When one gets off the train at Columbia City Station, on the south end of the station, don't see much density, as the historic business district of the Columbia City Neighborhood is on Ranier Ave. It once was a streetcar suburb, and some of the buildings reflect that. It also shows an example of throwing that legacy away. It is a Landmark District, but between the Seattle Public Library Columbia City Branch on S. Alaska Street and Edmonds Street, there is a mini-mall that was once a grocery store built in the 1950s, with a big parking lot, and a Bank of America Branch with an architectural style out of place in the neighborhood. The mini-mall, a developer wanted to develop it but ran afoul of the Landmark's Preservation Board. Another developer thinks he can get a mixed-use, appartment/retail complex there. Already some development has happened around this area, but most of it off of Rainier Ave. THe old Columbia School site would make the school district some money, but they hold onto the sites of closed schools, just in case they re-open, or when another has to be closed for renovation or repair.

Seattle Times

QUOTE
PCC has signed a letter of intent to lease the 25,000-square-foot ground-floor space at Rainier Avenue South and South Edmunds Street, according to several sources.

Tom Monahan, PCC's marketing manager, wouldn't confirm that. "We have interest in that neighborhood," he said, "but no lease in hand."

The 1.5-acre property, considered ripe for redevelopment, is now the site of Columbia Plaza, a retail mall built as a supermarket in the 1950s. Security Properties is in the process of buying it from HAL Real Estate of Seattle, which acquired it in 2007.