Small business owners at strip malls near 46th and Saddle Creek say they're scrambling to figure out their next steps after learning their buildings could be demolished for a massive mixed-use development project.
Kelly Kwon and her husband own Lee's Beauty Supply in one of the strip malls targeted for demolition as part of developer Woodsonia's $103 million project. The couple invested their life savings into the business, buying it three years ago, but has operated at the location for more than 20 years.
"We had no idea. Nobody got informed anything from our new landlord. None of us," Kwon said.
The ambitious development timeline calls for construction to begin as early as spring 2026, just months away. The project includes five phases:
Phase 1: New 138-unit apartment building (
Phase 2: Renovation/reconstruction of the existing Family Fair building (60,800 sq ft retail space, potentially divided into 2-3 tenant spaces)
Phase 3: Demolish strip mall and build a new 85-unit apartment building
Phase 4: New one-story commercial building
Phase 5: Demolish the existing strip mall on Saddle Creek and build a new one-story commercial building or potentially a 4-story mixed-use building with structured parking and residential units
The current 60,000+ square foot Family Fare building would be renovated and potentially split into two or three separate retail spaces, each ranging from about 10,000 to 20,000 square feet, depending on tenant needs.
Kwon said the financial burden of relocating feels overwhelming.
"I have no idea at this point. Like we, we spend most of our money funds investment on this, uh, place to, to buy this place so we don't really have the lump sum of money. I don't know whether we should get like a loan at this point, but then that's gonna be really burden on our shoulder," she said.
The displacement affects multiple established businesses in the area. Hello Nepal owner Chandra Rai has five years left on her lease and thought her business was secure until learning about the demolition plans.
"I just heard about like tearing down the buildings today only," Rai said.
Mohamed Abdalla's business Gyro Kings operates in the strip mall closest to Saddle Creek, which represents the final phase of the development process. Unlike other business owners, Abdalla expressed interest in securing space within the new development.
"So if we can be part of that, that'd be awesome because we don't wanna leave here. We build a pretty good uh clientele and that'd be nice to have a new building," Abdalla said.
At last week's planning board meeting, Woodsonia characterized the businesses as short-term tenants in aging buildings. At last week's planning board meeting, Woodsonia characterized the businesses as short-term tenants in aging buildings. Developer representative Mitch Hohlen described both strip malls as having "transient tenants."
"We were looking at these, both of them are very tired. Um, both of them have kind of transient tenants. There's a, a couple of vape shops in here. We saw this as an opportunity to reinvest in the area," Hohlen said.
Kwon expressed frustration about the impact on both business owners and the surrounding community.
"A lot of people actually don't come with the car they walk here because they all live around here so now that it's gonna make them wonder they don't have where to shop their regular hairs they don't have any shop for their groceries and I don't know what's gonna happen," she said.
The business owner also voiced concerns about economic inequality in the development process.
"We really don't wanna get kicked out and have the rich company make the really luxury apartment to make more money so rich people get richer and the poor people get poorer that's not really fair," Kwon said.
The project received planning board approval but still requires city council approval before moving forward.
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