Classic Bellevue Safeway to be Demolished

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Classic Bellevue Safeway to be Demolished

Post by afiler »

The Seattle P-I reports that the Marina-style downtown Bellevue, WA Safeway will be replaced with a new mixed-use development while a new Safeway is built nearby. All this is part of the attempt to make downtown Bellevue seem more urban and less suburban. I haven't lived in the Seattle area long, but I can't think of another store that still has this classic style.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/b ... way21.html
tkaye
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Post by tkaye »

It'll be sad to see that store go. It seems like it's the only remnant of "old" Bellevue left and is a strange juxtaposition against all the neighboring highrise developments. I've seen photos of an old sign at that location showing Bartell Drugs as well... when did Safeway swallow up their space?

I can think of several Marina-era stores still in existence, but they all have new facades built over the distinctive arch. And there's still the '50s-vintage Safeway on the Hilltop in Tacoma that predates the Marina design -- but it's a hodgepodge mess of additions and incomplete remodeling inside.
MarinerIslanderSean

Post by MarinerIslanderSean »

There are a few marina-design stores still in Canada in the Vancouver area. The one near my neighborhood hasn't been touched externally since it was built.

http://www.tricityevents.com/b/SafewayBurquitlam.gif
Jeff
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Post by Jeff »

I went to one in Burnaby I beleive it was on route 7a.

This was about 3 years ago.
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Post by afiler »

I took a picture of one that looked just like that a couple years ago driving around in Vancouver. Are there many that look like that one?
marshd1000
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Post by marshd1000 »

To answer a earlier question about the "Marina" style Bellevue Safeway, yes, the Bartell Drugs is still in the north side of the building.
MarinerIslanderSean

Post by MarinerIslanderSean »

I think the company is looking to renovate all stores by 2009 under the "lifestyle" scheme. This could mean the end of the marina design if a demolish-and-rebuild strategy is employed. One of the older stores in Burnaby on Hastings was demolished, rebuilt, and reopened a few months ago, although I don't think it had a marina pattern. The Burquitlam store in the picture I posted above is slated to get renovated either this year or next, as it is one of the most old-fashioned stores in the area. The location I work at, which is about three miles southeast, hasn't been renovated extensively in fifteen years and will follow around 2008. I'm just not sure what kind of plans are in store for the external face of each location. I seem to recall a marina-type store as still standing in the west end of Vancouver proper, though there have been a lot of renovations in that area as well. I think an IGA Marketplace now stands in one of the prior locations in the vicinity, marina intact.
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TheStranger
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Post by TheStranger »

From my recent storegeeking in SF, apparently the interior of the 30th Street/Mission Street Safeway is being remodeled, but I don't think anything's going to be done to the exterior...at least not yet. Then again, that's San Francisco...
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TheStranger
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Post by TheStranger »

I've found a few photos of this Bellevue store in particular and posted it in a thread on Northwest Safeway locations: http://www.groceteria.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=641

The 410 Bellevue address still shows up on the store locator though.

One of the photos I found for that thread, a store in Eastgate, WA, actually sheds more light on the retention of the marina shape in this stage of remodeling: judging from that and from 30th/Mission (which is in my previous post in this thread), it seems that as of late, the chain is much more willing to work with existing marina structures than before.

Another example of an existing structure being retained in remodeling is this gable in Redwood City, CA:

http://www.acg1.com/Safeway747/

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Chris Sampang
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