(Editor's note: This letter was sent to the grocery store operator PCC Natural Markets with a copy to this newspaper.)

Dear PCC:
 
Please consider the site of the soon-to-close Crown Hill QFC for a new PCC. 
 
I trust that PCC is keenly aware of the northwest Seattle gap in your Seattle coverage.  Although another large gap exists in north/northeast Seattle, residential density in the northwest quadrant trumps north/northeast.
 
Surely you have a ton of data on past, current, and future grocery coverage in the area.  Greenwood Market is on borrowed time due to impending Fred Meyer expansion.  Ballard Market is one and a half miles from the Crown Hill site.  Trader Joe's is two miles south, a similar distance from their Queen Anne store as to the Crown Hill site. 

Whole Foods will probably open about four miles south - but Ballardites are loathe to cross the bridge. 
 
Safeway is across the street but caters to a different market and has generated significant distrust within the local community as a result of their foisting an unwanted gas station on the neighborhood and their failure to uphold previous agreements with Department of Planning and Development and the community to maintain landscaping, a transparent facade along 85th, and functional doors during business hours at both the northwest and southwest corners of their store. 

QFC failed because their brand has become indistinguishable from the upgraded Safeway brand, and their run-down store did not stack up against the new Safeway.  PCC would not have that problem.
 
Ballard/Greenwood/Crown Hill is extremely green and surely your membership roles reflect decent numbers in the area, despite the inconvenient-to-Ballard PCC locations in Fremont and Green Lake.  Thousands of area residents would love to have PCC within a short drive, walk, bike, or bus ride. 
 
Crown Hill is a designated Residential Urban Village in a Pedestrian Overlay Zone.  Significant development capacity remains; significant localized residential growth is inevitable.  Transit service is excellent, far better than at any current PCC location, with 18 bus arrivals per hour at 85th and 15th (routes 15, 48, and 75) during Monday-Saturday midday from locations throughout a huge swath of Seattle.  The store site block is slated to receive a Metro bus rapid transit station in 2012.   
 
I urge you to expeditiously evaluate this rare opportunity to develop an anchor location in Northwest Seattle.
 
Sincerely,
 
Bill Bryant
Longtime member