LAKE STEVENS – A strategic corner where a supermarket seemed destined to rise a few years ago may now play host to a mix of retail and office buildings.
Woodinville-based PacLand’s application calls for a new drugstore, a bank and other small retail buildings, along with one- and two-story office structures at the southwest corner of Highway 92 and 127th Avenue NE.
To deal with extra traffic created by the so-called Centennial Center, plans also show a new roundabout on Highway 92.
On the preliminary drawings, the drugstore is similar in size and design to a Walgreens. PacLand could not be reached for comment on the project’s prospective tenants.
The application for the city’s northeast corner so far has been reviewed by neighbors and is going through environmental and project reviews, said Becky Ableman, planning director for Lake Stevens. She said some neighbors have expressed concerns over the traffic effects of the development.
The project still needs approval from a hearing examiner before the city’s planning board and council review the design aspects.
Even as new homes pop up all around Lake Stevens, most of the area’s retail development remains concentrated in and around Frontier Village. On the northeast side of the lake, most shopping and dining choices are contained in Main Street Center.
This isn’t the first time developers have eyed the 14 undeveloped acres at the corner of Highway 92 and 127th Street as a good place for a shopping center.
In 2002, a Mill Creek-based developer proposed a center with space for a supermarket, as well as other stores, a gas station, a car wash and a fast-food outlet. After a local resident appealed the city’s approval of that development, a hearing examiner approved the zoning permits. But in the end, the project never was built.
“I’m not certain why that didn’t move forward,” said Ableman, who became the city’s planning director last year.
There are also plans for the rest of the land fronting Highway 92 between 127th and Grade Road, including the development of a new postal distribution center
Reporter Eric Fetters: 425-339-3453 or fetters@heraldnet.com.
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