Starbird Chicken Proposed Seattle Site in Former Amazon Space
The restaurant chain aims to occupy a fraction of a long-vacant grocery footprint in Capitol Hill.
Updated on Sept. 22, 2026 in Openings & Closings
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Starbird Chicken has filed a proposal to open a new restaurant at 610 E. Pike St. in Seattle. The location would occupy 2,927 square feet of a 10,000-square-foot space previously held by an Amazon Fresh grocery store.
Why it matters
The proposal marks a shift for the retail space on the corner of Belmont, which has remained vacant since the Amazon Fresh store closed approximately two years ago. Reutilizing the site could signal new leasing activity for large-format commercial spaces in the neighborhood.
Starbird Chicken has proposed a 2,927-square-foot footprint within a 10,000-square-foot retail unit. The site previously housed an Amazon Fresh location until it closed two years ago.
The players
Starbird Chicken
A fast-casual restaurant chain specializing in fried chicken.
Amazon Fresh
A grocery store chain operated by a global e-commerce and cloud computing corporation.
Merrick Lentz Architecture
An architecture firm providing planning and permit filing services.
The details
Merrick Lentz Architecture submitted the proposal on behalf of a Portland-based client to subdivide the retail space located in the AVA Capitol Hill building. The filing suggests a strategy to repurpose a large grocery-sized footprint into smaller, more efficient commercial portions. This move effectively splits a long-vacant corner site to accommodate a smaller fast-casual tenant.
Timeline
The proposal for the new Starbird Chicken location was filed in September 2024.
The Amazon Fresh grocery store at the site closed in September 2022.
Market Landscape
The proposal follows the precedent set by the closure of the Amazon Fresh store at 610 E. Pike St. two years ago. This move marks a notable departure from the vacancy period and suggests a potential trend in subdividing large retail footprints for smaller operators.
Operators in the area should monitor the site to see if the subdivision leads to further retail activity in the AVA Capitol Hill building. The transition from a single large-anchor tenant to a smaller fast-casual footprint could provide a template for filling other vacant grocery sites.
The takeaway
The proposed occupancy illustrates how businesses are reclaiming large-format space left behind by major grocers. Operators should track the municipal permitting timeline for this project to understand how local planning departments handle the conversion of former supermarket properties.
Further reading
For more on the retail landscape, browse our Openings & Closings section.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce.
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