Bartell Drugs in downtown Burien will move to a new store not far from its current location next year.

Wesbild Shopping Centers, owners of Burien Town Plaza (formerly Redwood Plaza), will build a state-of-the-art facility for Bartell Drugs at Southwest 150th Street and Fourth Avenue Southwest, where Burger King now stands.

Burger King will remain in Burien Town Plaza but in a new store to be constructed on Fourth Avenue Southwest just north of its current location.

Demolition and construction is expected to begin later this year.

The current Bartell location will be redeveloped as part of Burien's Town Square project.

"We're excited to see this type of economic development in our downtown area," said Mayor Joan McGilton.

"Revitalization of downtown has been a goal of the city since we incorporated 13 years ago, and it's happening."

The city of Burien and Bartell reached an agreement in August for that will lead to construction of the new store. The agreement is the result of a settlement for the value of the company's leasehold interest for its current location.

Wesbild Senior Vice-President Thomas A. Sroufe said the shopping center developer "is pleased to be able to provide a new location for Bartell's only a short distance from where they have been in business in Burien for more than 30 years.

"Bartell's new location will be more prominent and accessible and have the added feature of a drive-thru pharmacy." said.

Wesbild has applied with the city for re-development of Burien Town Plaza, which includes construction of approximately 30,000 square feet of new commercial space at the southeast portion of the plaza for Bartell Drugs and several other smaller businesses.

Included in these plans is a future replacement of the 24,000-square-foot commercial building located along Southwest 148th Street with a 10,500-square-foot one-story building.

Besides construction of Town Square and redevelopment of Burien Town Plaza, other building projects on nearby sites are set to start soon.

Metro will move the Burien transit center from its current location on Fourth Avenue Southwest to the eastern part of its park and ride lot between Southwest 148th and Southwest 150th Streets.

Construction of a new transit center is scheduled to begin this fall and be completed in fall of 2007.

A multi-story hotel/conference center is planned for a site at Southwest 150th Street and Second Avenue Southwest, next to the new transit center.

The $85 million project will include a 167-room hotel, a 5,000 square-foot conference center, 110 deluxe condominiums, covered parking for 250 vehicles, a restaurant and professional offices.