Molbak’s says it’s being cut out of Woodinville redevelopment project

The longstanding Woodinville garden center Molbak’s says it’s been suddenly cut out of a massive redevelopment project in the Seattle suburb’s downtown by a company with ties to Bill Gates.

Molbak’s Garden + Home, a family-owned store that opened in Woodinville 67 years ago and has become a regional shopping destination, went public Tuesday about the surprise change for the Gardens District project, accusing Green Partners, LLC, of forcing Molbak’s out of the plan to redevelop 19 acres with a new garden center, plus housing, restaurants and other amenities.

In an interview, Molbak’s CEO Julie Kouhia said she and the Molbak family were shocked and devastated earlier this month when they received notice that Green Partners was terminating the store’s future lease and role in the multiphase project without explaining why.

As recently as June, Molbak’s and Green Partners worked together to secure City Council approval for the project at and surrounding the site of the existing garden center, Kouhia said. Molbak’s wants to know what went wrong and how to set things right, she said.

“There’s not a justification we can find,” Kouhia said. “There hasn’t been a productive back-and-forth yet … But we want to move forward. We’re not trying to throw anybody under the bus.”

On Tuesday afternoon, Mayor Mike Millman said the council would discuss at a meeting Tuesday night whether to repeal the city’s June development agreement with Green Partners, which requires the project’s first phase to include a new Molbak’s as a public benefit.

Molbak’s and the Green Partners separately informed the city Monday that a new garden center would no longer be included in the project’s first phase, if at all, a council memo said Tuesday, describing the development agreement as now “effectively null and void.”

“I’d like to see how we can facilitate a path where Molbak’s remains in this project,” Millman said in an interview, calling the garden center one of Woodinville’s top two attractions, along with the city’s wineries.

In a news release, Molbak’s made a point to describe Green Partners as associated with Cascade Investment, LLC, and to describe Cascade Investment as associated with Gates, the Microsoft co-founder.

Jens Molbak, who owns Molbak’s, has a “small, silent, minority interest” in Green Partners, Kouhia said. State records show that Green Partners is governed by Mount Tolt Holdings, LLC, which in turn is governed by Michael Larson. Larson is the chief investment officer at Cascade Asset Management Company, which manages investments for Gates.

Messages for Cascade representatives weren’t immediately returned Tuesday.

Molbak’s was started by Egon and Laina Molbak, immigrants from Denmark who arrived in Woodinville in 1956, according to Tuesday’s release.

Planning for the Gardens District began about 15 years ago when Green Partners bought the land where Molbak’s is located, Kouhia said. The 1,200-apartment project has been a key part of Woodinville’s effort to create a vibrant, walkable downtown. It’s one of several projects in the pipeline that together could add thousands of housing units in the once-sleepy suburb northeast of Lake Washington.

A research and design team from the University of Washington has been involved, with the aim of making the neighborhood ecologically, economically and socially sustainable, Kouhia said.

In June, the council agreed to give Green Partners a height variance and development rights in return for public benefits, including infrastructure improvements around the site, about $4 million fees to support parks and trails and about 130 affordable apartments, plus the new Molbak’s, Millman said.

“Keeping Molbak’s here was a big part of it,” the mayor said, describing the city’s leaders as upset with the apparent change to the project.