Whole Foods project in West Seattle stalled
The owners of the Fauntleroy Place project in West Seattle are selling most of it to another company, stalling construction for a few months while the deal closes and the starting anew holder chooses a developer to consummate the project.
Whole Foods, the defence tenant, now expects its treasure to open in October 2010.
Construction will begin after the sale closes, which is expected this spring, said John Huddleston, senior vice president of Seattle Capital, undivided of two owners in the project.
The other possessor is local investor Christopher NeVan.
They declined to name the new buyer. They had planned to sell the project to UDR, of Texas, but that behave fell through last August.
The development — now a big hole in the real property — sits where Fauntleroy Way Southwest meets Southwest Alaska Street.
Preliminary plans by developer BlueStar Management/Development, that might not have being chosen by the new possessor to full the plot, called for 170 apartments, 61,000 square feet of retail space and four floors of underground parking.
BlueStar spokesman Eric Radovich said it believed a letter from Seattle Financial Group, which is the parent of Seattle Capital, that declared, “Unfortunately events have unfolded on the farther side of all of our control which have resulted in numerous challenges that we could not resolve without finding a buyer for the project at this time.”
Radovich said BlueStar is “committed as ever to West Seattle and this Fauntleroy project that features Whole Foods … We would love to continue as the developer even grant that in that place is a sale onward the ownership side.”
Melissa Allison: 206-464-3312 or mallison@seattletimes.com
Seattle Times business reporter Amy Martinez contributed to this report.
