POULSBO — Safeway proposes building a grocery store — with affiliated retail spaces for a bank, coffee outlet, gas station and pharmacy — on the 19000 block of 10th Avenue.
The site is down the street from Central Market and across State Route 305 from Albertson’s and Rite Aid.
The City of Poulsbo is accepting public comment until Sept. 24 on the project file, which is available for public review Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., in the Planning Department at City Hall. The file includes a geotechnical report prepared by GeoEngineers and dated March 24; an offsite drainage analysis and preliminary storm drainage report prepared by Barghausen Consulting Engineers and dated Aug. 14; and a State Environmental Policy Act checklist prepared by Tiland/Schmidt Architects and dated Aug. 25.
The site is about 6.45 acres and is zoned commercial. It consists of one parcel owned by Olympic Property Group and two parcels owned by Harrison Hospital.
According to the notice of application published by the city in the Herald’s public notices section, the grocery store would be 59,285 square feet in size, with an underbuilding parking garage with 103 stalls and a surface parking lot with 161 stalls. Entrances to the site would be from 10th Avenue, Lincoln Road and State Route 305. Intersection and road improvements would be required. Stormwater would be discharged to two adjacent wetlands located on land owned by the city.
Olympic Property Group’s office building would be demolished. Jon Rose, president of Olympic Property Group, said his company could move to the Union Bank building, which it owns, on 7th Avenue.
“We bought the Union Bank building as a commercial investment and it would work great for us,” he said. Olympic Property Group and Olympic Resource Management, the real estate and timber management arms of Pope Resources, have about 25 people in the 10th Avenue office, Rose said.
Rose said Olympic Property Group and Safeway are “in negotiations” for the sale and purchase of the 10th Avenue property.
Mayor Becky Erickson called the project “very interesting.” The underground parking is unique for a Safeway, she said. Separate analyses done by the city and Safeway show there is enough consumer demand to support another grocery store in Poulsbo. “I don’t think Safeway would locate there unless it felt it would make a go,” she said.
