Can West Seattle maintain its cherished small-town atmosphere in the face of large new developments getting ready to break ground near the Junction?

Plans have been announced for two new "mixed-use" projects on Alaska Street that will stand eight and six stories tall respectively and bring 350 new apartments, a QFC grocery store and a Whole Foods Market to the Junction. Not only will these new structures add hundreds of residents, they will change the look and feel of Alaska Street. The street's horizontal theme of parking lots and one-story buildings will become a more vertical streetscape leading to the heart of the Junction.

Meanwhile more change is underway north of the Junction. The four-story Osbourne is under construction near Dakota Street. The new 26-condo development will have a parking garage with space for 36 vehicles. A West Seattle accounting firm is signed up to occupy the ground-floor commercial space.

Across California Avenue, a new First Mutual Bank branch is nearing completion.

The Junction already got an infusion of new residents a few years ago when four large apartment buildings were constructed along California Avenue at the southern end of the Junction.

Some merchants welcome the arrival of new neighbors and the alterations they are bringing to the Junction.

"I feel very positive about the changes," said Sheri Wallace, manager of Jan's Beauty Supply in the Junction. She thinks the appearance of boutiques in the Junction is a positive sign and she's noticed a lot of new faces among her customers in the past five years.

"It brings more people to the Junction and more people means more business," Wallace said. "It's nice when people can walk from store to store."

She attributes the Junction's improved economic health to an increase of people moving to West Seattle with more disposable income.

Bea Mark co-owns with her husband, Cliff, the pet-accessory store Next to Nature. She agrees having more people living in the Junction will make cash registers whir at her store because a new trend is to allow pets to reside in condos and apartments. Developers now recognize that pets are part of the family in many homes, she said.

"There are infrastructure concerns," Mark said of the Junction. The business district needs more mass transit, she said.

On a larger scale, Mark also worries about having so many people reliant on the West Seattle Bridge when an earthquake could damage the structure. Overall though, she is "pretty positive" about the changes happening in the Junction.

The Junction's eclectic mixture of stores attracts people seeking a shopping "experience," said Angela Rae, director of the West Seattle Junction Association.

The Junction Association hopes people will bundle reasons to go there, Rae said. Make a dental appointment, go to the post office, pay the electric bill at the Neighborhood Service Center and meet a friend for lunch, all in the same trip.

One of the goals of the Junction Association is to encourage a diversified business climate. In the past, the association would solicit individual businesses and urge them to set up shop in the Junction. The strategy has changed. Now the Junction Association tries to convince property owners to lease storefronts to businesses that will broaden the Junction's commercial assortment.

The Junction Association however realizes that economic forces beyond its control ultimately determine what businesses are in the Junction.

The people who'll move to the Junction when the new developments are completed probably won't be families of five but upwardly mobile singles or empty nesters with money to spend.

"They will be people who can afford to eat out a lot," Rae said.

Another person who's excited about new development in the Junction is Patti Mullen, executive director of the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce.

"It's key for the West Seattle Chamber and the Junction Association to actively reach out to the developers who are staging this tremendous growth for West Seattle," Mullen said. "Outreach is absolutely key."

She called it "proactively bringing shape to a well-loved district."

It's sensible to recruit businesses that can make West Seattle less dependent on downtown Seattle too, particularly considering the coming years of construction detours for replacement of the Alaskan Way Viaduct, she said.

"I think the West Seattle Junction has loyal shoppers and residents who embrace that small-town shopping experience and this will continue to be one of the main attractions for West Seattle," Mullen said. "The services coming in will complement the shopping experience in its entirety."

Acceptance of inevitable change is difficult for some though.

"The city has become unfamiliar to many people," said Karen Kane, chairwoman of the League of Women Voters of Seattle's land use committee.

"The city changes in ways that people don't think is for the better," she said. "Things that gave the city its character are disappearing."

Architect Catherine Benotto, chairwoman of the West Seattle Design Review Board, is philosophical about the quality of architecture. There is good design in some West Seattle developments, she said, and some not so good.

"Design is uneven everywhere," Benotto said. "It ranges from excellent to clunkers."

Tim St. Clair can be contacted at tstclair@robinsonnews.com or 932-0300.