Tag Archives: gig harbor

Moctezuma’s plans soft opening this week at Kitsap Mall

Diners can get their first taste of Moctezuma’s Mexican Restaurant and Tequila Bar in Silverdale this week.

The Kitsap Mall Moctezuma’s will hold a soft opening Wednesday afternoon, with a full opening tentatively scheduled for Friday or the weekend. Soft opening hours are 4-8 p.m.

“We’re definitely excited about opening and our staff is super excited,” Director of Operations Michael Goronkin said.

Moctezuma’s moved into an 8,000-square-foot space previously occupied by Hale’s Alehouse. Goronkin said Moctezuma’s hired about 130 employees to staff the Kitsap Mall restaurant.

Silverdale is the fourth location for the family-owned chain, which has restaurants in Gig Harbor, Southcenter and Tacoma.

Gig Harbor Safeway reopens Feb. 3; no date for Port Orchard store

The Gig Harbor Safeway that became a Haggen will become a Safeway again on Feb. 3.

But Safeway spokeswoman Sara Osborne said no reopening date has been announced for the vacant Safeway-turned-Haggen in Port Orchard, also set to return to the Safeway fold.

Safeway parent company Albertsons LLC. bought back both stores from Haggen in a bankruptcy auction last fall.

Haggen stores in Silverdale and East Bremerton were not purchased during those auctions and remain empty. The Bucklin Hill Road and Wheaton Way locations were previously operated by Alberstons.

Albertsons bids on Port Orchard Haggen

Haggans01_15364108_ver1.0_640_480Haggen stores in Port Orchard and Gig Harbor could be bought back by Albertsons, according to court documents.

Haggen is auctioning off dozens of stores this week as part of a bankruptcy reorganization, and Albertsons has emerged as a bidder.

Documents filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware Friday show Albertsons entered bids for 12 stores in Washington, including former Safeway stores in Port Orchard and Gig Harbor.

Albertsons submitted a baseline bid of $200,000 for the store in Port Orchard, and $500,000 for Gig Harbor.

No baseline bids were entered for Haggen stores in East Bremerton or Silverdale, which were formerly Albertsons.

Eighteen Washington Haggen stores will be auctioned Wednesday, according to documents. A hearing will be held Nov. 24 to review the auction results.

Albertsons is bidding on stores it was forced to divest to meet antitrust requirements as it completed a merger with Safeway this year.

Haggen scooped up 146 of those stores, including three in Kitsap County and one in Gig Harbor. The Bellingham-based grocery chain filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September and later announced it would sell or close all but 37 “core stores.”

Haggen stores in Kitsap are slated to close by the end of November and have begun to liquidate inventory. Many Haggen employees have already been rehired at Albertsons and Safeway stores, with permission from the Federal Trade Commission.

Supermarket News and the Seattle Times have more on the Haggen auctions this week. You can read all of my Haggen blog posts here.

UPDATE: Supermarket News reported Tuesday that Haggen will auction off all its stores. This includes the “core stores” Haggen initially said it would keep, and the chain’s original stores in the Bellingham area.

Harrison president will also lead St. Anthony

20090626-204356-pic-934221171_5654090_ver1.0_640_480Harrison Medical Center President David Schultz is taking on leadership of St. Anthony Hospital in Gig Harbor.

Schultz will replace current St. Anthony President Kurt Schley at the end of July, according to a news release from CHI Franciscan Health, parent company of Harrison and St. Anthony.

Schley is leaving to become CEO of CHI St. Alexius Health in Bismarck, North Dakota. 

Schultz was named president of CHI Franciscan’s Peninsula Region, which includes the Harrison campuses in Bremerton and Silverdale, as well as St. Anthony.

“This will help us maximize the delivery of high quality, seamless care and improve patient access to our communities on the peninsula,” CHI Franciscan CEO Ketul Patel said in the release. 

Schultz joined Harrison in December, replacing former CEO and President Scott Bosch.

St. Anthony (pictured above) opened in 2009. The 80-bed hospital offers 24-hour emergency care, cancer treatment, surgery and pharmacy services.

Want to know when fresh content is posted to the Minding Your Business blog? Sign up for email alerts.

Haggen hosting meet-and-greet Thursday

Haggen’s first two Kitsap County grocery stores have been up and running for about 10 days now. 

IMG_7058In an effort to get to know their new neighborhood better, Haggen representatives are hosting a community meeting Thursday in Port Orchard.

Haggen is holding these meetings in all the new markets it’s moving into this year.

According a news release, Haggen wants to hear from small farmers and producers interested in selling wares in the stores, nonprofits interested in Haggen’s charitable work, and small businesses interested in co-marketing campaigns, as well as community members.

The meeting is scheduled for 5-6 p.m. Thursday at the Port Orchard Pavilion, 701 SW Bay Street.

Haggen is taking over 146 former Albertsons and Safeway locations this year, including three in Kitsap County.

The Bellingham-based grocery chain converted a Silverdale Albertsons and a Port Orchard Safeway to the Haggen Northwest Fresh brand on March 7. An East Bremerton Albertsons will follow in June.

A Gig Harbor Safeway became a Haggen on March 11. A community meeting is scheduled for 5-6 p.m. March 23 at The Inn at Gig Harbor, 3211 56th Street NW.

If you’ve already been shopping at the Haggen stores I would love to know what you think. Drop a comment below.

First Kitsap Haggen stores open March 7

Unknown-1We finally have dates for the first Haggen store openings in Kitsap County.

The Silverdale Albertsons and Port Orchard Safeway will be the first to make the transition, reopening under the Haggen banner on March 7.

According to a news release, the two stores will close temporarily beginning on the evening of March 5, in preparation for the change (pharmacies will remain open).

Both stores are tentatively scheduled to reopen as Haggens at 4 p.m. March 7.

The two stores were among 146 Albertsons and Safeway locations acquired by Bellingham-based Haggen. The acquisition was part of a divestiture required for a recently-approved merger of Albertsons and Safeway.

Haggen is also taking ownership of the East Bremerton Albertsons and Gig Harbor Safeway. (See a map of acquired stores here).

The East Bremerton Albertsons isn’t scheduled for a rebrand until early June. The Gig Harbor Safeway will close March 8 and reopen as a Haggen March 10.

Haggen will hold a community meeting from 5-6 p.m. March 19 at the Port Orchard Pavilion, 701 SW Bay Street. According to the news release, the meeting is aimed at giving farmers, food producers, nonprofit leaders and residents a chance to talk to company representatives.

Haggen plans to select five area nonprofits to donate to in conjunction with each store opening. The company will donate $1,000 to a single organization on the first day the store opens, and 2 percent of sales to four additional organizations for four consecutive Saturdays.

You can read my Q&A on the Haggen acquisition here, and feel free to keep throwing questions at me in the comment section.

Sterling, Umpqua banks finalizing merger

Sterling Bank branches will soon be Umpqua Bank branches.

Umpqua Holdings Corporation and Sterling Financial Corporation announced regulatory approval for a merger in a statement Monday. The proposed merger was first announced in September.

Sterling Bank branches are expected to operate under the Umpqua banner after April 18.

Both banks are lightly represented in Kitsap County. Spokane-based Sterling operates a bank branch in Winslow, and home loan offices in Port Orchard and Silverdale. Umpqua, an Oregon company, has a home loan office in Siverdale, and two Gig Harbor branches.

According to the statement, Sterling Financial Corporation had assets of $10.31 billion at the end of 2013 and operated depository branches in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and California. Umpqua had locations in Oregon, Washington, California and Nevada.

The Spokesman-Review has more on the merger.

Pope Resources announces $6.8 million land sale

Poulsbo-based Pope Resources announced a $6.8 million residential land sale in Gig Harbor this week.

Pope sold 63 single-family lots in its Harbor Hill development to Richmond American Homes,  according to a news release. Harbor Hill is a mixed-use development that includes residential properties, a business park and commercial properties.

“This is the second bulk sale of fully developed single-family lots we have closed on thus far this quarter,” Pope CEO David L. Nunes said in a release.  “We look forward to additional residential lot sales from our Harbor Hill project over the coming months and years as the project matures and enjoys increased interest from merchant builders.”

Pope and its subsidiaries own or manage 204,000 acres of timberland and development property in Washington.

 

Emeritus Senior Living to be purchased by Brookdale

Emeritus Corp., which operates senior living communities in Poulsbo and Gig Harbor, has agreed to a purchase by Tennessee-based Brookdale Senior Living.

The acquisition was announced in a news release Thursday. The transaction value totals $2.8 billion, including $1.4 billion in Emeritus’ mortgage debt.

According to the release, the acquisition will create a nationwide senior living network with more than 1,100 facilities in 46 states. The merger of the two companies will likely take place in late 2014.

We’ll check on what the implications of the purchase for local Emeritus clients could be. The Tacoma News Tribune has more details on the acquisition.