Today (Jan. 27), developers of the new Interbay Urban Center announced that Whole Foods will be the anchor tenant in the 80,000 square foot retail center.

Reporters and community members stood out in the cold Tuesday morning, as Doug Exworthy, a managing member of developers TFR Pacific LLC made the announcement and released the Whole Foods banner.

The new Whole Foods Market, which will employ about 150 people when it is scheduled to open in late 2009, will be the fifth Whole Foods in the Seattle area and the sixth in the state.

"Each store is individually designed and operated for the needs of the specific community it serves," said John Clougher, the company's president for the Pacific Northwest region. "The Interbay Whole Foods Market will have an interactive healthy eating center with chefs, a new Whole Values section, an expanded bulk foods section and a new sandwich bar that is unlike anything we have in our other stores."

Clougher said the Interbay store is the third collaboration between Whole Foods and TRF. The first was the development of the Roosevelt Square market, which continues to perform in the top 10 among the company, he said.

"I've been really amazed at the amount of community involvement and interest in this store," said Clougher Tuesday morning. "He added that he hopes the store will open before the 2009 holiday shopping season, but admitted that was going to be a "big feat."

The new market will be 38,000 square feet, scaled down from it's original planned size of 60,000 square feet.

TRF Pacific filed a lawsuit late September 2008 against the upscale grocery chain after the company announced it wanted to downsize the store and delay its opening until late 2009. According to an official statement released in October from Whole Foods, Clougher, the company had been in negotiations with TRF to downsize the new store for months.

A Whole Foods spokesperson told the News-Tribune its larger stores are not profitable.

In addition to Whole Foods, the Interbay Urban Center, located at 1815 15th Ave. W., has smaller retail spaces that range from 1,206 to 5,422 square feet. Four spaces have already been leased to Interbay Cleaners, Peet's Coffee and Tea, Subway, and Verizon Wireless.

Rebekah Schilperoort can be reached at 783-1244 or rebekahs@robinsonnews.com.