T hough the under-construction Maple Valley Town Square is attracting many new restaurants and businesses, several tenants plan to move from elsewhere in Four Corners, which could leave more empty storefronts in Maple Valley.
Maple Valley Commons — already having trouble retaining tenants — is losing two more to the new development: Pinnacle Physical Therapy and Desert Sun Tanning. Chase Bank is moving from the Four Corners (Safeway) Shopping Center to Town Square, and the BECU branch is leaving the inside of the Safeway store for a free-standing building in Town Square.
Top Cuts may be the only business remaining in this Maple Valley Commons building when Desert Sun Tanning moves to Town Square.
Pallis Properties owns and manages both Maple Valley Commons and the Four Corners Shopping Center, which are located on opposite sides of state Route 169 south of the Four Corners intersection.
Even with a few of their tenants about to jump ship, representatives from both Pallis and its leasing company, JSH Properties, say the new Town Square should be a good thing in the long term.
“It’s a great addition to the community from the standpoint that it will be fresh and new, while bringing new businesses and tax dollars to the city,” says Jennifer Otis, property manager for Bellevue-based Pallis.
The new development “creates more of a buzz,” says Rob Knowles, assistant leasing agent for JSH. “More business is good for everybody. You’re drawing in more people from other areas. It’s more traffic.”
The Town Square development, under construction in the northeast quadrant of Four Corners, will be anchored by a Fred Meyer store slated to open in May. The development includes a number of freestanding buildings that have been leased to restaurants, medical offices and other tenants. Read more HERE. Lauren Powell, director of leasing for Powell Development of Bellevue, did not comment on the fact that Powell’s Town Square is pulling some tenants out of nearby storefronts.
Knowles notes that more businesses have been inquiring recently about moving into Maple Valley Commons, which houses current tenants such as Thrive Fitness and the Hacienda Del Mar restaurant. He attributes the increased interest to the new construction at Town Square as well as an improving economy and housing market overall.
“It’ll filll back up eventually. It just takes time,” he says.
Pallis is working on deals with several prospective tenants for Maple Valley Commons, Otis says, but until leases have been signed, that information is confidential.
Except for the impending loss of Chase, the Four Corners Shopping Center is 100-percent leased, Otis says, with a frozen yogurt shop called Yum-E-Yogurt expected to open in the next few weeks in the space adjacent to the Maple Valley Animal Hospital.
Centers anchored by large stores such as Safeway and Fred Meyer are typically more attractive to tenants because the anchor stores drive more traffic, Knowles says, though they usually carry a higher rental price. Maple Valley Commons does not have an anchor store.
In one of the Maple Valley Commons’ four buildings, only Top Cuts may remain after Desert Sun moves to Town Square. A deli and a party store moved out within the past two years, leaving two other empty storefronts.
Otis says Pallis is disappointed to lose Pinnacle, Desert Sun and Chase.
“No owner/property management company is thrilled to have such a large center opening right next door that could potentially ‘harm’ your existing tenants,” Otis says. “We … just hope this newest addition to the city will have a stronger impact on everyone and not just the tenants of the Fred Meyer/Powell Development.”
What types of businesses would you like to see move into this space? Post a comment below.
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I would love to see some family based activities. It would be great if we had a bowling alley or something along those lines. Glad to see the Fred Meyer. Not too excited about the Burger King, but although we won’t be eating there I understand the lure and I’m sure it will be busy at all times of day. The smaller “local” feeling restaurants are great too. I hope they go over well. The Grocery Outlet should be nice as well. It’s always great to have some options and they usually have unique and ever-changing inventory.
We need an ORGANIC grocery store with QUALITY foods ~ it is what we are lacking in MV ~ THE LAST THING we need is more PIZZA, BURGER, MEXICAN, TERIYAKI joints ~ PLEASE im BEGGING YOU ~ something HEALTHY!~
Pita Pit, Taco Del Mar or a restaurant the likes of Olive Garden. I’m suprised we aren’t getting Olive Garden! I thought it was a done deal. As for Grocery Outlet….ok. There’s nothing really wrong with it. It’s not a PCC or Trader Joes. But seriously, get over being ‘too good’ for a Grocery Outlet. I’d rather have more dining restaurants than anything! Who ever puts up an actual fine dining place is going to be rich!
Bob…I would like to see an Ivar’s fish and chips and a wendy’s…and a resturant for a place to go for dinner.a resturant without loud music,and a lot of noise.,,
PCC, Trader Joes, Baskin Robbins, and Panda Express would be great to have in the new Maple Valley Town Square! Hopefully that will happen in the next few years.
I am SICK of banks and medical offices and tanning salons and unhealthy fast food joints. Grocery Outlet?? Seriously? Why does our city and the developers not listen to their residents. Demographic studies have compared Maple Valley to Issaquah. Why do you think our Fred Meyer is ‘different’. Burger King??? Why not at least a Wendy’s?? Very disappointed…
Because the demographics have changed drastically over the last five years. Look at how many $200K homes there are in MV vs Issaquah.
We need an Olive Garden and a Wendy’s in Maple Valley!!
Covington’s getting the Olive Garden.
Trader Joes for sure!!! There aren’t any in the area.
Cool places to eat with great little bars and happy hour.
Another store with unique gifts and cards. World Market would also be great.
No more banks or medical offices…there’s enough of those.
Trader Joes – shoppers from Covington would come this way for the first time!
Or a small movie theatre – able to have special events that appeal to certain groups such as Sat morning cartoons for younger audiences and classic movies on Sunday like Alfred Hitchcock movies or CasaBlanca.
Finally – a Baja Fresh or Taco Del Mar.
PCC or Whole Foods. Chipotle & Sweet Tomato’s and a small YMCA.
The new grocery by Johnson’s Hardware will be Grocery Outlet. Appears to be a done deal. The developer should have held out for a more upscale grocer. That is such a huge mistake and will impact who else would want to locate there. So short-sighted.
Trader Joes would be great!!!!!!
Or In-N-Out… hehe, I wish!
Trader Joes, Sweet Tomatoes, Qdoba or Chipotle, Panera Bread.
Hope it’s not true but we may be getting a Grocery Outlet by the Do It Center.
I would like to see a Fazoli’s! Can’t find one of those unless your down in California. Also a movie theater would be nice but its too late for that I’m afraid.
Maybe a YMCA would be great to have around.
Trader Joe’s or a PCC would be great as choices for organic’s are limited without driving to Issaquah and or Bellevue which leads to lost revenue dollars for MV.
There simply are not enough places to eat. We already have 2 McDonald’s which is 1 more than we need and now there is a Burger King going in – we need that like we need a hole in our head. How about a Fat Burger, Sonic, or Burger master instead? Qdoba would be awesome! More sit down restaurants are a need. More upscale the better. I like the pub that is going in, more like that is what we need.
My top 2 are Chipotle and Whole Foods.
I’d love to see a chipotle in maple valley mostly because it is healthier fast food than what we have now. I like what local stores we do have so less big chain stores/restaurants and more encouragement to local owners.
BURGERMASTER! LIKE UNIVERSITY VILLAGE, INSIDE DINNING, YUMMY SOUPS ETC. BLACK ANGUS, NICE DINNING, NOT FAST FOOD, ZOOPA’S!!!!
Zoopas!! yeah!
They really need to open more stores and restaurants that will attract foot traffic. Nobody wants to be surrounded by banks and medical offices, what kind of business does that bring to our town?
I’ve wished it from day one when the Maple Valley Commons opened up that a Trader Joes would come to Maple Valley. I’m still hoping to see that happen some day.
me too!
I agree! Trader joes!