Molbak’s plans return to Woodinville in a new form

After a tumultuous closure earlier this year, the owners of shuttered Woodinville nursery Molbak’s Garden + Home are planning a comeback. 

Molbak’s won’t return in its previous form, but former leaders of the company announced Thursday they plan to open a new venture called Green Phoenix Collaborative at the Molbak’s site. 

The collaborative will function as a space hosting other vendors, said Molbak’s CEO Julie Kouhia. While leaders behind the new effort have not yet finalized any plans for who those vendors might be, Kouhia said she envisions people selling plants, teaching classes and offering food and drinks. Organizers have had early discussions with the Woodinville Farmers Market about operating in the former Molbak’s location.

“I’m picturing a really vibrant space that’s filled with all of these different vendors and different people who care about what Molbak’s cares about in terms of planet and community,” Kouhia said in an interview Thursday.

The collaborative has launched a fundraising campaign with hopes of raising money to operate the space and allow vendors to set up rent-free. Molbak’s invested $1 million in the new effort, and the group aims to raise an additional $2.5 million by May 9 to begin hiring staff and designing programs for the space. 

If the collaborative reaches that goal, it would “open the space immediately” and hope to be “fully up” by the end of the year, Kouhia said.

Family-owned for decades, Molbak’s became a popular hub in Woodinville and was set to anchor a huge redevelopment project in the area, including hundreds of apartments. But those plans fell apart late last year when the developer, Green Partners, put the project on ice, citing soaring interest rates and construction costs “along with the complexity of creating a large-format garden center in a dense urban development.”

Molbak’s had accused Green Partners of cutting the garden store out of the development plan. The two sides engaged in mediation but said they could not reach an agreement that would have allowed Molbak’s to stay open. The store closed in late January.

It’s unclear if the terms of the property’s lease have changed. Kouhia said she could not discuss the lease because of a nondisclosure agreement. Green Partners declined to comment Thursday.

Green Phoenix Collaborative will have access to the space for a “couple of years,” Kouhia said.

In a statement Thursday, owner Jens Molbak said the idea for the new project emerged from “the outpouring of memories, support and affection from all corners of our community” when the garden store shuttered in January. “People sent letters, posted on social media, wrote editorials, called elected officials and cleared out the shelves at the final sale.”

While Molbak’s received offers of other properties for a potential move, Kouhia said a relocation wasn’t workable because of the time it would take to make the move.

“Part of what we are wanting to do is think forward and be innovative about what is the future of gardening and garden centers in this country. And if we were to start again, I don’t think that we would start in the same format with 138,000 square feet of retail space,” Kouhia said.

If the fundraising effort succeeds, the collaborative may eventually launch memberships for people to access the space. And if it can’t raise the needed funds, the group said in a statement, backers will return donors’ money and “know that the timing wasn’t right for this new idea.”

This report includes information from The Seattle Times archives.