First look: Images of large Wedgwood development on former QFC site emerge

New images of a redevelopment project planned for the large property where a QFC store operated in Seattle's Wedgwood area have been posted on the city's website.

The update comes ahead of a March 25 design guidance meeting.

Notably, it's one of just two multifamily projects with over 100 units on the Department of Construction and Inspections' design review calendar until mid-June, portending a steep decline in housing production in Seattle in the coming years.

Designed by Solomon Cordwell Buenz of Chicago, the six-story project site stretches over 2 acres on the half-block at 8400 35th Ave. NE. Seattle-based Communita Atelier is the landscape architect.

Under developer Security Properties' preferred development plan, the Wedgwood Center project also will have around 39,900 square feet of commercial space, with slightly more than half for a new neighborhood grocer and the rest for existing tenants who wish to be a part of the project. Also proposed are 336 underground parking stalls.

It's a big change for the relatively low-density neighborhood with tree-lined streets. The plan is to break up the massing along 35th Avenue Northeast so the Wedgwood Center appears as two masses, states the design proposal.

The plan also calls for a mid-block public plaza on 35th and retaining "significant" trees on the south end of the site as part of an open seating area.

Western Property Management owns the site. Other tenants at the center include the Wedgwood Broiler, HomeStreet Bank and Van Gogh Coffeehouse.

Security Properties Chief Development Officer John Marasco said his company has an agreement to buy the land, adding no general contrator has been hired as it's "still very early in the process."

Seattle-based Security Properties, a national company, is not a stranger to these sorts of projects in its hometown, having developed the QFC-anchored Ballard on the Park, and Epicenter in Fremont and Angeline in Columbia City. PCC Community Markets anchors the latter two.

According to the design review packet, a minimum ceiling height of 19 feet is needed for the grocery to function. With these requirements in mind, the design team explored building the grocer at grade but realized this would "significantly reduce" ceiling height on the residential floors, the packet states. So the team is proposing a sunken space for the grocer.

The packet states this addresses the ceiling height issue and "enhances the visual connection to the street and contributes to its activation."