(4755 Fauntleroy Way rendering, looking toward corner of Alaska/40th; store would wrap around this corner & run along Alaska)
ORIGINAL REPORT, 3:19 PM: Whole Foods Market has confirmed a new West Seattle location – right across SW Alaska from the spot where it once planned to open. Here’s the news release we just received:
Whole Foods Market – the world’s leading organic and natural foods supermarket – announced plans to open its seventh Puget Sound store location in West Seattle. The 41,000–square-foot store will be located within a mixed-use project at the intersection of Fauntleroy Way SW and SW Alaska Street. The store is scheduled to open in 2015.
The West Seattle store opening will create 150 new jobs throughout Seattle. Whole Foods Market has been ranked for the past 15 consecutive years as Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to Work For.”
“We’ve long wanted to be part of the West Seattle community and we’re grateful to all the residents who have reached out to support our efforts,” said Joe Rogoff, president, Whole Foods Market, Pacific Northwest Region. “Creating jobs, supporting local producers and lending a hand to area schools and non-profits are core to our philosophy and practices, and we’re eager to share this with West Seattle. And of course we’re thrilled to be expanding the selection of natural and organic food, sustainable seafood, humanely raised meats and housemade prepared foods and bakery items to the community.”
Whole Foods Market announced signing a lease with Weingarten Realty for West Seattle during its quarterly earnings call on November 7, 2012.
Robert Smith, Senior Vice President of Development and Acquisitions for Weingarten, commented, “We are extremely excited about this project which will be a signature property at the gateway intersection to the Junction area of West Seattle. Weingarten, Lennar and Whole Foods Market are substantial companies that are working intently together with the City to design a functionally well integrated project that is appealing to its customers and a positive reflection of the community. We believe this project fits the vision and objectives developed by the community and the City in their recently adopted Triangle Plan for this commercial intersection. This is an important project for us and reflects the growing trend toward more dense, urban, mixed use projects, desired by many metropolitan areas like Seattle.”
Once complete, Whole Foods Market will provide local shoppers with a wide selection of high quality natural, organic and local products. The company’s quality standards are outlined online at www.wholefoodsmarket.com.
ADDED 3:33 PM: We’ve just talked by phone with Lance Sherwood from Weingarten, who notes that the project still is in early development stages – it goes to its second Early Design Guidance meeting before the Southwest Design Review Board tomorrow night (at 8 pm – after the 4724 California review), a process that then will be followed by permitting as well as completion of financing and purchase before construction begins.
Whole Foods backstory: It was originally set as anchor tenant for what was Fauntleroy Place, announced in 2006 but stalled in 2008. While that project (which has NO link to this one) went through court battles in the ensuing two years, WF eventually announced in 2010 that its lease for FP was no longer valid, saying at the time that it was still seeking a West Seattle location. The former Fauntleroy Place, by the way, was sold at foreclosure auction last year, to Madison Development, which has filed plans with the city to develop it as Spruce West Seattle, with the former supermarket space instead changed to a fitness center that, according to the artwork with the filed plans, is expected to be an L.A. Fitness branch.
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