Newport Hills looks for ways to invigorate shopping center

Grocery stores have come and gone over the years at the Newport Hills Shopping Center, but few folks wanted the Red Apple to go next.

It did.

Not long after, the nearby pharmacy and Hallmark store rattled the neighborhood with neon pink and green signs declaring: "Store Closing."

And let's not talk about the espresso stand in the parking lot.

"It's left a big hole in the neighborhood," said resident Robin Bentley, who has been blogging about the shopping center and Newport Hills since the Red Apple closed.

The shuttering of the Red Apple and other local businesses at the small shopping center at 119th Avenue Southeast and Southeast 56th Street is a conundrum for the neighborhood and an issue that officials are grappling with citywide: How do you keep small neighborhood commercial centers such as the one in Newport Hills from disappearing?

Like other aging shopping centers around Bellevue, these little islands of neighborhood commerce face intense competition from glossy new grocery stores with more selection and lower prices — and that was before the economy spiraled downward.

"Twenty years ago it was the center of the universe," said Newport Hills pharmacy co-owner George Weiss. "It's sort of more out-of-the-way now and off the beaten path."

Both Newport Hills neighbors and the city want to inject new life into the center, and maybe even redevelop it into a modern, multiuse business hub.

The city has had success: Lake Hills Shopping Center, which was in similar straits a few years ago, should break ground soon on a new development with businesses, residences and a library.

There is no plan in Newport Hills yet, but residents are brainstorming possibilities and trying to harness neighborhood energy to come up with a plan.

"It really has distressed the neighbors and community," said community club President Cheryl Nygaard. "There's some opportunity, and we want to join together as neighbors to say we want to support action."

Newport Hills Shopping Center is a squat strip mall built in the 1960s on a hill that is a short drive from Coal Creek Parkway and Interstate 405.

Some businesses there still bustle. At the Mustard Seed Grill and Pub, people recently watched the Washington Huskies on flat screens during the NCAA men's basketball tournament, while others stopped by the barber for a haircut or perused the remaining going-out-of-business sale items at Newport Hills Drug and Cy's Hallmark.

Red Apple owner Lenny Rose said a lot of people used his store for convenience shopping and not much more. Despite surveys, he couldn't figure out why people drove elsewhere instead of buying there. He tried to sell the store, but with the economic crisis looming, he closed it instead.

"We did our part as being part of the community, but we were never just rewarded for it," said Rose, who owns two other Red Apples.

Mail-order prescriptions in the past year drew business away from Newport Hills Drug, Weiss said. His store also had trouble recovering from the last time the grocery store closed under different owners.

A 2002 city study of the shopping center at Newport Hills noted that the neighborhood retail-center model with its small grocery-store anchor needed an update, if not "entirely new thinking."

Newport Hills boasts a new elementary school and a strong community club, but also needs to retain a central shopping area where people bump into neighbors while picking up milk or going to the bank, said Bob Derrick, the city's economic-development director. A vacant center looks bad, can affect property values and gets people in the habit of driving farther for errands. When malls stand deserted, vandalism and graffiti may start.

"You don't want a blight," Derrick said. "A blight starts, potentially leading to deterioration of the neighborhood. There's a history of that all over the country. We don't want that. The neighbors don't want that."

Bentley, who has lived in the neighborhood for 15 years, used to stop by the Red Apple a couple of times a week to pick up cat food, or cupcakes for a PTA meeting. Her daughter still takes lessons at a dance studio at the center.

"In a suburb, it's kind of hard to find a center, a community or place where you can go hang out," she said. "Red Apple definitely served that need."

Chevron owner Barry Heimbigner, who started selling milk and eggs at his gas station after the store closed, said he doesn't know if an outdated look or the type of businesses made it hard to draw people.

The neighborhood is a great location, with quick access to Seattle, Bellevue and Issaquah, he said. Heimbigner is still selling as much gas as before Red Apple closed.

"What it takes to make it happen up here, that's a tough call," he said. "But they need to try and figure out something for this hill."

Newport Hills might take a lead from residents of the Lake Hills neighborhood. When Lake Hills lost anchor tenant QFC and a drugstore a few years ago, a group comprised of a community-council member, residents and city staff came up with a plan. They lured the local library to the property and came up with a mix of housing and other businesses while appeasing residents worried about traffic and higher density.

Some people would love to see a similar design for Newport Hills, but it's difficult to figure out what kinds of stores will survive, Derrick said. The shopping-center owner also has to be willing to invest or else sell to a developer.

David Hsiao, investment managing partner for the group that owns Newport Hills Shopping Center, said he is trying to find new tenants for the space and is open to other possibilities for the center's future.

"We need to leave the options open and see what is best for the long-term look," Hsiao said.

Newport Hills resident Sandi Tampa, who has lived in the area since 2000, used the pharmacy and tried hard to support the Red Apple. But she couldn't find everything she needed and sometimes discovered items she bought on sale were expired.

She wasn't surprised when it closed but doesn't want the center to become an eyesore, either.

She hopes a revamped center would include businesses targeting the neighborhood mix of older residents and young families.

"Anything that would give it a face-lift," she said.

Nicole Tsong: 206-464-2150 or ntsong@seattletimes.com