Winningham tells GlobeSt.com Armada went through a partnership dissolution so he formed a new one, 500 Mercer Partners LLC, and is moving forward with the project.

The plan is to raze the 12,000-sf retail building and build a four story building with 100 entry-level condominium units over 71,371 sf of retail, to be filled with a new, larger Tower Records and a grocer, possibly QFC. WHen Winningham told GlobeSt.com in March 2002, when he was still with Armada, that the plan was to apply for the MUP and building permits that summer, break ground this spring complete the project in the second or third quarter of 2004.

Michael Jenkins, the city planner on the project tells GlobeSt.com that Winningham now has several months to spend in the permitting process now that the application is in. In addition to the typical approvals such as a SEPA environmental determination and design review, Jenkins says Winningham is also seeking to vacate a platted but otherwise nonexistent alley that cuts through the property. Unlike the other approvals, the alley requires a hearing in front of the City Council as well as its approval. "The project doesn't work without the alley vacation," says Jenkins.