Apartment building may fill hole on Seattle's Stone Way

That big pit on Stone Way North between Fremont and Wallingford finally has a new owner.

On Thursday an affiliate of Prescott Homes of Kirkland bought the property, between North 39th and North 40th streets, from the corporate parent of the QFC grocery chain for $8 million, county records show.

QFC bought the prominent property, once the location of a Safeway, in 1993, with plans to build its own grocery with condos on top.

It demolished the old store and dug a hole for the new building's foundation in 2006, but opted not to continue when the economy turned south.

The pit has been an aggravation for Fremont and Wallingford neighbors for four years.

The sale to Prescott, which was going to develop the condo portion of the project for QFC, has been in the works since 2007. The Kirkland firm received a new land-use permit from the city last year for a five-story building with 150 apartments, a 15,000-square-foot "multi-purpose convenience store," a 2,000-square-foot restaurant and a 189-stall underground garage, city records indicate.

Prescott could not be reached for comment late Thursday on its construction plans. But city records show it received a building permit last month to complete the foundation and garage, and applied two weeks ago for a permit to build the remainder of the structure.