Work on Chuck’s Produce to start in Salmon Creek

Construction activity could start any day in the Salmon Creek area for a second Chuck’s Produce and Street Market, according to a company spokesman.

The estimated $10 million project qualifies for Clark County’s fee holiday, a newly enacted job-creation incentive that waives 50 percent of fees for retail developments that will host a minimum of 10 full-time jobs upon completion.

Plans for an official ground-breaking ceremony are in the works and will likely be followed by clearing the project site on the northeast corner of Northeast Highway 99 and 117th Street, said Mike Livermore, a spokesman for Chuck’s, a Vancouver-based organic grocery company.

The first Chuck’s store opened in 2010 in east Vancouver at Southeast Mill Plain Boulevard and 131st Avenue.

Chuck’s organic produce-focused concept was the brainchild of Bart Colson, a partner in Vancouver-based Hawthorn Retirement Group. The family-owned business operates a string of more than 40 senior living facilities in the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom.

The family’s Salem, Ore.-based construction firm, Colson & Colson General Contractors, will take the lead on building the second Chuck’s. The firm has built more than 300 retirement facilities, according to its website.

Editor’s note: This story has been modified to reflect new information about the project’s estimated cost and a change in the county’s fee holiday stipulations.