Whole Foods goes ahead with West Seattle store

Whole Foods Market is moving forward with its West Seattle store, despite halting construction on a planned store in the Interbay neighborhood.

"The West Seattle store is going full speed ahead," said Easton Craft, senior project manager at BlueStar Management in Shoreline, which is developing the upscale grocery as its anchor for the $65 million mixed-use development Fauntleroy Place.

The store, which broke ground in August, is expected to cover roughly 45,000 square feet, and is scheduled to open in 2010.

This summer, Whole Foods stopped construction on its Interbay store, which had been scheduled to open in December, according to a lawsuit filed last week by that site's developer. Interbay is in the dip between Queen Anne and Magnolia hills.

TRF Pacific is seeking $67.9 million in damages from the grocery chain.

In the lawsuit, TRF said that Whole Foods also wanted to shrink the Interbay store by a third, to 40,000 square feet, and delay its opening to late 2009.

Whole Foods regional president John Clougher said in a statement Friday that the chain has talked to TRF for months about downsizing the Interbay store and hopes to reach a resolution with the developer.

Whole Foods "is disappointed that TRF Pacific was unable to meet the schedule we all agreed upon several years ago," the statement said.

Melissa Allison: 206-464-3312 or mallison@seattletimes.com