A Vancouver developer is pouring $20 million into revamping a Hazell Dell shopping center and bringing in a boatload of new tenants, including a few restaurants and retailers.
C.E. John, which owns Hazel Dell Marketplace at 408 N.E. 81st St., plans to add a new Farrar’s Bistro, Mod Pizza, MUV Fitness, Legacy-GoHealth Urgent Care, TwinStar Credit Union and the soon-to-open Marshall’s and Rue 21.
“A lot of ownership at C.E. John lives in that community, and we’re ready to make a statement,” said managing partner Mark Osborne. “Not just Hazel Dell, but Felida and Lake Shore are underserved. On the restaurant side we definitely struggle.”
The Hazel Dell Marketplace, today anchored by Safeway, Ross Dress for Less and formerly Sports Authority, is also getting a face-lift in addition to new buildings and businesses.
“We’ve been at this for a number of years,” Osborne said. “We’re trying to give Hazel Dell a little better presentation when you get off the freeway there.”
The Marketplace is part of a large swath of commercial properties along Interstate 5 at Exits 4 and 5. Following a recession-caused stall in development, life is returning to the corridor, with property changing hands, dirt getting moved and a local retailer, Craft Warehouse, taking over the former Best Buy location
The briefly inhabited Sports Authority will be part of the ongoing face-lift; Osborne said his company is in “serious lease negotiations” to get a new tenant in there as early as next spring. The sporting goods retailer opened in Hazel Dell last fall and closed following its parent company’s bankruptcy this summer.
“We want the community to get excited about the whole facade; it would be tragic to have an empty 35,000-square-foot box there,” he said.
Retailers Marshall’s and Rue 21 are set to open this month, with Legacy-GoHealth set for a mid-September opening. The rest could come online next spring.
Osborne said he’s especially excited for Farrar’s Bistro, a Felida staple, to open its second location as part of the Hazel Dell Marketplace project and include a full bar and patio.
“A lot of people say how do you do a nice restaurant in a shopping center,” he said. “We went after (Farrar’s owner Deb Belden) specifically thinking she’ll be very successful there.”
While some yet-to-be-built areas of the expanding property are already fully leased, Osborne said he’s on the lookout to fill the few remaining spaces.
“We’ve been a little bit choosy; we want to make sure we’re fitting with community needs out there. We’ve had positive response from individuals, and we hope this transcends to other areas as well.”
