Locally owned 50 cents
September 3, 2014
Major development proposed for Town Center By Ari Cetron
If all goes according to plan, one Sammamish icon will be replaced with something that may become another, possibly starting as soon as next year. Developer TRF Pacific will be constructing a mixed-use development on the northwest corner of 228th Avenue and Northeast Fourth Street. The space is currently occupied by, among other things, a train caboose visible from the roads. Bob Parks, a partner in TRF Pacific, said he understands the owner of the caboose will be taking it with him. The overall project, in the Town Center area, will include about 105,000 square feet of retail space and up to 160 housing units. The anchor tenant, which will be built on the corner of the property, will be Metropolitan
Market, a grocery store. “Metropolitan Market is thrilled to be part of this exciting project in such a great community,” Terry Halverson, Metropolitan Market’s CEO, said in a news release. The Seattle-based chain will join a crowded grocery market in the area, with Safeway, QFC and Trader Joe’s already in place along 228th Avenue. Metropolitan Market will form only a fraction of the overall project. Parks explained the rest of his company’s vision. He cautioned that they have yet to meet with the city about the details, so there may be changes in the finished product. The grocery store will be in the corner of the roughly sixacre area being developed. The overall parcel is steeply sloped, Parks explained, so his company is trying to work with the change in grade, creating a project that
Courtesy Metropolitan Market
This artist’s rendering shows the proposed development as it would be seen from 228th Avenue looking northwest. from the side might look a little like a staircase. The plan is to include a parking lot on top of the market,
Parks said. That lot will be on the same level as another set of buildings, including a possible drug store. Parks said a deal is
not yet finalized for which drug store will be the tenant, so he See MARKET, Page 3
State says speed signs reduce crashes
And the winners are ...
By Ari Cetron
Photo by Nick Magill
‘Salmon’ took first place in the animals category in the annual Sammamish/Issaquah photo contest. See the top finishers in all three categories on Page 8 and 9.
Chris Pribbernow, of Sammamish, finds himself commuting back and forth to Seattle regularly, but he, like other drivers, sometimes finds himself flaunting the law as he does it. The state installed variable speed signs along Interstate 90 and state Route 520, and when there’s congestion ahead, the signs will drop the speed limit for the road below the standard 60 mph. When that happens, Pribbernow said he, and most of the other drivers, just keep zipping along the freeway. “I ignore the speed signs and continue to go with the flow of traffic,” Pribbernow said. “I guess I just don’t take them as seriously. The state installed the first set of those signs, formally called Active Traffic Management signs, along I-5 in 2010, said Travis Phelps, Washington Department of Transportation Spokesman.
The signs work automatically, with a computer checking traffic volumes and generating automatic slowdown messages, Phelps said. He was quick to note that the center is staffed round-the-clock, and human operators can, and do, override the machine. While they’ve been on the passes for years, the state is now trying to use them to manage traffic in more congested areas, Phelps said. And while some people may ignore the warnings, they seem to help reduce car crashes. Phelps said the idea is to slow traffic down ahead of a slowSee SIGNS, Page 2