(Image: Jackson Apartments)
The six-year-old mixed-use development where the grocery is closing just sold for $171 million.
“As you know we just acquired Jackson Apartments on December 30th, so we don’t have any comments at this time,” a spokesperson for Seattle-based real estate development firm Timberlane Partners tells CHS.
It is unclear if Amazon’s exit was a known factor in the sale by project developer Vulcan Real Estate but the Amazon Fresh grocery was touted as “the marquee tenant” in the development in industry reporting on the deal.
“This is the first time Jackson has transferred ownership, and highlights Timberlane’s commitment to investing in communities that combine sustainability, connectivity and curated retail for residents and neighbors,” firm principal Dave Enslow said in a statement on the sale.
Vulcan, meanwhile, will continue to own the shopping center across the street where a similar redevelopment could someday take shape.
Despite providing information on its other recent area shutdowns including the E Pike Amazon Fresh shuttering in April 2024 that turned out to be a harbinger of things to come, Amazon has not responded to CHS’s questions about the 23rd and Jackson closure and whether locations like it in neighborhoods at risk of becoming “grocery deserts” are being considered for possible conversions to the company’s Whole Foods subsidiary.
CHS reported here on this week’s announcement by Amazon that it was closing its more than 60 remaining Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh groceries across the country to focus on delivery and adding to its more than 550 nationwide Whole Food locations. The Seattle-based retail giant said some of the shuttered groceries could become Whole Foods stores.
It has been a brutal week for Amazon workers. Following the grocery shutdown announcement, the company also announced it was going to shed 16,000 corporate jobs. With around 60,000 of its worldwide corporate workforce in the Seattle area, thousands here are part of the layoffs.
Meanwhile, state filings show the grocery shutdowns will result in 92 workers losing their jobs. Its First Hill Amazon Go employed six people, according to the company.
Silence around this latest, larger wave of Amazon reshuffling its business and the impact in Seattle has extended to the upper floors of City Hall. Mayor Katie Wilson has not publicly commented on the shutdowns and her office did not respond to inquiries from CHS.
Seattle City Councilmember Joy Hollingsworth who represents the area is reportedly working to recruit a replacement. Hollingsworth has gone out on a limb and named her hopes for a new Trader Joe’s at 23rd and Jackson, according to KING TV. At 35,000 square feet, the Central District grocery would make for a ridiculously large Trader Joe’s. The company typically opens compact locations between 10,000 and 15,000 square feet — though one of its largest groceries at just over 30,000 square feet opened 15 years ago in Silverdale, Washington in a former Circuit City.
Others have hopes of city-owned stores or that the Whole Foods replacement will come through. An old set of permit paperwork from last summer listing the location as a “Whole Foods” grocery has caused a bit of excitement on social media. But any of the new piles of paperwork and permitting required to take over the space and secure licenses for a new business, CHS is sorry to report, have yet to be started. Whatever happens next at 23rd and Jackson when it comes to groceries will take some time to play out.
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