Evo spends $17.5 million on land for new Seattle development project

By Bella Wilkes

Published on Jan. 14th, 2022

Following the continued growth of its retail business, evo plans to turn a full city block in Seattle into a mixed-use development combining retail, restaurants, experiences, and more.

Evo this week announced its purchase of a new retail site in downtown Seattle, Wash. The project, dubbed “Campus Seattle,” will expand on an existing evo store and adjacent skatepark, rock climbing gym, and 23,000 square feet of office space to create a full city block of mixed-use retail, sporting, and business space. The land for the project, which will be managed by development firm Evolution Project, reportedly cost $17.5 million.

Other businesses that will lease space in the campus have not been announced.

PC: evo

The company is also expanding beyond the U.S. In October 2021, it purchased Callaghan Country Wilderness Adventures, which includes Journeyman Lodge, in British Columbia. On Tuesday, evo announced that it had acquired Rhythm Japan, a retail, rental, and experiences company that reflects many of evo’s goals and values. In a press release detailing the acquisition, evo emphasized that both companies will mutually benefit from each other’s complementary strengths.

Despite all this expansion, CEO Bryce Phillips emphasizes that quality will always trump quantity for evo.

“We are twenty years in, so, in the scheme of things, we have moved slowly,” Phillips said. “We look to have a positive impact on each of the communities that we are a part of while delivering highly differentiated customer experiences across the board.”

According to Phillips, the continued demand for human connection and hands-on service from evo’s customers has been a leading factor in keeping the retailer’s stores busy in a virtual world.

“The pandemic has shined a bright light on what matters most,” Phillips said. “The desire to get outside has definitely driven incremental traffic and for us, [especially] combined with the experiences that we deliver in our stores.”