The town is delighted to be working with longtime favorite Molbak’s Garden & Home, which has been a staple in this wine town for over 65 years.
WOODINVILLE, Wash. — Woodinville is about to launch a major project that the mayor says will focus on sustainability and attract more tourists and residents to the area.
“When people think of Woodinville, you think of two things, one is wine tasting and Molbak’s,” said Mike Millman, Mayor of Woodinville.
Mayor Millman is thrilled to be working with long-time favorite Molbak’s Garden & Home, which has been a staple of this wine town for over 65 years, as they plan for a greener future.
“It’s going to be spectacular, it’s really visionary,” said Julie Kouhia, CEO of Molbak’s Garden & Home.
Kouhia said they plan to build a city in a garden on 20 acres of space in the heart of Woodinville, which will be known as the “Garden District”.
“There are going to be places where people are going to live, there are going to be apartments here, even with reconstruction or Molbak, we will have four floors of apartments right there with us, and then there will be other retailers, restaurants, there will be outdoor green spaces,” Kouhia said. “Maybe a hotel in the future.”
She said the University of Washington’s Green Futures Lab is helping them with the 10-15 year project, making it as sustainable and environmentally friendly as possible, focusing first on building a new Molbak store within this new community.
“We are going to collect water, rainwater from our roofs and use it to re-irrigate our plants in the store and we have cross timbers, which will support a central building that looks like a tree house” , Kouhia said. .
Mayor Millman said this project could not have started at a better time. He estimates that 800,000 people visit his city every year, and with the new Garden District that number will increase. With city entrepreneurs predicting that the city’s population, which is currently 14,000, will grow by 30% over the next 10 years.
“Help us with our infrastructure, they’re going to help us develop roads, they’re going to rehabilitate a creek that’s going to help us renew a population of fish that’s flowing into the Sammamish River,” Mayor Millman said.
The mayor said this city in a garden would cost taxpayers nothing or use city funds because it is privately funded. That’s another reason he’s excited about what’s to come.
“Molbak’s is an iconic part of our community, as I said earlier, it’s been 66 years here and we hope they’ll be here for another 66,” Mayor Millman said.
The first phase of the project consists of fitting out the new Molbak’s store nearby. They are ready to innovate at the end of this year or the beginning of next year. The current store will be open during construction and the new store is expected to open in 2025.
