Stone Way North to lose its grocery store?
(2/28 -Editor update - whoops, the grocery store that was previously here was a Safeway, not a QFC)
The North Seattle Herald Outlook just published a story detailing how QFC’s plans to rebuild their store at Stone Way N and N 39th St have fallen through. QFC originally was planning on replacing their one story store at this location with a new building featuring a ground-level QFC and apartments above.
QFC wasn’t able to get this project built and instead sold the property to Prescott Development (who is proposing a controversial townhome project in Maple Leaf). Prescott has said that it may scrap QFC’s original mixed-use grocery store/residential building plans with a mixed-use smaller retail/residential building, and that’s not something the neighborhood wants.
One thing local residents should worry about in the article was the consistent talk from the developer and the DPD about the powers of the Design Review Board to:
As of now, Prescott Development does not have firm design plans. “The Design Review Board does that for us,” (Mike) Derr (Prescott Development) said. “They decide what works and fits in the neighborhood.”
The Design Review Board looks at initial concepts for the proposal,” explained Department of Planning and Development planner Bruce Rips. “The board will review…and give guidance to the applicant on design issues.”
Anyway, they’re both wrong. The Design Review Board (DRB) is not the place to decide whether a full-scale grocery store or a series of smaller retail shops go into this space. The DRB has neither the authority nor the will to make such a substantial change. The DRB’s scope is limited to the details - the DRB can help with finishing touches like lighting, paint schemes, cornices, etc…
The decision on what type of retail will be built here rests with the property owner/developer. So to be effective, Wallingford needs to be lobbying Prescott, the local media, and the city council/mayor right now. If you wait until it gets to the Design Review Board process, it will be too late and Stone Way might just end up with more suntanning parlors and chiropractic clinics.
(North Seattle Herald Outlook photo)
4 comments
What do you have against suntanning parlors and chiropractic clinics? I do detect a bit of pervasive bias against these types of businesses that, as you say, encourage driving customers at the supposed expense of local neiborhood customers. I’m no fan of strip mall fodder like suntanning salons either, but I am a fan of capitalism and the American way. If the consumers (local and regional alike) choose to frequent less-than-quaint establishments, then so be it. If we don’t want those types of businesses in our neighborhood, then we should be working at chainging the opinions of potential customers - not developers. Poo-pooing certain types of “undersirable” businesses smacks of elitism (a pre-cursor to gentrification in many cases). Just MHO.
Good point Jeromy, I should clarify that. I’m not against the specific services they offer - I actually don’t even care. I just don’t feel that locating businesses which only meet the needs of a very small percentage of the neighborhood’s residents is a good way to add to the character or sustainability of a neighborhood.
And I think it is fair to put pressure on developers to spend a little time thinking about what retail services the neighborhood really needs. This not only gives them good ideas for businesses that they might not otherwise have thought of, but helps reduce friction with the neighborhood because they feel that they’re getting something that helps their area.
And it is possible to work with developers to influence the type of businesses that they put in, check out this agreement that we negotiated with our local developer.
The title’s a bit misleading since there hasn’t been a grocery store on that site for years…and it used to be Safeway. QFC bought the land to build a new store but never was able to.
I think it’s accurate (well, except for the Safeway part) - people were expecting a grocery store to replace the one that was here, and now no grocery store will be going here.
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