SE Seattle gets it Third Place

Eric Scigliano

Eric Scigliano Jun 28, 2025

Feb 6, 2018

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          <article>
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                <h1>SE Seattle gets it Third Place</h1>
                <h2><p>The undersized PCC natural-food store in retail-poor Seward Park/Lakewood is such a cherished anchor, real estate listings count the blocks to it. So residents fretted when PCC secured new, much larger quarters in nearby Columbia City. Would the old site languish like the ex-gas station next door?Fret no</p></h2>
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               <p>By <a href="/author/erics-nwlink-com/">Eric Scigliano</a></p> 
              <p><time datetime="2025-02-04T05:00:00-08:00">Feb 6, 2018</time></p>
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            <p>The undersized PCC natural-food store in retail-poor Seward Park/Lakewood is such a cherished anchor, real estate listings count the blocks to it. So residents fretted when PCC secured new, much larger quarters in nearby Columbia City. Would the old site languish like the ex-gas station next door?Fret no more. “Third place” developer Ron Sher, who reinvented Crossroads Mall and saved Elliott Bay Books, will transform it into another Third Place Books, with restaurant and probably pub — just as he did the original PCC store in Ravenna. “I’m surprised the PCC [site] will transition to a use that will actually benefit the community,” says one formerly disenchanted neighbor. Especially since all Southeast Seattle had no general-interest bookstore for nearly two years, till the hole-in-wall Bookworm Exchange reopened in Hillman City. — E.S.</p>
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The undersized PCC natural-food store in retail-poor Seward Park/Lakewood is such a cherished anchor, real estate listings count the blocks to it. So residents fretted when PCC secured new, much larger quarters in nearby Columbia City. Would the old site languish like the ex-gas station next door?Fret no more. “Third place” developer Ron Sher, who reinvented Crossroads Mall and saved Elliott Bay Books, will transform it into another Third Place Books, with restaurant and probably pub — just as he did the original PCC store in Ravenna. “I’m surprised the PCC [site] will transition to a use that will actually benefit the community,” says one formerly disenchanted neighbor. Especially since all Southeast Seattle had no general-interest bookstore for nearly two years, till the hole-in-wall Bookworm Exchange reopened in Hillman City. — E.S.

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By Eric Scigliano

Eric Scigliano's reporting on social and environmental issues for&nbsp;The Weekly&nbsp;(later&nbsp;Seattle Weekly) won Livingston, Kennedy, American Association for the Advancement of Scie