ARLINGTON — Developers and farmers have changed the landscape of northern Arlington, but one constant had remained until recently — an old train station located on the corner of 67th Avenue NE and 172nd Street NE.

Although the building was torn down in 2007, its successor — a 5,000-square-foot building that’s the new home to John L. Scott Real Estate — still shares the 120-year-old building’s spirit and footprint.

John L. Scott representatives, as well as Mayor Margaret Larson, were scheduled to hold a grand opening for the recently completed building from 5-8 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 18. The event will be part of the Arlington-Smokey Point Chamber of Commerce’s after-hours event.

“We really want to welcome the community,” said Bob Penny, real estate consultant for Arlington office.

There, business owners and community members will get a chance to see the re-done structure, located at 17220 67th Avenue NE — right next to the train tracks.

“The train still comes by and there are school children there, they really get excited,” said Marilyn Artim, real estate broker and co-founder of an investment group that purchased the building. “It comes by once a day or so to pick up lumber, and it shakes the walls.”

Artim, along with group co-founders Dean Case and Tom Santeford, originally planned to purchase the piece of property and renovate the 1880s-era building into a new John L. Scott office.

After going through the permitting process and learning of the building’s laundry list of safety issues — including no heating system — the three investors decided to re-build a new, two-story office in the old structure’s place.

“When it came down, people were asking us what we were doing,” Artim said. “It was literally built on dirt and it couldn’t be secured to the ground.”

Case said that approximately 4,000 yards of fill were required to build a new building due to drainage concerns.

Due to the repeated re-grating and re-paving of both 172nd Street NE and 67th Avenue NE over time, the old train station building was sitting a few feet below where the road was.

Despite that change, the new John L. Scott office is very similar to the previous building, Case said.

“It’s almost an exact replication — it’s not only got the same foot print, but also the same roof line,” Case said. “One of the only major differences is it doesn’t have the front facade and the old second floor didn’t meet code, so its taller.”

About 30 agents now work out of the building, and Case said that the office is continuing to grow as its real estate agents begin adapting to the changing housing market.

He said the new building should give the Arlington John L. Scott office more exposure, adding that traffic studies have shown that more than 37,000 vehicles drive through the nearby intersection each day.

“When you have a business with that kind of traffic, it’s great visibility,” Penny said. “We’ve got lots of compliments from people who have come in.”

For more information on the building or the grand opening, call 360-435-8800.