PORT ANGELES — The second attempt at a standalone Starbucks in Port Angeles will be opening this spring at the intersection of South Del Guzzi Drive and East Front Street, a developer said.
“(Starbucks) have been wanting to be here for quite some time, so they are very excited,” developer Ben Norbe of Kidder Mathews of Tacoma said in a telephone interview. “The building also will have a MOD Pizza, which is a nice little place for lunch and dinner. They complement each other.”
All Starbucks stores are company-owned. Both Port Angeles Safeway stores and the one in Sequim have a Starbucks inside.
A standalone Starbucks opened in the Sequim Village Marketplace in July 2006. In Jefferson County, Starbucks has one store inside the Port Townsend Safeway and one store inside the Port Hadlock QFC.
The first standalone Starbucks in Port Angeles, located at 108 S. Del Guzzi Drive, closed in 2009. The space now is occupied by Jimmy John’s Sandwiches.
MOD Pizza is a Seattle-based chain founded in 2008. It now has more than 500 locations in 20 U.S. states, British Columbia and the United Kingdom.
Norbe said all their stores also are company-owned. MOD is an acronym for “Made On Demand.” A restaurant trade publication has characterized the chain as “the Chipotle of the pizza industry.”
“You stand in line and pick all your toppings, and they make it there for you. It’s pretty good pizza,” Norbe said. “Port Angeles has been on their radar for five years or more. They were looking for the right site.”
Norbe bought the property east of the KFC/Taco Bell, at 2001 E. Front St. through 1485 Olney St., via Limited Liability Corporation from Jokrijo LLC for $350,000 in December 2020.
Norbe is an executive vice president and shareholder of the Kidder Mathews location in Tacoma. Kidder Mathews is the largest independent commercial real estate firm on the West Coast.
The city building permit application for the Starbucks/MOD Pizza project was filed Nov. 30, 2021. The $721,500 project calls for a 4,770-square-foot building — 2,035 for Starbucks and 2,735 for MOD Pizza — on a 76,395-square-foot lot.
Norbe said the project will consolidate access points off Front Street for safety, so the new development will share an access point with the KFC/Taco Bell building at 2001 E. Front St.
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Reporter Brian Gawley can be reached by email at brian.gawley@peninsuladailynews.com.
