A day after legal rulings blocked the proposed $25 billion agreement, the planned merger that would combine the Safeway and QFC grocery families is off leaving behind scraps of Capitol Hill paperwork and plenty of uncertainty about the future of the neighborhood’s grocery shopping needs.

Tuesday’s legal decisions included a crippling injunction issued by a federal judge following a three-week hearing in Portland over the proposed merger combining the Albertsons and Kroger companies. Albertsons says it is now backing out of the agreement and suing Kroger over its failure to secure regulatory approval for the massive merger the companies have said was necessary to address spiraling costs and competition from Walmart and Amazon.

On Capitol Hill, the multibillion dollar deal was already in motion with early maneuverings. This summer, CHS reported as a company formed by C&S Wholesale Grocers applied to assume the liquor license for the QFC grocery store in Capitol Hill’s Harvard Market shopping center. Both Capitol Hill QFC grocery stores appeared on the roster of “Planned Divestiture Store, Distribution Center, and Plant Locations” as industry giants Kroger and Albertsons promised to shed hundreds of locations as they worked toward the merger.

A $1.9 billion sale of locations would have included 579 stores across the country including 124 in Washington to be acquired by C&S, owner of the Piggly Wiggly brand that was once a staple on Capitol Hill and across the city.

Kroger will now chart its course across the country, in Seattle, and on Capitol Hill on its own.

In 2021, Kroger shut down one of its three stores in the neighborhood, targeting the smallest of the locations in a tiff with the Seattle City Council over COVID hazard pay. The 15th Ave E’s property’s owners have moved on. CHS reported in September as the design review board signed off on a plan to allow a new development to rise above the neighborhood’s five-story zoning ending months of debate over the project that will eventually demolish the old QFC and neighboring 1904-built Moore Family building. In the meantime, projects like the Punk Rock Flea Market and online retailer Thistle & Poppy are making good use of the open commercial spaces.

The QFC at Broadway and Pike could have new landlords after the Harvard Market’s local ownership put the shopping center on the market for $25 million earlier this year.

The nearby Capitol Hill Safeway, meanwhile, is lined up for change with or without the big deal. CHS reported here in November as a Master Use Permit was issued for a long-planned redevelopment of the 15th and John property.

The project from developer Greystar and the Weber Thompson development team will create two new five-story buildings including a new grocery, around 330 market rate apartment units, some new, smaller retail spaces, and an underground parking lot for more than 300 cars on the Safeway property.

No date for any closure of the store, demolition, or start of construction has been made public. Under city law, the Master Use Permit has a “maximum lifespan” of six years.

Safeway, meanwhile, operates another store in the area at 22nd and Madison.

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