Mixed-use Walgreens is built in Seattle

Lonnie May 10th, 2007

From this, December 6, 2005…

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…to this, March 29, 2007:
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Pictures care of Capitol Hill Housing

I’m handing this posting over to Mike Stanton of the Preservation Association of Central New York. He sent me the following. Note the dates of construction. This was all going on while we were being told that Walgreens would not entertain building anything other than the standard suburban model we were fighting. We’re thrilled to see Walgreens has learned how to build for an urban environment.

Mike writes:

In 2004 Walgreens made a proposal to build their standard store at a busy Seattle intersection: a large, single-story, stand-alone building with surface parking. The neighborhood was appalled.

What opened for business last month, to city-wide acclaim, was a far cry from Walgreens original proposal. The five-story Broadway Crossings, the first of its kind in the country, is a joint project between Walgreens and Capital Hill Housing. There is a 12,000-square-foot Walgreens store on the first floor, two levels of underground parking below and 44 subsidized housing units in the four stories above. Nine of the units are designated for households transitioning from homelessness; 22 go to families making up to 30 percent of the county’s median income; 11 to those making up to 40 percent; and 11 to those making up to 60 percent. It is also a green building incorporating more than 50 sustainable features including windows and carpets that meet strict environmental standards.

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Walgreens works with those who persist

Lonnie January 15th, 2006

In Sean Kirst’s open letter to Walgreens, he says, “The neighbors made a stink, and your people sat down and worked it out. You moved the entrance of the store up to the street, so shoppers could walk in the front door. You selected a brick for the exterior that matched nicely with nearby college buildings. While many neighbors were opposed to a drive-through, you put it in the back, where it was out of sight.”

A walkable Rite-Aid:
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Two Walgreens in Boston (from University United website): walgreensboylstonboston.jpg

 

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Another Walgreens, appropriate for an urban environment, at 4916 France Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN (from University United website) wallgreens2b.jpg

 

Walgreens in Poland, Ohio: parking not in the back, but store fits in with streetscape and is up against the sidewalk:

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“How Walgreens could fit into the community” - Farmingdale, Long Island, NY, from the Vision Long Island website
Includes great pictures of other ways they envision their walkable community.
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Walgreens in Eastwood - what they proposed the first time and what they proposed - and were approve for by planning commission - after over a year of community activism:

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Don’t let them tell you it can’t be done!

As soon as you have any idea that a proposal for a drug store is in the works, contact the company, the developer and the planning commission with information about your group, its expectations for design and development, examples of what you expect to see, and assurances that you will follow through. Request early and frequent meetings with the developer so that a plan that is acceptable to the residents is the first one offered to the planning commission, thus saving the developer much time and money.

There is a lot more interesting information and tons of pictures of drug stores that can do it right at the University United website.