The site was originally occupied by a
Pay 'n Save store.
Sears occupied the site from 1929 until 1969, when it moved into the
Everett Mall. Pay 'n Save, which had shared the building with Sears, took over the vacant space and remodeled the building shortly after the latter's departure. Key Bank Tower was originally part of the "Colby Square" development, a project intended to revitalize downtown Everett, which had declined since the construction of the Wall Street Building in 1979 as the city's growth
suburbanized to the south. Announced on May 1, 1991, the project was developed by Colby Square Partners, a
partnership between JDH Limited of
Bellevue and Duryee Group of Everett, and designed by
Seattle-based architecture firm
NBBJ with funding from the
AFL–CIO trust; it was later scrapped except for the building itself. With SDL Corporation of Bellevue as the
general contractor, construction started on June 2, 1993, with the demolition of the Pay 'n Save store in a
groundbreaking ceremony. The building was
topped off on July 8, 1994, with tenants moving in that November. ==References==