If all goes according to plan, Fred Meyer will open at Four Corners by the start of the holiday shopping season 2010.
Fred Meyer has wanted to open a store in Maple Valley for years and representatives from the company waited patiently for the City Council to change the codes so the big box store could build here.
Since the city’s incorporation, commercial businesses could not have a footprint of larger than 60,000 square feet. At the Jan. 26 meeting the Maple Valley City Council changed the footprint to a maximum of 100,000 square and under certain circumstances larger. The change was unanimously approved.
For Ty Peterson, director of community development for the city, the change took some pressure off other long term planning projects his department is working on, specifically the Four Corners Subarea Plan.
“The city adopted the code amendments in January … and that allowed Fred Meyer to move forward with its applications to the city,” Peterson said. “A week and a half ago we determined their application was complete. They’ve given us, in writing, their proposed schedule. Their schedule essentially has them seeking entitlements, which means land use, design and environmental approvals this fall.”
After that the company would submit their building permits, which Peterson said would take about three months for the city to review.
“They want to start construction around February 2010 and open by the holiday season,” Peterson said.
City staff began working on the change to the code in early 2008.
Fred Meyer had approached the city in the past with a proposal for a 175,000 square foot store and commercial plaza in Maple Valley.
According to information provided by a Fred Meyer representative last year to The Reporter, the big box company was looking to develop a commercial plaza that would be home to its store, as well as restaurants and other shops that would be pedestrian friendly.
It would also have a different look than the location in Covington.
The Covington location is about 5 miles away from the site Fred Meyer built on in Four Corners — the northwest corner of the intersection of Southeast 272nd Street and Maple Valley Highway.
