It’s progress.
That’s how Bothell residents Mike Nelson and John Roberts see it as they stand in their front yards and gaze across the street at the cranes, construction trucks and walls going up at the future Lakeside at Canyon Park site — which will feature a Safeway supermarket — on the southwest corner of Bothell Everett Highway and 240th Street Southeast.
Property Development Centers (PDC) broke ground the first week in March on approximately 13 acres of land that will feature a 150,000-square-foot shopping center, 50,000-square-foot Safeway and six shop buildings with approximately 40,000 square feet of retail space.
Work is rolling along, the Safeway floor slab was scheduled to be poured this week and a grand opening is slated for Oct. 14, said Cherie Myers, Safeway’s director of public/government affairs.
“It’s been fun to watch and it’s long been anticipated — keep it moving guys,” said Roberts, who has lived in his house on 240th for more than 30 years. “You can mark me as a staunch supporter for the project, because it’s going to do very good things for this community.”
Added Nelson, who has rented a house on the Sons of Norway lot on Bothell Everett Highway for 15 years: “It’s putting people to work, and that’s a good point. It’s starting to move money and that has to happen before we can do anything with our economy.”
Nelson, who speaks as the clanky construction sounds fill the air, is looking forward to walking across the street to shop, and notes that since workers moved a bunch of trees, people have a nice view on some days of Mount Rainier from Bothell Everett Highway looking south. (Even closer for Nelson will be a Grease Monkey auto repair shop where the old Red Barn Antiques structure once stood.)
However, not everyone who lives in the vicinity is ecstatic about what’s happening. At least one neighbor, who preferred to speak anonymously, said he’s in the process of moving from his 240th home because of the construction noise for now and the massive amount of traffic that’s to come once the complex opens.
Another 240th resident said the street shakes when the trucks are moving in and out of the work site.
Over at the Lake Pleasant RV Park on Bothell Everett Highway, four-year resident John Christman said that he’ll gladly use the shopping center, but adds about the construction: “These guys here start work sometimes at 6:30 in the morning and work until the sun goes down, and sometimes it’s pretty noisy, but that’s the way it goes sometimes.”
While not situated as close as the others to the site, Dee Huyna of D’s Barber Shop up Bothell Everett Highway feels the increased traffic will translate into more business for his haircut spot.
“Some people wonder, ‘What’s down there?’ And I tell them it’s going to be a new Safeway, a new shopping center. They’re very excited about it,” he said. “I can’t afford to move there, because I know the rent is going to be high, but overall I think it’s going to be good.”
Back at Roberts’ place, which has several of his vintage sports cars parked in the driveway, he’s going to lose his wall of large trees and part of his yard to the road developments that come along with the new shopping center.
When Roberts bought his home, the area was rural and commercially zoned, so he knew this was coming someday.
He’s been told sometimes this month workers will be cutting about 14 feet into his yard and realigning his driveway to widen the sidewalk and add a turn lane.
“We had a community meeting up there in the construction shack, and they told us there would be some inconvenience,” Roberts said. “We’ll actually be denied access from the driveway at times, so I don’t know where the heck I’m going to park. We’ll figure something out.
“We’re going to lose it (some space), but that’s progress. You’ve got to roll with the punches.”
