A Master Use Permit application has been filed with the city to build a mixed-use project in the 1900 block of Queen Anne Ave. N., which is the current home of a Metropolitan Market, an apartment building and two homes.
The plans call for a four-story building that will include 112 apartments that range in size from studios to two-bedrooms, underground parking for 202 vehicles and 30,000 square feet of retail space.
Smaller retail stores and possibly a restaurant are expected to take up some of that space, but the bulk of the retail space-22,000 to 25,000 square feet-will be taken up by an anchor tenant developer Joe Geivett hopes will be a new Metropolitan Market.
No one from the Metropolitan Market returned a call for comment, and Geivett of Emerald Bay Equity said he doesn't have a written agreement with the grocery store yet. "But all my plans show the Met Market as my anchor tenant," he said.
The project has been the subject of multiple community meetings and design reviews, and the neighborhood reaction has been mostly positive. That's in high contrast to a highly negative neighborhood reaction to a proposed project that involved QFC and the Cox family, the property's former owners.
"Generally speaking, people are happy with the direction things are going," said Scott Smith from Queen Anne Neighbors for Responsible Growth, a group that was formed specifically to fight the QFC project. "The Met Market has always been an important focus for us," he explained.
Geivett's also been open to meeting with the Queen Anne Neighbors anytime, Smith added. By contrast, the Cox family only met once with his group, he said.
Craig Hanway, from the Queen Anne Community Council's land use review committee, echoed Smith's comment. "I think he's (Geivett) been pretty responsive to what the community wants to see."
That has included sidewalks that are wider than normal, a courtyard and setbacks starting on the second floor, said Hanway, who added that Geivett has been working with the Queen Anne Historical Society to save the façade of the El Frieda apartment building. "We're proposing to remove the façade and reattach it to the new building," Geivett said.
Truck deliveries to the grocery were an issue with the QFC project, and they're an issue with Geivett's project. Delivery trucks currently unload in the parking lot of the existing Met Market, but deliveries for the new project will be made off the alley, Geivett said.
Hanway said it might be possible to use trucks smaller than semis after they pick up loads at the larger Met Market in Lower Queen Anne, where a Larry's Market once operated in the same space.
Geivett's on the same page about using smaller delivery trucks. "Actually, the trucks have gotten smaller over the past few years," he added.
Geivett said he expects to start construction on the project next August. But while the Met Market's current lease is up at the end of the year, Geivett said he thinks the owner will be open to extending the lease till demolition of the longtime neighborhood fixture begins.
The grocery will be closed during the project, and customers will be shifted to the other Met Market in the neighborhood, Geivett said. The entire job should take 15 to 18 months, but the retail component will be completed before the residential part, which is typical, he said.
Staff reporter Russ Zabel can be reached at rzabel@nwlink.com or 461-1309.[[In-content Ad]]
