By Matthew Nash
Olympic Peninsula News Group
SEQUIM — Three new big-box retailers are coming to town.
Sequim City Manager Charlie Bush announced at the City Council meeting last week that Coastal Farm & Ranch, Michaels and Ulta Beauty are coming into the city limits within the next 12 months.
Construction for the new Coastal Farms, a farm/outdoor equipment, tools and clothes retailer, began Feb. 13 inside the former Staples and Del’s Feed Supply buildings at 990-A E. Washington St. in Bell Creek Plaza next to QFC.
Byron Baule, Coastal vice president, said they’ve been considering Sequim for the past year and anticipate it opening in early May.
He said Sequim is the 16th store for the family-owned franchise started in 1963, which operates in Oregon and Washington.
“[Sequim] is a good area for us,” Baule said. “It’s our type of customer, and we don’t have anything on that side of the water. We’ve been talking to other companies, and they said it’s a great location.”
Coastal staff filed building permits Nov. 1, 2016, and city staff approved them Jan. 31, for $1.1 million in expected improvements to more than 47,000 square feet inside and nearly 16,000 square feet outside.
Bush said the parking lot will include redesigned ADA parking, striping, access points and a canopy outside.
Potential employee slots will be solicited online and through local advertisements in early March, Baule said.
Coastal officials plan to hire 45 to 50 associates for the grand opening, Baule said, and through attrition stabilize at around 40 full-time and part-time employees.
Sequim’s store will be similar to other Coastal buildings such as in Mount Vernon and Auburn, he said, but will adjust to the area specific to Sequim.
Matt Prince, contractor for Rogue Renovations LLC, said Sequim’s business is slightly smaller than other stores and they are using local subcontractors during construction.
Michaels/Ulta
Representatives for Michaels, the largest arts and crafts retailer in the United States, and Ulta Beauty, the largest beauty retailer in the U.S., signed leases to go into the Sequim Village Marketplace between Ross Dress for Less and The Home Depot, said Jenny Gage, vice president/asset manager for Washington Capital Management Inc.
Building permits were filed Nov. 1, 2016, but remain pending on the 30,000-square-foot building valued at more than $3 million. However, Gage said they anticipate breaking ground in April.
She said company officials are awaiting internal approvals for construction to begin, but the building tentatively will be available for Michaels and Ulta to open sometime in early 2018.
Efforts to reach representatives for Michaels and Ulta were unsuccessful.
Michaels’ website said the company operates 1,262 stores worldwide as of Jan. 31, 2015, and Ulta operates 974 stores in 48 states and the District of Columbia as of Jan. 27 of this year.
Gage said Washington Capital owns most of the pads in the shopping center except for Costco, The Home Depot and First Federal, and builds and leases the pads as part of an investment for local building tradesmen’s retirement funds.
She said there’s been interest from other retailers in other pads in the shopping center but nothing pending.
“Our goal is to build more on that property,” Gage said.
For more information on Coastal Farms, visit coastalfarm.com.
For more information on Michaels, visit michaels.com, and for Ulta Beauty, visit ulta.com.
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Matthew Nash is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. Reach him at mnash@sequimgazette.com.