Everett
Downtown alley remade into "gem"

By Peyton Whitely
Times Snohomish County bureau

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It used to be a somewhat-rundown pathway to a parking garage, but an extensive redesign has shown that even a neglected alley can take on a whole new character.

"It was the same alley but very old. This is very nice," said Sergey Budnik, the pastor of the Full Gospel Mission Church, as he walked next door to his downtown Everett church.

The marked changes were made to an area now called the Colby Avenue Arcade, 2816 Colby Ave., which connects part of downtown to the 495-space EverPark parking garage.

What passers-by now see is an enticing entryway with shiny sculptures and red posts, plantings, old-fashioned streetlights and an archway that reads "EVERPARK" on one side and "COLBY AVE" on the other.

It didn't always look this way.

"People were living in there. It was a mess," said Rod Wickham, a designer at an architectural firm a few doors from the walkway.

The pathway once had a decrepit wooden roof and bushes that provided good hiding places, Wickham recalled. All of that has been removed.

The changes marked a significant step for Everett, Mayor Ray Stephanson said.

"This project is our newest gem downtown," Stephanson said at a ceremony last month.

"It complements our rotating artwork. It creates a more inviting atmosphere for pedestrians and is visually pleasing for those who walk or drive by."
 
Designs Northwest of Stanwood teamed up with Botesch, Nash & Hall of Everett to create the concept of the arcade upgrades, which included paint, stainless-steel wall screening, landscaping, lighting and rotating art.

The arcade's 29-foot-tall, 24,000-pound decorative metal entry arch was fabricated by Eckstrom Industries, an Everett business for more than 70 years.

The arcade features sculptures by Northwest artists Richard Hestikind and Brandon Zebold. Hestikind's piece is titled "Chrysalis" and shows a 5-foot-tall metal butterfly emerging from a sandstone-and-basalt cocoon. Zebold's installation is composed of multiple totems created from flame-cut steel.

The improvements were paid for by an EverPark Garage capital-improvement fund, a reserve account of revenue generated by parking fees that can be spent only on projects related to parking. The garage is owned by the city and managed by the Downtown Everett Association.

Peyton Whitely: 206-464-2259 or pwhitely@seattletimes.com