Construction Update on Queen Anne Safeway 

By: Davis Hill 

Have you ever walked by the Safeway construction project on Queen Anne Avenue and wondered what is happening? It is a project that broke ground last year, but it has been in the making for years. This article will inform you more about why they decided to take down the old building, and what the new building is going to be. 

In 2017, Safeway thought about the idea of getting a bigger, better store and having space above the store where people could live. Safeway kicked off the idea by submitting applications for permits and requests for materials. The start was delayed due to a union strike, which kept the permit office on hold due to short staff. It took almost 3 years to file the permits when it should have taken only 1 month. They named the project 21 Boston, after the street and number it will be built on: 21 Boston Street. 

Safeway is hoping for the 21 Boston project to be a good change for the neighborhood and create opportunities for more people to live and explore the Queen Anne community. Once completed, the main floor will be open to the public, contain the grocery store, a deli shop, and a Starbucks. Above the main floor, the building will have more than three hundred apartments with access to a courtyard. 

The 21 Boston project will continue construction for over another year, opening the main floor in the fall of 2024. The rest of the building will open the apartments three months later by the end of 2024. 

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