Plywood at 1001 Broadway (Image: CHS)
Plywood coverings for the windows and the district’s city council member suddenly going off on grocery store closures does not mean the Broadway Whole Foods is being readied for a new supermarket.
What it does mean is there is new ownership for the 17-story luxury apartment building above the empty 40,000-square-foot grocery space on the edge of First Hill and Capitol Hill and new plans being put in place for what could be a long-term vacancy for space.
According to the new owners, Whole Foods still has 13 more years on its Broadway lease. And, they say, the Amazon-owned grocery giant could someday reopen there.
“The tenant is actively paying rent and all fees associated with the lease agreement,” a recent filing with the city from the Kennedy Wilson Multi-family Group reads. “At any time, Whole Foods can resume normal operations under the lease agreement.”
CHS reported in June on the Whole Food closure and Kennedy Wilson’s planned $173 million acquisition of The Danforth building.
The Whole Food lease revelation raises questions about other area Amazon shutdowns. The boarded 8,000-square-foot E Pike grocery formerly home to Amazon Fresh has remained empty since its equally abrupt April 2024 closure after four years of business on the block.
At the time of this June’s closure, it wasn’t clear what part the land deal played in the exit of Whole Foods. The grocery company blamed sales performance. “Like any business, we regularly evaluate the performance and growth potential of each of our stores and make decisions to position the company for long-term success,” a Whole Foods spokesperson told CHS at the time.
Kennedy Wilson is preparing for a long-term vacancy. Included in the recent city permit filings are plans for new window treatments to cover up the old Whole Food glass. The new graphics will be designed “to both advertise multi-family housing units while providing safety, security and privacy to the existing Whole Foods retail operation,” Kennedy Wilson’s application reads.
In the meantime, the company has covered the base of the building around the grocery space with plywood. The actions prompted excitement from many that a new grocery might already be moving in.
District 3’s Joy Hollingsworth also stirred up grocery questions this week as the representative for Capitol Hill, First Hill, and the Central District posted a surprising essay on the industry Sunday night.
But the essay, posted in a “viral thread” template popular with social media influencers, wasn’t about Whole Foods.
And it wasn’t about a new, unannounced closure in the neighborhoods Hollingsworth represents.
“A grocery store doesn’t just shut down overnight. It usually takes years of financial losses before a company decides to close a location,” Hollingsworth began. “For them, it’s about survival. No company wants to surrender part of its market if it doesn’t have to. That’s the last resort especially at that size and scale.”
The essay, posted without context, wasn’t alluding to the Whole Foods situation or concerns about a new closure at the other major chains in Hollingsworth’s district like the two Broadway QFCs and the Amazon Fresh at 23rd and Jackson.
It turns out, Hollingsworth was focused on Lake City Way and a troubling situation for Mayor Bruce Harrell after QFC-parent Kroger announced it was closing the neighborhood’s Fred Meyer amid theft and safety issues as part of wider shutdowns.
“Grocery stores closing are about a broken economic model. It sure doesn’t help when we elected officials start pointing fingers instead of holding up a mirror at ourselves and ask what can we do better to keep these stores here,” Hollingsworth wrote.
She also blamed Walmart for eroding the industry.
“How can we treat them differently, be more creative or (simply) just listen to them,” she asked about ways to help boost the grocery industry in Seattle.
CHS asked Hollingsworth about the social media posts but the representative declined to elaborate.
Following the Whole Foods announcement in June, CHS asked similar questions as Hollingsworth has resisted any calls for new reforms or programs to shape the indsutry, responding to that closure saying, “I’m not looking to legislate anything.”
Grocery chains are already given special status in the city. In Seattle, groceries like QFC and Safeway are currently exempt from the city’s payroll tax on its largest employers.
As Hollingsworth and Harrell focus on issues around crime and competition from the likes of Walmart, Harrell’s challenger in the mayor’s race says she would look beyond retail theft when it comes to reshaping grocery shopping in Seattle.
Katie Wilson says she will work with grocery workers union UFCW 3000 “to explore the idea of municipal grocery stores,” The Burner reports, to help combat chains closing stores in lower income areas of the city.
“We don’t have a blueprint yet,” The Burner reports Wilson as saying. “But that’s what the Mayor’s Office is for — it’s to drive forward creative and important initiatives.”
UFCW 3000 endorsed Wilson this week, another blow to Harrell’s uphill climb to keep the mayor’s office in November.
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