Redevelopment Set To Start For Roosevelt Square Site

The long-awaited $26.5 million redevelopment of the Roosevelt Square retail center in North Seattle was set to begin today with demolition of portions of the square-block site.

When construction is finished in about a year, a new 50,000-square-foot Whole Foods Market will anchor the shopping center at Northeast 65th Street and Roosevelt Way Northeast.

The Austin, Texas-based natural-foods store will occupy the east half of the complex between Northeast 64th and 65th streets along 12th Avenue Northeast.

Dania Furniture, the longtime anchor at the corner of 65th and Roosevelt, will expand at its current location and remain open during the renovation, said Robert Parks, president of TRF Pacific, the developer and part-owner of Roosevelt Square.

Parks said the building that housed a Wells Fargo Bank branch at 12th Avenue Northeast and 65th Street will be demolished, as will the retail wing south of Dania along Roosevelt. That addition used to house The Computer Store, which since has moved to the University District.

A small building across Northeast 64th that houses a Magnolia Hi-Fi car stereo-installation center also will be torn down to make room for additional surface parking stalls, said Parks. The installation center will be relocated next to Magnolia Hi-Fi's retail store on Roosevelt near 64th, he said.

A local partnership bought Roosevelt Square from Wells Fargo in October 1996 for $7.8 million. Roosevelt Square originally was developed in 1929. At one time, a Sears store occupied the site.

In addition to Whole Foods, a new 15,000-square-foot Bartell Drugs will take up the southwest portion of a second deck that TRF Pacific plans to put over the main level Dania and Whole Foods will occupy. The second deck will have a number of retail stores, plus a Starbucks Coffee outlet and 84 parking stalls on what will be the roof of Whole Foods Market.

There also will be a 176-stall underground-parking garage for the new supermarket, said Parks.

J. R. Abbott Construction of Seattle is the general contractor and Lance Mueller & Associates Architects of Seattle is the architect.

Lee Moriwaki's phone message number is 206-464-2320. His e-mail address is: lmoriwaki@seattletimes.com