Whole Foods To Anchor Roosevelt Square Project

Whole Foods Market, a natural-foods grocery store chain, has been selected to anchor a redeveloped Roosevelt Square shopping center in North Seattle, a $26.5 million renovation project scheduled to be completed in late summer or fall of 1999.

The food company recently signed a lease for a 50,000-square-foot store, said Charles Hart, executive vice president of TRF Pacific, a Seattle-based commercial real-estate developer and part-owner of Roosevelt Square.

Bartell Drugs, which has operated a store in the Roosevelt district for many years, also signed a lease for a 15,000-square-foot drug store in the development.

TRF Pacific, Lathrop Development and another private, local investor purchased Roosevelt Square from Wells Fargo last October for $7.8 million. The owners, operating under the name Roosevelt Square LLC (limited liability corporation), plan to build and redevelop 135,000 square feet of retail space with rooftop and underground parking.

Roosevelt Square takes up one city block between Northeast 65th Street and Northeast 64th Street along Roosevelt Way, and a half city block south of Northeast 64th Street. Roosevelt Square is the former site of a Sears store and currently features such tenants as Dania Furniture Collections and Magnolia Hi-Fi video store south of Northeast 64th Street.

Storefronts that house Northwest Sewing and Go To Your Room children's furniture and bedding will be reconfigured during the

redevelopment.

Construction on the project is scheduled to start about a year from now, while Roosevelt Square completes its application for a master-use permit, Hart said.

Whole Foods Market is the largest chain of natural foods supermarkets in the United States, with 74 locations in 17 states. Its North Seattle store, which will replace a former First Interstate bank, scheduled to be demolished, will include an in-store bakery and a selection of natural and organic groceries.