June 29, 2017

Safeway to expand Queen Anne store, with apartments on top

Safeway has announced a major expansion plan that will double the size of its store at 2100 Queen Anne Ave. N.

No plans have yet been filed with the city for the 1.8-acre property, which is between Crockett and Boston streets on top of Queen Anne Hill.

The existing store was built in 1962 and has about 25,000 square feet. That will be demolished. The new store will be twice as large, with three or four levels of apartments above.

Current zoning allows structures to 40 feet in height.

Safeway said in a release that Holland Partner Group is the developer and Ankrom Moisan is the project architect. No other team members were announced. Entitlements will begin this summer, and construction is expected to start in the fall of 2018.

In a statement, Safeway's Karl Schroeder said, “We love being a part of this neighborhood. Since 1962 the store has undergone several significant remodels that were limited to our current space constraints. We are now committed to pursuing a redevelopment plan well-suited to both our neighbors and the location.”

During 2013 and 2014, Safeway and Albertsons were combined and taken private by an investment group led by Cerberus Capital, which paid about $12 billion for the two chains. An IPO was announced in 2015, but then delayed indefinitely.

The new combined company, now called Albertsons Companies, owns other grocery chains including Vons, Jewel-Osco, Shaw's, Acme, Tom Thumb, Randalls, United Supermarkets, Pavilions, Star Market, Haggen and Carrs. It operates in 35 states and is the second largest grocery chain in the country, after Kroger.

Cerberus was reported to have had an interest in adding Whole Foods to the Albertsons Companies group, but Amazon bought it instead.

Nationally, the grocery business is confronted with low profit margins, online ordering and delivery services, and changing consumer tastes.

Safeway said in its release, “The expanded Safeway store will offer more premium elements tailored to the Northwest, while addressing current size constraints that have resulted in a crowded store during peak hours and a limited ability to offer full product selections.”

Details about how many housing units and parking spaces were not specified in the Safeway press release. Doubling the store's footprint likely means that most parking will be moved underground, replacing the present surface lots.

Just south of the Safeway site, Trader Joe's opened a similar mixed-use apartment and grocery project in 2014.

Down the hill in Lower Queen Anne, when Safeway was under different ownership, it developed a new store below condominiums, called the TriBeCa, with Canadian partner Don Milliken.