Town Center at Lake Forest Park
Town Center at Lake Forest Park is a shopping center that also serves as the community hub for the city of Lake Forest Park, Washington. It is located on the eastern side of Lake Forest Park, on the western shore of Lake Washington in a suburb of Seattle on Bothell Way NE beside City Hall. The southeast side of the center abuts the Burke-Gilman Trail.
Town Center at Lake Forest Park is anchored by Third Place Books, Albertson's grocery store, Rite Aid, Ross Dress for Less, and Planet Fitness and features almost of gross leasable area on its 18 acres. Third Place Books, a general interest bookseller, is one of the tenants of the center and serves as a community center for Lake Forest Park hosting free public events and other community activities. The bookstore provides access to print on demand books via the Espresso Book Machine.
Each Sunday, starting in May and ending in October, the Third Place Commons Farmers Market is held in the LFPTC parking lot.
History
The Forest Park Shopping Center opened on October 7, 1964, with of retail space across two levels. Major tenants at that time included Rhodes Brothers, Pay 'n Save, and Albertsons. The shopping center was developed by Farwest Properties, an Olympia-based company, at a cost of $3million, on of land at the corner of State Route 522 and State Route 104. Lake Forest Park was an unincorporated community at the time but pursued cityhood in response to the mall's construction to prevent further commercial development. A branch of the King County Library System opened at the mall in 1974 using space leased by the city government.A renovation and expansion was approved by the city government in 1987 with an exemption to the municipal height limit. Construction began the following year but was delayed by three months following the discovery of unexpected issues with the existing structure. It was renamed the Lake Forest Park Towne Center and reopened in September 1989 after it had been expanded to with 49 stores; Albertsons also announced plans to expand their store. Several vacant retail spaces on the second floor were later replaced by Third Place Books, a bookstore with a food court and community stage that opened in 1998.
The mall was acquired by Madison Marquette in July 2006 and later renamed to the Town Center at Lake Forest Park. A smaller renovation was completed in 2011 and included the addition of a Ross Dress for Less and a Planet Fitness. The mall was sold to Merlone Geier Partners in 2014 for $37million.