City grapples with loss of South End Fred Meyer store and what could come next
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- Kroger plans to close Tacoma’s South End Fred Meyer, impacting 226 workers.
- City officials await lease talks' outcome before engaging on site redevelopment.
- Public town hall set for Aug. 28 to gather input on property’s future use.
City of Tacoma officials on Tuesday told members of a City Council committee they are still in the “fact-finding” phase of next steps regarding the planned closure of Fred Meyer at 72nd Street and Pacific Avenue.
The Tacoma store closure, affecting 226 workers with layoffs planned for late September, is one of several announced in Washington state tied to a nationwide 60-store reduction by parent company Kroger over 18 months.
The Tacoma store at 7250 Pacific Ave. and a QFC in Mill Creek were among the first closures to be announced in Washington state last month. Last week, A Fred Meyer store in Lake City, another in Redmond, one in Kent and one in Everett were added to the list. A statement from UFCW 3000 representing workers at the stores noted the four closures would affect more than 700 workers.
Fred Meyer corporate representatives have said in past statements that affected workers would have the opportunity to transfer to other locations.
On Tuesday, Cincinnati-based Kroger announced layoffs of “fewer than 1,000” corporate staff members, industry publication Grocery Dive reported.
The moves come following lower earnings reported in June and the legal rejection at the end of last year of a merger attempt with Boise-based Albertsons.
Lease negotiations come first
Back in Tacoma, representatives from the city’s Community and Economic Development Department met with the Economic Development Committee at the group’s Tuesday meeting to go over what the city could and could not do regarding the site.
Carol Wolfe, Community and Economic Development supervisor, told the panel, “We are currently waiting for them to complete their (lease) negotiations before we begin to engage.”
In May 2021, The News Tribune reported that the store was one of nearly 30 locations where Fred Meyer entered into sale-leaseback agreements, creating new 25-year leases for the sites.
The deal involved the sale to an LLC affiliated with Florida-based Benderson Development and leaseback of a portfolio of 28-property Fred Meyer superstores in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Alaska, including the Pacific Avenue store.
“Fred Meyer currently leases the property and is in negotiations with the property owner,” Wolfe said. “So in this interim space of time, it’s really important that we are not engaged with Fred Meyer or the property owner on interim uses or other activities.”
In the meantime, she noted that “staff currently has been gaining insights into the property ownership and building communication relationships to stay abreast of long-term plans, evaluating the community impacts and standing ready to offer our redevelopment support when necessary.”
She added that as for what did come under the city’s purview, “Fred Meyer does understand that the site upkeep is their responsibility, and this includes securing the building per International Fire Code and city vacant-property code.
“That has been a message they have received several times,” she added, sayng the retailer “also is being informed that they need to maintain the landscaping.”
Wolfe noted that the retailer “has expressed an understanding and a desire to comply,” while it continued to lease.
Other businesses at the site but not inside Fred Meyer also are involved in their own lease negotiations, Wolfe added.
“I would like to see these businesses continue to operate within those spaces, because I think it’s really important to have activated spaces within this area and the public coming and going,” said council member Joe Bushnell, whose district includes the store.
Bushnell asked Community and Economic Development director Tanja Carter what retailers or grocers might be looking for in properties, given that the building dates back to the 1970s.
Carter said that in general real estate terms, from her experience, “The useful life of a building” purposefully designed for a specific business such as Fred Meyer is around 30 years.
Its specific building footprint might or might not translate easily to another similar tenant’s needs, among other multiple factors considered in developments. That has led to different solutions in markets elsewhere.
“A trend that is happening on the East Coast, where it’s much more ... urbanly dense ... a Costco will build, or a Home Depot will build their building like it looks in a normal situation, and then there’ll be a residential development on top of it,” Carter said.
Other ideas floated at the meeting included mobile food trucks or possibly Tacoma Farmer’s Market involvement in the interim.
“We are really doing a deep dive and discovery to understand what are some ways that we could support, and convening and getting groups together and finding solutions,” Carter added.
Deputy Mayor Kiara Daniels said it was important to hear from the public at an upcoming town hall about what residents would like to see and how to achieve that and sought a follow-up meeting with the committee after the lease negotiations.
She also had a message for the Tuesday committee meeting’s audience.
“We don’t get to make private businesses do anything,” Daniels said. “So if you all have ideas, if there are things that you want to put together, now is the time. We can only do so much, and we can only support ideas that come to the table.”
Town hall
The South End Neighborhood Council and UFCW Local 367 are co-sponsoring a community town hall to discuss the Fred Meyer closure and what could come next from 6 p.m.-7:30 p.m. Aug. 28 at Wane + Flitch, 701 E. 72nd St., Tacoma. More information available at senco253.org or visit the event’s Facebook page.
The meeting also can be accessed as a webinar via Zoom, Webinar ID 9623 6305 Passcode 184578.
Previous reporting from The News Tribune contributed to this report.
