Closer

The Central District was historically (dating back to the days of redlining) Seattle's primary African-American neighborhood, and this store was known for catering to diverse cultures. However, as the name implies, it's in a very desirable location, meaning that gentrification has hit the neighborhood hard. The redevelopment of this store to new apartments, while certainly good from an urban planning perspective, was very controversial for that reason, and the rumor that a Whole Foods or some such upscale grocery store would move in to the new building didn't help matters. The owner, Vulcan (formerly owned by Paul Allen), also owns a shopping center across the street that features generic businesses like AutoZone and Walgreens, so while I didn't hear much about it, their decision to redevelop this side instead seems like bad PR to me. Also, while NIMBYs and their close friends, the anti-gentrification advocates, like to deride any new construction as "luxury" housing regardless of whether there's any merit to that, it does seem to fit the bill for the new building here, as the cheapest apartment listed on their website is over $1700 a month for a small studio! Anyways, for more context on that, see these three articles (be forewarned, the last one is by a guy who's always a bit out there, but it's still an interesting read).