Prime West Seattle Site Slated for Redevelopment

SEATTLE-Northwest Resource Management Group is planning a $30-million residential-over-retail development at one of the busiest intersections in West Seattle. The Seattle-based developer has tied up the 1.5-acre Hancock Fabrics building and parking lot at the confluence of Fauntleroy Way Southwest, Southwest 39th Avenue and Alaska Street.NWRMG principal Steve Hartley tells GlobeSt.com he expects to submit for a master use permit within the next several weeks. The best-case scenario has the 16-month construction project under way at the start of 2006 complete in early 2007. Stricker Cato Murphy of Seattle is the project architect. Depending on retail interest, Hartley says preliminary plans range from 186 housing units and 37,000 sf of street-level retail to about 70,000 sf of retail on two levels and between 140 and 150 housing units. “A couple of big national players are looking at it,” he says. “If they sign on for the street level space, we will probably wind up with two levels of retail.”Two different entities own the development site. Hancock Fabrics owns the parking lot associated with its building but not the building itself, which is owned by a family trust. Hartley says it took probably a dozen trips to Tupelo, MS, to get the transaction firmed up, but he now expects to close the deal later this year.The existing building, which includes Hancock Fabrics and Schucks, would be torn down to make way for a new, larger building with underground parking. Hancock, as part of its agreement to sell the parking lot, will be leasing space in the new development at a discounted rate. “They will go from what is now a ridiculously attractive lease rate to one that is not quite as good as what they had but still attractive for them.”Most traffic heading onto and off the west end of the West Seattle freeway, which connects to Interstate 5, passes through the three-way intersection where the development would occur. To boot, Hartley says the planned extension of the city’s monorail line includes a stop across the street from the development site. The rental rate for the retail space will depend on the tenant, says Hartley. GVA Kidder Mathews has the leasing assignment. The rental rate for the apartment units is expected to be around $1.50 per sf. Units are expected to range in size from 600 sf to 1,000 sf.