would be the downtown, and so we’ve built in more plaza space than what you have in terms of building space. The connections are very important for us, both Main Street, as well as the development across the street.”

A CURVEBALL FOR SOME BUSINESSES

Up the road on 522 on Wayne Curve, construction crews are expected to complete their job by the end of 2010 of adding dedicated lanes for mass transit, creating pedestrian walkways and improving the driving surface.

As noted in a June story in the Reporter, several businesses near 522 and 96th Avenue Northeast were affected by the roadwork, which, in some cases, partially blocked their entrances some of the time. Wayne Curve project manager Jason Torrie said that he visits with either business owners or on-site coordinators each week, checking to see if business-access signs and cones are placed properly so customers can visit their business of choice, the story read.

Mario Reyes of Los Reyes Mexican grocery had an especially hard time in that he was losing business and couldn’t pay his bills.

When asked two weeks ago how he was holding up, Reyes said, “People are supporting my place very, very strong. People said we want this place open, people are coming here to buy more items. Progress on 522 is making it easier. I’m starting slowly to getting back on my feet.”

Added Stowe: “We’re looking forward to the completion of the project. I’m sure all the businesses are, too, so they can resume their normalcy in terms of how their patrons and customers come to their site.”

CROSSROADS ON TARGET

Back near downtown Bothell, Stowe noted that the massive dirt piles that some 60,000 drivers spot each day while driving 522 and 527 should be dwindling soon as the final phase of the Crossroads Project will be advertised for construction bid late this year with the project set for completion by the end of 2013. Design modifications to meet permit requirements from regulatory agencies are in the works in the third phase, which follows phases one and two: acquisition of the property, demolition and environmental remediation.

“It’s like being in the eye of the storm — nothing’s happening right now,” said Pierce of the presence of the dirt piles and lack of construction workers.

Stowe says things will get moving soon and residents are curious about what tenants could set up shop in town. He added that with the amount of cars that drive by the area, Crossroads would be a desirable location for commercial activity. No tenants have been named yet, but Kelly Hathaway and Beverley Parcel, who were exiting Steve’s Cafe on Main Street on a recent afternoon, were excited when mentioning that a Trader Joe’s specialty market would be a plus for Bothell.

“I think it’s going to be a good thing once all the traffic is re-routed,” Hathaway said. “Bothell needs the attractions to draw the crowds in here.”

Added Parcel: “It’s a wonderful little town, but it’s like a senior town. I think that (places like McMenamins) will bring in a lot more young people.”

With the Crossroads Project comes the Park at Bothell Landing expansion, which Kienast and Pierce will keep their eyes on. It’s one of Kienast’s highest priorities because people consider it to be a “little village,” she said, adding that placing a fountain in the park will be an eye-pleasing touch.

“Downtown is going to change in a positive manner in the years to come. Specifically, the Park at Bothell Landing is going to be a beautiful setting in our downtown,” Stowe said. “It’s already a beloved park, and the ability to expand that and offer more amenities, will make it that much more of a special experience for our community.”

‘TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF PROGRESS’

Over at the Main Street Ale House, employee Marissa Coleman, a 15-year Bothell resident and member of the Bothell High class of 2001, thought about it for a second and then wondered aloud where her hometown is headed.

Progress is good, she said of the city of some 33,500 residents that incorporated in 1909.

“It’s a little bit different because Bothell used to be such a small town, and it’s different to see it kind of become so big and all the traffic and everything. I think it will be good for the economy — keep Bothell alive,” Coleman added.

Along with plans for a new Safeway to open in the fall on 527 and 240th Street Southeast (and the downtown Safeway to close to make room for retail/residential areas), Stowe noted that it’s a sign that economic recovery is occurring and that people are investing in Bothell.

“We’ve made a tremendous amount of progress in 5-6 years, we’ve put a lot of resources and dedication into the downtown plan,” he added. “It’s exciting for all of our staff just to enjoy this sort of success with our community. It’s really what this plan represents: a plan that our community built, and we have an opportunity now to sort of deliver upon those expectations and those visions that were created.”

Coleman is anticipating McMenamins and other top-notch businesses coming into town. However, she feels sad that businesses in the Bothell Landing area were torn down to make room for what awaits.

“It might be good for the flow of Bothell growing so much,” Coleman said. “It depends on what we’ll find in the future — we’ll see.”

For more information, visit www.futureofbothell.com.