Big Plans For Issaquah -- New Mall, Access Road Proposed

SAMMAMISH PLATEAU

Johnson Underwood Properties announced yesterday that it plans to build a shopping center on the highly visible Reid Sand and Gravel property, along with a road that would give Sammamish Plateau residents a new way to get to Issaquah.

East Lake Sammamish Center is the development outlined in a permit application submitted to King County planners yesterday. The 400,000-square-foot mall would be on East Lake Sammamish Parkway Southeast north of Issaquah-Fall City Road.

The inactive Reid pit and the still-operating Lakeside Industries quarry are landmarks along Interstate 90.

To address King County and community concerns about traffic problems, the developers plan to widen East Lake Sammamish Parkway from two lanes to three and add a turn lane between Issaquah-Fall City Road and Southeast 56th Street.

They also would join with the developer of an adjacent property to build a two-lane road connecting Southeast 62nd Street and Black Nugget Road. The road would run through the middle of the new shopping center.

The cost of building the road would be shared with Wakefield Homes, which plans to develop multifamily housing and possibly office buildings on 27 acres along Issaquah-Fall City Road adjacent to the shopping-center site.

Wakefield has not submitted a development application to the county, but Steve Malsam, a principal in the company, said the timing of his project wouldn't delay building the road, which could be a key to county approval of both developments. Wakefield's land includes property that was part of the Lakeside Industries gravel operation until last year.

Before Johnson Underwood begins building the shopping center next year, it would regrade the lower parts of the 38-acre property, remove old mining fixtures and replant the barren hillside with firs and alders.

Construction of East Lake Sammamish Center could set the stage for a head-to-head battle between Eagle Hardware & Garden in nearby Pickering Place and The Home Depot, which could become a tenant of the new center.

Craig Johnson declined to name the "national home-improvement" retailer who he said is close to signing a long-term lease with him and his partner, John Underwood. One of the shopping center's anchor buildings would be 130,000 square feet, the same size as a Home Depot store that opened in Bellevue last fall.

The other anchor, a 165,000-square-foot structure, also would be occupied by a "big box" retailer. The developers said other tenants would be a home-furnishing retailer and restaurants. The parking lot would hold 1,600 cars.

Johnson and Underwood, who completed the 420,000-square-foot Underwood Johnson Corporate Park in Redmond last year, had considered building an office project at the old gravel pit. Johnson said they decided, instead, on a retail center after several large office projects were announced by other developers.

"We didn't necessarily want to compete with a million other people for the same tenants," he said.

Keith Ervin's phone message number is 206-515-5632. His e-mail address is: kervin@seatletimes.com