Ground was broken April 14 on Maple Valley’s first major commercial development project since the city incorporated in 1997.

Work will begin in the coming weeks on Maple Valley Town Square, the future home of Fred Meyer, restaurants, shops and a 10,500 square MultiCare facility that will offer a variety of medical services.

Peter Powell, president of Powell Development, has been working with John Morris and his family. Morris owns the property and runs TRM Wood Products from the site now.

Friday morning, April 15, at the Maple Valley Rotary meeting, Powell explained the process of bringing Fred Meyer into the city and laid out what the site will look like, what businesses will be coming in and asked Rotarians what they want to see in the development.

“As you know this has been a long battle,” Powell said. “We’ve been working with (the Morris family) for seven years. What we’re trying to create here is what we call a ‘lifestyle center.’ We put the Fred Meyer in the back and wrap around it with shops.”

Fred Meyer had been interested in locating a store in Maple Valley for a number of years but the city had an ordinance on the books since incorporation that prevented big box stores coming in that had footprints of more than 60,000 square feet.

That’s not an unusual tactic, Powell said, and in other cities such an ordinance has been called ‘The Walmart Clause.’

So, the first step was to get approval of an ordinance that would allow for big box stores, Powell said.

That happened in 2009 after lengthy discussion and deliberation by the city’s Planning Commission and City Council.

Work is expected to be complete on the project in less than a year with business openings planned for March 2012, Powell said.

In addition to Fred Meyer and MultiCare, Powell noted, BECU, Bright Now Dental, Burger King and a major bank to be named later have signed on the dotted line.

While MultiCare has offered family practice services at a small clinic in Maple Valley for some time, Hugh Kodama, administrator for MultiCare, said it has become clear that wasn’t enough for residents. Kodama oversees services in Covington and Maple Valley.

“For the longest time we’ve been watching this area,” Kodama said Thursday. “We thought there was a shortage of services in Maple Valley. We looked for the right opportunity. This was the right opportunity.”

Something else Maple Valley residents will be excited about are two new casual dining spots planned for the development.

There’s Farelli’s Pizza, a restaurant with a wood fire oven, that would be a stand alone building.

It’s building L that Powell said he is particularly excited about.

“It’s called Hop Jacks,” Powell said. “It will have that Red Robin feel. This will be their fourth store. We’re very excited to have two sit down restaurants. We thought that was somewhere we could really make our mark in our center.”

During the ground breaking ceremony on Thursday, Maple Valley Mayor Noel Gerken said that the new Fred Meyer on the northeast corner of state Route 169 and Kent Kangley Road is an important project to the city.

“Economic development, it’s a great thing,” Gerken said. “For the City Council, economic development is one of our biggest priorities.”

Fred Meyer alone will bring 250 jobs to Maple Valley, something Gerken said is crucial, but it will bring even more to the community.

“It will also provide expanded services,” the mayor said. “It will slow down that retail leakage we hear about. It’s going to be an economic engine for Four Corners.”

Fred Meyer will be about 156,000 square feet while the property itself will have just over 1 million square feet of commercial space.

Sue VanRuff, executive director of the Maple Valley-Black Diamond Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber has been looking forward to the development since Powell first revealed its plans in 2005.

“We’re all excited in the business community,” VanRuff said during the ceremony. “I’m delighted it worked out for the Morris family at this corner. I’m just delighted that Fred Meyer is here.”

Powell said the first thing on the to do list for the project is to build a new road, Southeast 242nd Street, which will run behind Fred Meyer.

And TRM will be working on its plans. By the way, Powell explained during the ceremony, the rumors of TRM’s demise are definitely inaccurate.

“During the time (the road is under construction), TRM Wood Products is going to consolidate their whole process right into this building back here,” Powell said during the Rotary meeting. “They figure it’s going to be 150 to 180 days to build. We’re hoping a year from now we’ll have the rest of this built out.”

Powell commended Fred Meyer and its parent company for sticking with it last summer when it appeared the project may not happen. The company agreed to pay additional fees and bear the entire cost of building the new road.

“They heard a lot of people wanted this in the community,” Powell said. “They stepped up to the plate.”

The development has a price tag of about $45 million, with Powell describing it as “a huge construction project,” but it’s something both the developer and city officials feel will be positive for Maple Valley.

“We’re hoping it will be a huge boost for Maple Valley,” Powell said. “What we’re trying to do is keep people here in the city of Maple Valley.”

Powell Development paid for a study that found about $400 million leaves the city and is spent in Auburn, Tukwila and Covington, “so we’re trying to keep those tax dollars in the city.”

Gerken said Maple Valley Town Square may be the first but it doesn’t have to be the last big commercial development.

“Hopefully it can lead the way for other developers and other projects in places of our city where they make sense,” the mayor said.