New grocers lining up for Gig Harbor spots
An August planning session with the City of Gig Harbor laid out a tentative proposal for a 32,000-square-foot Metropolitan Market at the former Main & Vine location, 5010 Point Fosdick Dr. NW.
Before everyone starts dreaming of not having to drive across the Narrows bridge for their favorite Met Market products, the developers stress that everything is preliminary and no leases have been signed.
Additionally, the Harbor Plaza space that held the 37,000-square-foot Main & Vine is big enough that a second retailer, yet to be named, would go into the remaining 5,711-square-foot section of the shopping center.
For now, the property owners are working with the city in updating the building facade and dividing the former Main & Vine space.
There’s more: Another grocer has told The News Tribune it is still in play for the Gig Harbor market.
Town & Country Markets, which at one time was planned for the Village at Harbor Hill, has been eyeing other Gig Harbor locations, and even considered the former Main & Vine location, according to a store representative.
“We did consider it. However, it just couldn’t provide the kind of access that we really need for our markets,” said Becky Fox Marshall, spokeswoman for Town & Country, in response to questions via email.
It has another site it is “seriously” considering, she added. No word yet on that location.
Those involved in the tentative Met Market plans met with the city in August to discuss site plans. At that meeting, the audio of which is on file with the city, discussions focused on changing the facade and setting back the entry of the store slightly to increase the front sidewalk space.
A subsequent project description submitted to the city says the facade upgrade “will utilize a combination of horizontal lap siding, stone veneer and stucco as an accent material.”
Peter Katich, senior planner with the city, told The News Tribune via email in response to questions that the land-use applications were submitted to the city last week and were determined to be complete.
According to Katich, the city has 120 days from the date of complete application to process the land-use permits to completion. The development “clock” can be stopped if more information is needed.
Building permits have not yet been submitted but could come next year if the design review goes well, according to John Hogan, manager for Harbor Pacific Properties, the site’s owner.
The site has been vacant since Main & Vine’s departure at the end of 2017, ahead of the opening of a new Fred Meyer.
Main & Vine was a grocery “experiment” run by its Cincinnati-based parent company, Kroger, which instituted some of Main & Vine’s features and brought on some of its former workers to its new Fred Meyer.
If the Met Market plans come to fruition, the Point Fosdick-Olympic Drive retail corridor would be home to multiple grocers within mere blocks of the one intersection, including Safeway, Fred Meyer and Harbor Greens.
All are finding ways to stay competitive.
Harbor Greens earlier this year opened Davenport Gourmet Coffee Taproom + Wine.
The Gig Harbor Fred Meyer site is launching grocery order and pickup starting Nov. 13, a feature Met Market recently introduced in Tacoma. Safeway also offers the service.
This story was originally published September 25, 2019 at 10:37 AM.
