Giant warehouse planned for Wild Waves property in Federal Way

Published 4:24 pm Thursday, May 28, 2026

The final season of the Wild Waves Theme Park is currently underway, but plans have already been filed with the city of Federal Way to turn the site into a 1 million square foot warehouse called Podium I-5.

A Geotechnical Report on the Podium I-5 project provided by Terra Associates Inc. states: “The project will consist of redeveloping the site with a 1,033,680 square foot industrial building and associated access, parking, and utility improvements. The building will have dock high loading on the east and west sides with parking to the north, south and west.”

Longtime property owner and former park operator Jeff Stock told the Mirror that after learning the park would no longer be financially viable to operate, he explored several possibilities for the location before settling on the warehouse project.

In Dec. 2025, Oklahoma-based Premier Parks LLC, the park’s operator, announced that Wild Waves will close to the public on Nov. 1, 2026.

Stock said he was “emotional” when he heard the news because the Wild Waves site has been a big part of his life since purchasing it in 1990. Knowing that other small amusement park owners are also struggling financially, he said he didn’t consider trying to revive it, and instead knew he had to “make lemonade out of lemons.”

One possibility Stock explored for the property was a hotel or convention center, but there wasn’t too much interest in this, he said. He also learned that this project would take three to four years, and he wanted something that could be built faster.

Part of this urgency came from a concern about what could happen to the property if it were left in its current condition without being used for too long.

“Draw your own conclusions about what could happen,” Stock said, acknowledging that the potential for vandalism or misuse were included in those concerns.

In another era, an office park would have been an option as well, but there’s not much market for this use right now, Stock said, so after assessing the options, industrial users were the ones that seemed the best direction to go.

Going forward, Stock will continue to own the land, but it will be leased to development company Panattoni. That company will oversee the transformation of the site into a warehouse and manage future tenant relationships, although Stock said he will still have the final say on those partnerships.

Potential tenants have expressed interest, and Stock told the Mirror he is excited about the possibilities.

“I’m trying to make it good for the city,” Stock said, adding he’d like to give the city “a great tenant that would provide a lot of jobs.”

Stock couldn’t share any details about who these tenants might be. But it is worth noting that Amazon did expand its warehouse footprint in Federal Way in 2024, leasing a building about a quarter of the size on the former Weyerhaeuser campus, which is now owned by Industrial Realty Group (IRG) and called the Woodbridge Corporate Park.

City documents state that “while the tenant(s) are not currently identified, industry norms are generally 98% warehouse and 2% associated office space, which would be accessory to the main warehouse use.”

The permitting process is moving ahead and several steps have already been completed, including a tree conservation plan, wetland and fish and wildlife habitat assessment report, geotechnical assessments and more.

According to documents from January, city staff determined that some street frontage improvements will be necessary, including along Enchanted Parkway South (State Route 161) and Milton Road South as well as along South 369th Street and 19th Way S.

The property use was changed to allow this type of development in 2023, when council bill #870 updated the restrictions to allow warehouse use on more than 25% of the property. Current Federal Way City Council President Susan Honda was the lone “no” vote on that ordinance, with then-council president Linda Kochmar and council members Lydia Assefa-Dawson, Paul McDaniel, Hoang Tran, Jack Walsh and Jack Dovey all voting in favor of the change.

Other warehouse development

A public land use hearing is coming up on June 8 for the development of three more warehouse properties with office buildings in the Woodbridge Corporate Park.

Building 1 would be located north of the Weyerhaeuser Technology Center, and buildings 2 and 3 will be located south of that building.

The total new building area is approximately 971,390 square feet.

This is a developing story and additional information will be added when available.