New home for Lakewood bookstore? Permit documents indicate where retailer may be headed

A national bookseller whose store is slated for demolition to make way for new apartments in Lakewood appears headed for a new home nearby.

Permitting documents on file with the City of Lakewood indicate that the Lakewood Barnes & Noble at Lakewood Towne Center is set to relocate to the former Dressbarn location at the center, 10330 59th Ave SW, Unit A&B.

A traffic-mitigation fee application from the applicant, site owner Kite Realty of Indianapolis and design-architect firm CASCO of St. Louis, dated Sept. 16 states, “We are submitting Traffic Fee Mitigation. This is for a future Barnes and Noble ...”

On Oct. 3, the same team submitted a Downtown Planned Action SEPA application. “This is for Future Barnes and Noble,” the application stated.

Both applications reference a tenant improvement application, which does not specify the occupant but does state, “Renovation of an existing retail store to prepare for new tenant.”

West Pierce Fire & Rescue’s letter on file dated Sept. 20, offering review input in terms of fire code construction permits, also addresses the project as “Future Barnes & Noble.”

A representative for Kite Realty Group did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday on the proposed relocation.

Fans of the store have expressed concerns over its fate after Seattle-based Alliance Residential’s plans for hundreds of new apartments at the site first became known in February.

The plans for the new Lakewood Towne Center Apartments call for the demolition of the current Barnes & Noble store, 5711 Main St. SW, and relocating it elsewhere.

In September the city said the developer had made “significant modifications” to the project, though demolition/relocation remained on tap for Barnes & Noble.

The developers in their report noted at the time that the bulk of the feedback they’d received from residents was “in relation to the current culture of the Lakewood Towne Center and the potential loss of Barnes & Noble.”

They added, “Although not a party to the negotiations ongoing with Barnes & Noble, we understand that efforts, unrelated to this project, are being made to relocate the national retailer to another storefront within the Lakewood Towne Center.”

News Tribune archives contributed to this report.