On Monday, September 29th, the Northeast Design Review Board (DRB) reviewed Security Properties’ design proposal for the Wedgwood Center. Sarah Zahn with Security Properties provided a brief introductory statement on behalf of Security Properties with Ryan Ritter, the President and CEO of Town & Country Markets, describing the grocer’s enthusiasm of coming to Wedgwood. The design team then walked through the updated design and how the design team incorporated comments from the last DRB meeting into the updated plans. The design team then walked through the purpose and need of the five design departures they were requesting – including two departures necessary for a single curb cut off 35th Ave NE and a small surface parking area.
Following the presentation, the DRB was provided a chance to ask the design team a few questions before the meeting transitioned to the public comment period. And boy did the public came out to comment. According to the staff managing the DRB meeting, more people (+100) had signed up to provide public comment than they could ever remember. As expected for a project of this scale and change for our neighborhood, there were certainly comments in opposition of the project advancing. But, an overwhelming number of people showed up and voiced their support for the design and for the requested departures.
After having a chance to review and deliberate, the DRB unanimously approved the project to advance with some conditions on Security Properties continuing to coordinate with the city’s planner on some project design refinements.
What does this mean? It means that Security Properties now has certainty on their project design as it advances. And it means that grocery is coming back to Wedgwood! Welcome officially to Wedgwood, Security Properties and Town & Country Markets!
The WCC will continue to work with Security Properties to provide community feedback on important design and programming elements as the design advances. We’ll provide estimated schedules for permit review/approval and construction as well as the project advances.
Yess! I’m so excited to have a store in our neighborhood ahsin’n
Yess! I’m so excited to have a store in our neighborhood again!!
We need to dig in on transportation impacts and much needed road and signalization improvements…as well as employee parking throughout adjacent neighborhoods.
The 84th St curb cut needs to be offset so it does not align with 84th street residential street
We’ve communicated to Security Properties that we intend to continue being engaged with them on this issue and several others. Security Properties has confirmed they also will continue to be engaged with the community as well. Now that they have a site plan, SDOT can now provide feedback and specific recommendations/requirements. More to come…
This is exciting! Do you know how long the MUP or permitting process takes?
Traffic leaving the grocery store parking lot via the 84th Street curb cut will (increasingly) find it difficult to turn left onto a very busy 35th, and will be tempted to turn right and go down 36th.
A traffic light at 84th will soon be desired.
I’m very concerned about how much traffic will be added to 35th and the nearby side streets. With all the neighborhood parking, it’s going to be a mess.
(written testimony at meeting)
The grocery loading dock is off 85th, on the eastern edge of the proposed development.
At a previous meeting it was explained to me that trucks would back into the loading dock by using the parking lot of the Rite Aid building.
Now that Rite Aid is closed, it seems very probable that the site will be redeveloped as a multistory building with underground parking, and the surface lot will vanish.
How does this development propose to get their grocery trucks into the loading dock in the absence of the Rite Aid parking lot?
I apologize for raising this issue at this late date: the recent closure of Rite Aid makes the redevelopment of their site more of a reality.
Hi Andrew. The most recent design packet presented to the City includes an analysis of how freight would turn into the covered loading dock off NE 85th Street. I was at the meeting when Security Properties mentioned that drivers may still use RiteAid’s lot, but Security Properties is required to demonstrate that trucks can access the loading area without that.
Security Properties and SDOT will now be able to work together to identify specific traffic concerns from the approved site plan and identify suitable mitigation measures moving forward. This will surely be a point of conversation between SDOT and Security Properties.
It might be helpful to explain how the process works. The Design Review Board has not made a decision. It will not make a decision. The Design Review Board (DRB) makes recommendation(s) to the Director of the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections (SDCI), and the SDCI Director makes a decision, taking into account the DRB’s recommendations along with other considerations. Members of the community are entitled to appeal that decision, but must act within 14 days of the decision’s entry.
Now, about the “conditions.” I can’t say that I understood the specifics of the conditions attached to the requests for departures related to: (a) restrictions on the height of the building; or (b) requirements for small commercial uses. I am waiting to see what the Board states, in writing, before I reach an opinion about whether the conditions are sufficient to address neighborhood concerns about the scope of this project. However, it should be noted that the Board was not unanimous in its views about all of the developer’s requested departures. It is misleading to suggest otherwise.
Hi Howard. The DRB voted unanimously to approve all 5 departures to advance through MUP with some conditions around coordinating with the city’s planner around certain refinements. You’re correct that their approval ends up being a recommendation for SDCI to consider. But, the project is now done with the Design Review process and Security Properties will be exclusively working with SDCI and other city departments to refine the project design moving forward. We have already communicated that we would like to be part of this process as well.
To Andrew Taylor’s comments, Security Properties now has the opportunity to work with SDOT to discuss potential frontage and ROW improvements needed to mitigate traffic impacts – including the potential issues you raised. Security Properties could not have this conversation with SDOT until now because they were still in the Design Review process and did not have an approved site plan.
Howard, none of this is misleading and I would appreciate it if you would be careful in your accusations moving forward. This is also the summary that the Puget Sound Business Journal provides in their article here (https://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2025/09/30/security-properties-gets-ok-for-grocery-store-proj.html).
All of this will be explained more fully in SDCI’s summary of the DRB meeting when it is published soon. We will share that as we have with the information from the previous two DRB meeting minutes. There were no conditions on the requested height increase. The conditions the DRB put on the requested departures were around 1) refining the curb cut and surface parking to further improve the design for pedestrians and 2) increasing the space for small retail and/or maximizing the potential for the childcare space to be converted to retail in the future.
Why don’t we wait on the Board’s written recommendations, including votes cast on each of the requested departures and the conditions attached to those requests, before we characterize its action as unanimous?
Great—-now please, please just build it already!
How exciting. A grocery store in walking/biking distance from my house. My kids will love the adventure!
Many thanks Per and other members of the WCC for helping to move this decision forward. There can be differing opinions — and a lot of passion for the neighborhood — and thank you for helping the community navigate this process with grace.