Downtown Seattle is getting a grocery store:
As downtown Seattle’s residential population swells, plans are in place to build one of the few full-size grocery stores ever to serve that area.
The Kress IGA Supermarket, at 1423 Third Ave., will occupy the 18,000-square-foot basement of the building that for more than 50 years housed department store S.H. Kress & Co.
The building’s owners, brothers Don and Paul Etsekson, have signed a 35-year lease with Whidbey Island-based Myers Group to run the store, which is set to open by February. Construction permits for the $2 million renovation are expected within a month.
Tearing out a maze of mesh walls now dividing the floor into rented document-storage areas will begin before that, said Tyler Myers, vice president of Myers Group.
The store is intended to serve not only the increasing number of nearby condo and apartment residents, but also workers in the area and passers-by.
About time. About effin’ time. For downtown area residents, grocery choices are slim. There’s Whole Foods (too expensive), Pike Place Market (closes by 6pm every day), Dan’s Belltown Grocery (ok if you’re a AIS student, but I rarely shop there), Ralph’s (too fancy, expensive). A good grocery store can really tie a neighborhood together. The big boys, like Safeway and QFC, are too chicken to go downtown. They have stores in Uptown (Lower Queen Anne) and Broadway, but that’s a hike, especially if you’re in need of just a few items.
I’m all for it.
Not sure how this gets elevated to be featured on a blog that calls itself “the straight poop on WA politics & the press”.
What’s next — articles about book group meetings? weather reports? What exactly are you trying to be here?
You missed the new grocery just a block or two up Madison from the freeway. It’s within walking distance of downtown.
Maybe you Moonbat!s need to improve the city. Y’all voted in the latest crop of losers. How is that Sonic negotiation going again? Why is the mail-in vote taking so long? Viaduct Smiaduct Tunnel?
It’s run by the friends of Will, so just sit down and chat with them.
1423 3rd Avenue?!?! Geez, those guys are pretty brave to be setting up shop there…maybe they can get some security tips from the Walgreens around the corner.
Depending on where you live in Belltown it’s still closer to go to Lower Queen Anne, but for sure there are going to be a lot of new housing units opening up close by in the near future. I hope it works out well for them because it could really be beneficial for that area..
Not living in the area, why didn’t you have grocery stores?
Maybe it;s something I never think about living in los angeles. I have a vons. ralphs, albertsons, whole earth, trader joes and a few ethnic stores grocery stores within a couple miles.
@6
Lack of space downtown. If you live in the downtown area, you’ve always had to take a short bus trip to the nearest large grocery store.
Of note, is the fact that this IGA is well centralized in the free bus ride zone.
Seattle’s restauranteurs, on behalf of their most hoity-toity clientele, pulled strings to keep grocery stores out. Now, the only one allowed will be in the basement of a crusty old department store. Seattle’s ‘darkest days’ are not nearly over.
Well, finally, but Belltown still needs a place of its own. I remember living there when I first moved here, and I recall (not fondly) the FOURTEEN BLOCK walk, each step heavily laden, from Lower Queen Anne. The lack of basic supplies has prevented downtown/Belltown from developing properly, so we’ve now got a start. (Quite a surprise for us liberals, when the ‘free market’ we’ve heard so much about actually delivers something we need.)
Let Them Eat Take-out
Isn’t the whole idea of DTS (downtown seattle) a singles life style? Why have any gorcery store when there is take out!
A bigger issue may be the lack of pizza, felafel and teriyaki joints. If this really the westernmost end of Manhattan, where are all the street carts?
Gosh, next thing ya know they will want to have school in DTS. For “kids.” Ya know what I mean? Thise little people we all grewed up from?
Sarcastically yours,
resident of Olde Seattle.
About Time!!!!!!
At the meeting in the city HQ 2 years ago, I brought it up as one of Downtown’s greatest needs. I was informed that Whole Foods was going in near REI. I explained that I meant Downtown. The, “Expert” patiently told my obviously geographically challenged self that REI is downtown, while
my neighborhood (Freeway Park), is not.
I hale the day good sense wins.
Linde Knighton