By Gwen Davis

Fresh fruits and vegetables, along with organic selections of food items needed for healthy home eating are always on the menu at West Seattle. Especially when they're from a local food-supplier.

Stan Philip Richards, a Junction resident and marketing director at Apartments Northwest, feels that the upgraded PCC Natural Markets grocery store -- aimed at opening on California Ave. in a redeveloped property -- is a perfect fit.

Richards and his family currently do most of their grocery shopping at QFC and the Metropolitan Market, due to the stores' high food quality.

“But we find that the store size and layout size at Met Mart feels very cramped, and t’s hard to maneuver around,” he said. "I think from the prospective of West Seattleites, they tend to welcome local, organic business and not outside business. There is a Whole Foods coming in right across the street the for me — they’ll even cook my steak for me — but again, that's more of an outsider business than PCC or Met Mart.”

The new facility will be located on 2749 California Ave. SW, where the PCC presently is. The current PCC will close on May 31 and eventually be torn down. (Read our previous coverage here.)

Richards also noted that people are always looking for a nice spot to relax, drink coffee, get work done or meet up with friends. The new PCC’s promise to be a hub for neighbors makes the prospect an even hotter ticket item.

"I think that creating more of an 'experience' tends to draw people into a grocery store environment,” he said. "My friend won’t meet at Met Mart and have coffee there. Creating that ‘experience' is a motivator for growth — making it a destination rather than just a grocery store."

On Thursday evening, the Southwest Design Review Board heard a second round of plans for the new PCC Natural Markets grocery store. Final approval was granted. A mixed-use building, the 21,000 square-foot facility will include 108 apartment units with two levels of underground parking.

Architect Julia Nagele from Hewitt facilitated the presentation, along with teammate Eli Hardi.

The general scope of the project had not changed since the last meeting.

“What changed slightly since last time we met is room for the loading truck,” Nagele said. “We were asked to look at our alley and explore a two-way alley.”

The width will be increased by two feet, which SDOT had recommended.

The floor containing the apartment units are designed to be filled with “fresh air and sunshine,” Nagele told the board. "We think that the kinds of living experiences we have here is something you don’t see very often. It ties into a sense of space.”

The architects showed the board the varied types of materials that would comprise the exterior of the building, which contributes to the facility’s feel of “density with diversity,” Nagele said.

Board members generally agreed the project was thorough and well thought-out. The architects concluded their presentation with ample time to spare.

However, disputes did arise.

"How does someone who is ability-challenged manovouer down the southeast corner?” a board member, T. Frick McNamara asked. There are three different accessible routes into the store, but the corner, main entrance isn’t wheelchair accessible.

During the deliberations, McNamara was adamant that the store’s major entrance needed to be wheelchair accessible, even while other entrances do have appropriate accommodations (and therefore the facility is in accordance with disability law). She argued that asking someone to walk the length of a block to access a disability entrance was not in tune with the values of West Seattle. “Our buildings need to be accessible for all,” she said.

McNamara reminded other board members that the population is the area is only getting older, and that in just a few years the “young and able-bodied” members of the board inevitably will need walking assistance themselves. McNamara put herself on the record of voting “no” on the project for that reason.

However, the three other board members voted the approve project going forward.