Stalled retail site plans in Gig Harbor could get new life as mixed use, developer says
The developer behind a long-planned shopping center hasn’t forgotten about you, Gig Harbor.
Jon Rose, vice president of real estate with Florida-based Raydient/Rayonier, which owns the Village at Harbor Hill property, told The News Tribune in a recent interview that “there’s a lot going on behind the scenes,” but could not offer any announcements just yet.
The $44 million, 18.5-acre business park project at Borgen Boulevard and Harbor Hill Drive was set to have a Town & Country Market grocery store, banking, restaurants, shops and medical services.
A legal battle over transportation impact fees and eventual settlement between the developer and the city took some time to reach.
By summer 2020, Town & Country Markets had bowed out of any plans to open a new grocery there, and two years later, it abandoned plans for another Gig Harbor site.
Rose noted however, that the community meeting held in June about the center’s future, where residents could share their ideas, was “one of the best public meetings that I have been to or been a part of, because the community came out in a pretty big force.”
Around 100 residents attended, The News Tribune reported at the time, with the audience offering suggestions not tied to upscale grocers, but possibly along the lines of WinCo, as well as the potential for turning it into a mixed-use site, offering residential and retail.
The primary focus though, he acknowledged, remains on landing a grocer, complicated by what ultimately became the Kroger-Albertsons failed merger attempt.
“With all the turmoil in the marketplace between Kroger and Albertsons and Safeway and all that — people were not moving around the grocery world, so there was that,” he recalled from the summer meeting. “And then in retail, there’s a lot less demand for retail buildings today.”
To his surprise, residents had other ideas.
“One of the takeaways for us is to consider doing multifamily,” he said, “and that make it more of a town center feel. And the city has responded to that.”
And going back to that “behind the scenes” he referred to earlier in the interview, he added this nugget:
“We have very strong interest from four different grocers.”
Meanwhile, what’s been taking up much of Rose’s attention these days, is another Rayonier project north of Gig Harbor — Port Gamble, in the Hood Canal area on the Kitsap Peninsula.
Cleanup and work toward redevelopment of a former lumber mill site that goes back to the 1800s and closed in the 1990s is now set to enter its buildout phase.
That includes new residential and “cottage” communities, a hotel, approval for development of wineries and brewery, and more, all maintaining the town’s New England style that was introduced in the 1800s.
“It has taken one generation to get ready to move forward with the redevelopment of Port Gamble,” he said. “2025 is the year for us to move forward.”
The News Tribune archives contributed to this report.
This story was originally published December 27, 2024 at 5:20 AM.
