Admiral Safeway project update: Trailer = interim pharmacy

Thanks to those who pointed out the trailer that’s gone up in the Admiral Safeway parking lot, e-mailing to ask whether it marks the start of construction on the redevelopment, or something else. Safeway’s Sara Corn says the trailer will be the temporary pharmacy – they scrapped the plan to first build the smaller retail building along California on the northwest side of the parking lot, so it could serve as the pharmacy during construction:

The permit for the retail building was not issued per the planned schedule. Since Safeway wants to provide uninterrupted pharmacy service, we couldn’t demolish the store until the retail building was completed and the pharmacy was open. Waiting for this would cause our entire store construction to be delayed and likely pushed out to a 2011 start. For this reason, we decided to run our pharmacy out of a trailer so we can start the construction of the new store as soon as we receive our permits.

As for when construction will start – Corn says there are still a few steps ahead – the site rezone goes to the City Council in June (she expects public notice this week for June 9/23 meetings); no date yet for the alley vacation to be considered, but once that date’s set, she says they’ll have a construction schedule (which would include a date for the closure of the current store). The smaller retail building, she says, will now be built concurrent with the main store; Catalyst Commercial Partners is currently listing its retail spaces for lease. (Here’s our report from the project’s final Design Review Board meeting back in February.)

12 Replies to "Admiral Safeway project update: Trailer = interim pharmacy"

  • Spikele May 19, 2010 (2:36 pm)

    Is that safe? Wouldn’t it be prone to break-ins from drug addicts?

  • JanS May 19, 2010 (3:57 pm)

    Spikele, that was my immediate thought. I hate to assume things, but I am going to anyway. I would expect that they will have a security guard on duty when it’s closed…maybe even when it’s open. I imagined that there would be fencing of some sort around the construction area…but that would mean fencing around the pharmacy, too. Guess they will let us know, huh…:)

  • KBear May 19, 2010 (3:58 pm)

    Hey, they ran air traffic control from a trailer at Sea Tac for a while. I’m sure a pharmacy is easier than that.

  • JanS May 19, 2010 (4:21 pm)

    one would hope that there are no drugs in a temporary Air Traffic Control Building…and there is someone there 24-7. Not so with the pharmacy. I live across the street from Safeway, and the trailer looks like it can be entered if someone wants to bad enough.

  • CAJ May 19, 2010 (6:21 pm)

    That was my first thought too. With the increase in prescription drug addiction in this country most pharmacies have security. Even the Rite Aid on California has a security gaurd in the store walking back and forth in front of the pharmacy. I’m sure they’ve thought of the potential problem and hopefully have a plan…

  • Near Alki May 19, 2010 (8:44 pm)

    Where’s the hitch for that thing ;)

  • pam May 19, 2010 (9:43 pm)

    My first thought when I saw it this morning was that it looked very unsafe and, really, pretty tacky. I will probably change our prescriptions over to Bartells at least until the construction is compete. West Seattle sure is taking a beating lately, what with the traffic revisions due to the tunnel work, the ‘whole’ in the Junction and Safeway too.

  • JanS May 19, 2010 (11:53 pm)

    Pam…I could care less that it may look tacky to some. It’s temporary. But the employees of the Safeway pharmacy are extremely nice to deal with, and they should be in a safe working environment while construction is going on.

  • pam May 20, 2010 (6:43 am)

    Yeah, I know…. I was tired and grumpy last night! I do hope it all pans out well for everyone – me included!

  • KBear May 20, 2010 (8:27 am)

    Oooh, it’s UNSAFE and TACKY! BAD Safeway! Shame on you for trying to improve your store! What would you have them do? They can’t rebuild the store overnight. If they shut down the pharmacy during the remodel, they’d probably lose more customers than the ones who’ll refuse to use the temporary pharmacy because they don’t like the fact that it’s in a trailer. As for security, I have a feeling they’ve thought of that.

  • Zach May 20, 2010 (5:36 pm)

    I’m a little behind on hearing about this project. Have they projected how long the construction will last once the current store is closed? Seems like construction is taking over my life these days. The new redesign looks great!

  • jsl May 20, 2010 (7:13 pm)

    I’m glad they’re moving forward and since we’re in a better financing environment than two years ago, the project won’t stall due to financing issues like Whole paycheck. The renderings look great. I like the brick theme that plays off of the school and buildings across the street!

Sorry, comment time is over.