The Seattle City Council agenda on April 4 included a vote on Madison Development’s proposed change to the apartment/flex-office building attached to the new Safeway being built in West Seattle’s Admiral Junction on California Ave.

The developer proposed an amendment to the property use and development agreement originally accepted by the council in June 2010, asking that the original plan of a mixed-use apartment/flex work space building be changed to apartments only.

The apartment add-on is being built on the east side of the Admiral Safeway complex along 42nd Ave s.w. and can be seen in the site plan at the top of the story. As noted in a previous Herald story, found here, the apartment complex is being built by Madison Development, not Safeway. Sara Corn, Safeway real estate manager, said the apartments are about two months behind the grocery store’s projected August 2011 completion date.

Councilmember Sally Clark said Madison originally wanted to build 35 apartments and 56 small flex work spaces, but ran into trouble securing financing for the combined space.

“It’s a model that is interesting in a lot of neighborhoods but right now is not as financially dependable as going with pure residential and so because of that the developer has requested the council change the property use and development agreement,” Clark said.

“While we (city council) were originally encouraged by the inclusion of the flex work spaces, we were also a little skeptical even at that time (June 2010) that this would be economically viable in this particular neighborhood,” Clark added.

Clark said Seattle’s Department of Planning and Development deemed Madison’s amendment a “minor” change in that it would not affect the number of parking spots planned, would not require major changes to the structure and would not have a negative impact on traffic at the new Safeway.

She added traffic in the area would actually benefit from purely residential units and residents tend to mostly travel in the mornings and late afternoon while office spaces would create traffic throughout the day.

Clark said businesses in the Admiral district would also benefit from an increased local population supporting retailers in the area.

Before the council voted on the amendment, Councilmember Tom Rasmussen noted the council had received an email from the Admiral Neighborhood Association stating, although they agree with the change, they were not included in the decision process by Safeway.

“They had felt that they had had previously an open and very effective public process with Safeway that was very positive and constructive, but this last action that is being requested … is one that dismayed them and they’ve asked that Safeway let them know in the future and involve them in a position of community consultant on the project as they move forward,” Rasmussen said.

The council voted unanimously in favor of the amendment, 9 – 0.

To read about how the Admiral Safeway construction has affected businesses in the area, please check out the Herald story, Admiral Safeway construction rough on local business.