Ace Hardware signed a Letter of Intent to be one of the anchor tenants of a new portion of the Sammamish Town Center, developer STCA announced today at the Sammamish Chamber of Commerce lunch.

STCA rendering of its Sammamish Town Center project.

Matt Samwick of the company said details must be negotiated; no timeline has been set for a firm contract.

Samwick told Sammamish Comment after the lunch that other companies are lined up as anchor tenants, but no announcement is imminent.

Three phases

STCA plans to develop its project in three phases well into the next decade. No applications have been filed yet with Sammamish, stalled by the current building moratorium.

The first phase assumes an opening in 2020 or 2021. Each phase will take 2-3 years, Samwick said.

This was the first public unveiling of a high-level look at the project, one designed to “start a discussion,” he said.

The plans have become a target of controversy, principally over traffic impacts. Mayor Christie Malchow wants the project to be tested against a new concurrency model. The City Council hopes to have it adopted before the moratorium ends in July. Another extension of the moratorium, in six month increments, appears unlikely, one council member told The Comment today.

Mixed use

STCA owns about 60 acres in the 240 acre Town Center, the largest property owner in the city. Samwick said land accumulation from many land owners began in 2015.

Based on the 2008 Town Center Plan adopted by the city council, STCA’s portion proposed includes mixed use of commercial, retail, office and a mix of town homes and single-family homes.

No upzoning

Although STCA last September proposed a plan to substantially upzone the commercial space and add up to 1,500 more homes to the plan, Samwick said no upzoning is in the cards now.

He also said no stormwater injection is planned. This became a controversy when meetings with some council members discussed stormwater injection instead of infiltration. Critics worried this would threaten drinking aquifers and Ebright and George Davis creeks and downstream salmon runs.

Samwick took responsibility for misstating plans to threat stormwater.

Applications, details and studies

Samwick said none of the traffic, stormwater or other studies, nor the applications, have been submitted to the city yet.

After the moratorium is lifted, and these documents are submitted, the “conversations” will begin and so will public input.