University Village, Seattle Explained

University Village
Location:Seattle, Washington, U.S.
Number Of Stores:71
Number Of Anchors:5
Floor Area:316000square feet
Floors:2
Website:uvillage.com

University Village (colloquially known as U-Village) is a shopping mall in Seattle, Washington, United States, located in the south corner of the Ravenna neighborhood to the north of the Downtown area.[1] It is an open-air shopping center which offers restaurants, locally owned boutiques, and national retailers, and is a popular retail destination in the region for home furnishings, popular fashions, gift items, and restaurants. It is currently owned by multimillionaire Stuart Sloan.[2]

History

Creation

University Village was originally developed by Continental Inc. who also developed Westwood Village in West Seattle and Aurora Village in Shoreline, Washington. it was once home to a Coast Salish village named sluʔwiɫ, which means "Little Canoe Channel" in Lushootseed.[3]

The 24acres shopping center was built in 1956 across NE 45th Street on an earlier part of the Montlake Landfill (since 1911, 1922–1966), taking out what remained of the Union Bay Marsh that was drained by the lowering of Lake Washington as a result of the opening of the Lake Washington Ship Canal (1913–1916).[4] Some wetland was later partially restored as the Union Bay Natural Area with the Center for Urban Horticulture.[5]

Early history

Until the early 1990s, the character of University Village was decidedly different. Most of its businesses were small, and the chain stores were all local: Ernst Hardware and Malmo Nursery, Lamonts department store (acquired by Gottschalks in 2000), Pay 'n Save Drugs (sold to PayLess Drug in the early 1990s), and QFC supermarket, then a much smaller facility on the western side of the property,[6] formerly an A&P store.[7] [8] The present QFC store on the east edge opened in 1996, it was formerly a dairy facility from 1955 to 1991.[7] [9]

There was even a bowling alley, Village Lanes, which was originally a roller rink in the 1950s, located near the northwest corner.[8] Many of the businesses began to falter toward the end of the 1980s, however, and in 1993 the owners of the mall decided to sell. For much of this period, University Village was owned by the Tektronix Retirement Investment Fund.

Modern

The chairman of QFC, Stuart Sloan, and his business partner Matt Griffin bought the property, and tenants such as those mentioned above began to move out.[10] Barnes & Noble was an anchor tenant after the mid-1990s renovation,[6] but closed at the end of 2011.[8] U-Village no longer has a hardware store, but features upscale national stores such as Restoration Hardware, Pottery Barn, Banana Republic, and Crate & Barrel instead (as well as related local specialty stores). Despite this, 61% of U-Village merchants are still local. (The Ernst and Pay n' Save corporate chains went out of business in the 1990s; adjacent QFC still nominally exists, but as a division of Kroger.)

Shops

Anchor tenants today are Bartell Drugs (locally owned 1890-2022), Apple Store,[11] Crate & Barrel, The Gap, and Pottery Barn.[12] Significant adjacent anchors are the Seattle QFC flagship store and a large Safeway. In 1991, neighborhood activists initiated a campaign with the City to "daylight" Ravenna Creek through Ravenna Park to Lake Washington, but the segment from the park to the University of Washington (UW) and the Union Bay Natural Area was successfully blocked by the owners of University Village. It has been recently updated to include more shops below the brand new medical center. [13]

Amazon.com, an online retailer founded and based in the region, opened its first physical storefront at University Village on November 3, 2015.[14]

Boundaries

The campus of the UW is to the west and south, the neighborhood of Bryant farther to the east, and the neighborhood of Ravenna to the north,[15] but portions of the surrounding neighborhoods are often referred to as being in "University Village" themselves, approximately west to 22nd Avenue NE, north to NE 55th Street, and east to Union Bay Place NE and 30th Avenue NE.< The area's principal arterials are 25th Avenue NE and NE 45th Street; 35th Avenue is a minor arterial. Collector arterials are NE Blakeley-Union Bay Place NE and NE 55th streets.[16]

See also

Bibliography

Notes and References

  1. (1) Web site: Seattle City Clerk's Neighborhood Map Atlas . n.d. . "Ravenna", map . Office of the Seattle City Clerk . April 21, 2006. Maps "NN-1030S", "NN-1040S".jpg dated June 17, 2002.
    Note caveat in footer.
    (2) Web site: n.d. . "About the Seattle City Clerk's On-line Information Services", Information Services, Seattle City Clerk's Office . Office of the Seattle City Clerk . April 21, 2006. See heading, "Note about limitations of these data".
  2. Web site: McCall . Vivian . Mayor Bruce Harrell Met with Denny Blaine Donor at a Key Moment During Controversial Playground Proposal . 2024-06-10 . The Stranger . en.
  3. News: Sudermann . Hannelore . December 11, 2020 . Renamed campus road honors Indigenous history . . November 28, 2021.
  4. (1) Dorpat
    (2) Phelps, pp. 59, 68. 207 - 208.
    (3) Stein
  5. Center for Urban Horticulture
  6. News: University Village: 'How Could We Miss?' . Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce . Shaw . Liz . 1996 . November 3, 2021.
  7. News: Foremost Dairies to close soon . Seattle Times . Healy . Tim . May 3, 1991 . November 3, 2021.
  8. News: University Village through the years . Seattle Post-Intelligencer . Ho . Vanessa . December 3, 2014 . November 3, 2021.
  9. News: QFC submits plans to build apartments at U-Village . Seattle Times . Pryne . Eric . November 11, 2008 . November 3, 2021.
  10. Web site: Real Estate -- Ex-Egghead, Qfc Execs To Buy University Village -- No Quick Changes For Center Planned The Seattle Times . 2024-06-10 . archive.seattletimes.com.
  11. Warren
  12. Largest by square footage, alphabetically. Next largest are Anthropologie, Banana Republic, Fiorini Sports, Smith & Hawken, and Storables, alphabetically. 206 stores plus five offices.
    Web site: May 7, 2006 . University Village Map . https://web.archive.org/web/20060520145319/http://www.uvillage.com/pdf/UVillage_Directory.pdf . May 20, 2006 . May 21, 2006 . University Village.
  13. (1)Web site: n.d. . Chronology . Ravenna Creek Alliance . April 21, 2006.
    (2) Web site: Ravenna Creek Alliance . November 9, 2005 . Ravenna Creek Alliance: Specific Info . EarthLink . April 21, 2006.
    (3) O'Neil
  14. News: Greene . Jay . November 2, 2015 . Amazon opening its first real bookstore — at U-Village . The Seattle Times . November 9, 2015.
  15. Web site: Seattle City Clerk's Neighborhood Map Atlas . n.d. . "Ravenna", map . Office of the Seattle City Clerk . April 21, 2006.
  16. Web site: Seattle City Clerk's Neighborhood Map Atlas . January 12, 2004 . Low-Resolution Version . Street Classification Maps . Seattle Department of Transportation . April 21, 2006 . https://web.archive.org/web/20060622070826/http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/streetclassmaps/planwebsmall.pdf . June 22, 2006 . dead . mdy-all. For browser use; other versions for printing, cf. Bibliography. From "Principal, Minor and Collector arterials", Seattle Department of Transportation, 2005.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "University Village, Seattle".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.