Business park is core of area's evolving identity

By JOHN IWASAKI
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

In the mid-1980s, developer Roger Belanich bought 500 acres east of the I-405/Bothell-Everett Highway intersection, developing a former dairy into the Canyon Park Business Center.

The business park is home to more than 40 high-tech, biomedical, telecommunication and other businesses, including Immunex, Icos, GTE and the regional office of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Advanced Technology Laboratories is west of the Bothell-Everett Highway in a separate sprawling business center.

Together, many of the firms make up a portion of Snohomish County's touted "Technology Corridor."

While business parks seem impersonal, two large tenants with their own communities are the University of Washington/Bothell campus and Canyon Hills Community Church.

More than 1,200 students were enrolled fall quarter 1998 at the university, which offers four baccalaureate and two master's degree programs. Classes are held in a 52,000-square-foot facility that is being leased until the permanent campus opens east of downtown Bothell in fall 2000.

Unlike at the Seattle main campus, the typical UW-Bothell student is older, established in a career and raising a family, says admissions specialist Natalie Lang, 29, who graduated from the branch campus in 1997.

"They're less interested in the social aspects and much more interested in going to class," she says. "We're trying to make this a warm and friendly place for those trying to stop in, grab an education and get home to serve their families."

Canyon Hills Community Church, meanwhile, began services in 1995 by renting space at Canyon Park Junior High.

"At that time, we thought that was more than what we would need," Administrative Pastor Keith Batchelor says.

When services began overflowing, the church moved to a 40,000-square-foot space in the Canyon Park Business Center, converting a warehouse into a sanctuary. Unlike weekdays, parking on Sundays is not a problem because "when our people come, no one else is here," Batchelor says.

The non-denominational church fills with about 1,500 worshipers during Sunday morning services, including 500 children.

The majority of the members, who come from throughout South Snohomish and North King counties, are in their 30s with young families.