It’s early, but here are plans proposed for Gig Harbor shopping center renovation
A shopping center in downtown Gig Harbor could at some point see its redevelopment come to pass.
Changes to Peninsula Shopping Center on Judson Street downtown are being reviewed by city of Gig Harbor planning staff.
Katrina Knutson, community development director for the city, told The News Tribune in response to questions that: “City staff are currently reviewing applications for minor site plan, design review and a boundary line adjustment for renovation of the Peninsula Shopping Center.”
Plans initially submitted in November are in their second review.
The city is working with The Rush Companies on the submitted proposals. Rush Development bought partial stake in the center Feb. 25, 2020, about a week before the COVID-19 pandemic took hold in Pierce County.
Chris DeWald, vice president of Rush Development, told The News Tribune on Wednesday it was “too soon in the process” to discuss any potential work at the site.
“It is not yet a sure thing, so it would be premature to talk about it,” he wrote via email in response to questions.
The site currently has five buildings: Building 1 is 10,310 square feet, Building 2 is 26,282 square feet, Building 3 is 25,085 square feet, Building 4 is 7,292 square feet and Building 5 is 2,820 square feet.
Plans propose the removal of approximately 9,110 square feet of Building 2 “to increase on-site parking and include a center drive isle to allow better internal site circulation,” according to an updated traffic impact analysis submitted in February. “Also proposed is a 2,600 square foot mezzanine addition to Building 3. In total, a net reduction of building space of approximately 6,500 square feet is proposed.”
“The project proposes to provide façade and aesthetic enhancements to the site and tenant improvements with a major purpose to reintroduce a regional grocery store use to the site (Building 3). The remaining building spaces will either remain existing tenant occupancy or occupy with new complimentary uses,” according to the TIA.
Knutson noted that she was not at liberty “to state which tenant the property owner has chosen for the site.”
The downtown shopping center became the revised potential new site for grocer Town & Country Markets, a regional chain with six markets in the state, after the wait for a site at the still-undeveloped Village at Harbor Hill became too long.
That project ran into delays stemming from a court fight over traffic impact fees, later settled between the developer and city of Gig Harbor.
Town & Country CEO Bill Weymer told The News Tribune at the time of the Harbor Hill settlement that the grocer was working with The Rush Companies on a potential agreement to locate at the downtown site, with site redevelopment.
Town & Country representative Susan Allen told The News Tribune in late February via email in response to questions that there was: “Nothing new on our end. Sounds like there is work being done with the developers and the city.”
