City Center

Lynnwood City Center Aerial.jpg

The Lynnwood City Center is intended to become a vibrant commercial center and an appealing place to live, work and play.  There are a wide range of projects completed or underway intended to significantly upgrade the city's transportation network, add new public spaces and parks, building housing, improve cultural attractions, create a pedestrian-friendly environment, and enhance livability in Lynnwood's City Center.

The next five years the City Center will see the Lynnwood Link Extension opening in 2024 as transit oriented development is building the new commercial center. This includes over 500 multifamily units under construction with an additional 1,400 units entitled and over 500,000 square feet of office with another 200,000 square feet of retail planned. The City Center infrastructure is being upgraded with utility and street improvements to enable new urban growth patterns.

Current City Center Program priorities include:

  • Facilitating Lynnwood Link Extension Construction
  • Support Infrastructure Implementation of 196th Street SW, 42nd Avenue West, and 198th Street Promenade
  • Develop City Center Brand and Logo
  • Updating Environmental Exemptions
  • Business and Development Outreach
  • Town Square Park Acquisition

City Center needs a brand and logo to create a sense of identity as it develops. This brand will help communicate the area's future, including:
- Business
- Public Spaces and Parks
- Regional Transit Connections
- Housing
- Pedestrian-friendly Environment
- Enhanced Livability

‘Branding Project Update: Select the story map below to learn about the draft logos, taglines, and branding statement’.

 

Open House October 12, 2021:

Meeting Summary(PDF, 7MB)
Mural Board(PDF, 3MB)

Multi-Family Property Tax Exemption

The purpose of the Multi-Family Residential Property Tax Exemption Program is to encourage the development of multi-family housing and mixed-use development within Lynnwood's City Center Sub-Regional Area. The program exempts property taxes for eight or twelve years and applies to both apartments and condominium units. 

The property tax exemption applies only to residential apartments and condominiums within the City Center Subarea Plan boundary. The value of the land and the non-qualifying improvements does not qualify for the exemption. The MFTE Program is regulated by LMC 3.82Ordinance No. 2961 and Ordinance No. 2681 provide further information regarding the criteria exemption. 

2023-2024 Income Rent Limits(PDF, 51KB)


SEPA Planned Action and SEIS

Pursuant to the Washington State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA), adoption of a Planned Action Ordinance serves to streamline environmental review. Planned actions provide upfront programmatic SEPA review in an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), rather than on a case-by-case project basis. This approach addresses environmental considerations while streamlining project related environmental reviews.


ENERGY DESIGN ASSISTANCE

As part of their ongoing commitment to building a more sustainable future, Snohomish County PUD is now offering Energy Design Assistance (EDA) for commercial and multifamily new construction.  Features of the EDA program includes:

  • Performance based incentives for new buildings at least 10% above code baseline
  • Additional bonuses for all-electric & income-qualified facilities
  • Design meetings with energy-efficiency modeling scenarios
  • Design team stipend

Learn more: Snohomish PUD’s Energy Design Assistance program

 

Explore the My Area map to learn about projects happening in City Center and throughout Lynnwood. 

My Area Map