Costco plans gourmet grocery store on old Bellevue Kmart site

It wouldn't fly in the Big Apple, but Costco Wholesale hopes to bring a new type of gourmet grocery store closer to home, this time in Bellevue.

The Issaquah-based warehouse-club chain plans a 106,000-square-foot Costco Fresh store at the former Kmart site at 15015 Main St. in east Bellevue. Costco Chairman Jeff Brotman said the store would offer "huge selections of all types of gourmet products," including groceries, wine and beer at the low prices the chain is known for.

Public meeting Plans for the Kelsey Creek shopping center, once occupied by Kmart, will be discussed at 7 p.m. tomorrow at St. Louise Catholic Church, 141 156th Ave. S.E., Bellevue. For more information, call 425-452-6836.

"It gives us an opportunity to expand in categories where we think we've learned a lot," Brotman said, noting fresh food has been among the fastest-growing segments of Costco's business in recent years.

Costco signed a lease last week and should be moved in by late spring, said Cason Swindle, the site's property manager. He would not disclose terms of the lease.

The company unveiled the Costco Fresh concept three years ago, proposing the grocery-centered format for several new stores in Manhattan. Costco abandoned those plans in 2000 amid opposition from neighborhood activists, who raised concerns about traffic and other possible impacts.

At the time, Brotman cited escalating construction costs as the reason for scuttling the plans. He said yesterday the company is glad to be unfurling the Costco Fresh concept "in our back yard."

"Our brand is so completely trusted in the Northwest," Brotman said. "We hope it will be embraced right away."

Costco would tear down the existing 106,153-square-foot building and build a slightly smaller one — 105,594 square feet. If the building were larger, the city would require that Kelsey Creek, which runs through a culvert under the middle of the parking lot, be unearthed.

The company plans to include a 5,000-square-foot garden center and add landscaping to the site, an application filed with the city shows.

The store would depart from a traditional Costco store and "focus almost exclusively on grocery and associated services, with special attention to fresh produce, meats, seafood, and baked goods," the application says. It would include a pharmacy, cafe and optical and photo departments.

Plans for the site will be discussed at a meeting tomorrow. Costco and Bellevue officials will meet Oct. 3.

The plaza, built 35 years ago, has been vacant since June, when Kmart closed as part of bankruptcy proceedings.

Nat Franklin of Franklin-West, which owns the site, was not available for comment.

The Costco Fresh store would be an experiment, like the new furniture and home-furnishings store the company plans to open in Kirkland. The store would be Costco's first in Bellevue and serve as a testing ground for products Costco might consider selling at its warehouses.

Costco also has approached Covington officials about building a warehouse on Covington Way, but it has not applied for a building permit.

Kristina Shevory: 206-464-2039 or kshevory@seattletimes.com.

Jake Batsell: 206-464-2718 or jbatsell@seattletimes.com.