STANWOOD — Construction is under way downtown on a 28,000-square-foot building meant to house a new Grocery Outlet and Petco.
The stores are on track to open this summer, property owner and developer Bill Lenz said. The Grocery Outlet is expected to open first, likely in July or August.
The stores are going to be near the corner of Highway 532 and 92nd Ave. NW, across from the QFC. The parking lot access will be from 92nd, Lenz said.
Grocery Outlet focuses on discount shopping and in recent years has turned its attention to the growing market for natural, organic health foods, spokeswoman Melissa Porter previously told The Herald. Petco is a national chain that specializes in pet supplies along with dog grooming and obedience training, according to the company’s website.
“They’re going to be good stores and I hope that they’re a nice complement to Stanwood and that they’ll bring something there that people will like,” Lenz said.
Another Grocery Outlet opened recently in Arlington, sharing the former Food Pavilion on East Burke Avenue with a Dollar Tree. It was celebrated by shoppers who felt their options had become limited after the back-to-back closures in 2014 of the Food Pavilion and the Arlington Haggen on Highway 9.
The Haggen on Lindstrom Road in Stanwood also has an unclear future while the bankrupt Bellingham-based company seeks to sell the store. Whether the new owner will choose to maintain the Haggen name or transform the store is unkown. The planned Grocery Outlet could be arriving at a good time for Stanwood and Camano Island shoppers who, like those in Arlington, want options.
The building itself should be done in May and handed over to the businesses for set-up, said project manager Duke Fisher, of Chad Fisher Construction. The site was prepped for the work this summer, becoming a flat, elevated gravel lot in the low-lying downtown.
The stores are going to have the highest first floor elevation of any building in downtown Stanwood so far, Lenz said. The area is in a floodplain so the lot was filled to raise it above the estimated 100-year flood levels. The first floor will sit 13 feet above sea level and 3 feet above the flood level, Lenz said.
“I think that for anyone building in downtown Stanwood, elevating out of the floodplain is going to be a necessity,” he said.
Crews began laying the foundation of the building in October, Fisher said. Underground utility work is next.
Kari Bray: 425-339-3439; kbray@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
