It looks like the old vacant Safeway site at the north end of 76th Avenue S.E. is going to stay that way a while. The almost two-acre tract has been sitting vacant for years.

BRE Properties of San Francisco has plans to build a project called Aviara, which would include retail and professional offices topped by an estimated 166 residential apartments. With one floor of below-grade parking the project is slated to have a total of six floors if built.

The site would accommodate 312 parking spaces with 85 for business customers.

Late last year the Reporter was told that an April ground-breaking looked imminent.

But now a spokesman for BRE said the company is ‘looking at alternatives.’

BRE holds a long-term lease from Hynes Properties, LLC, a family venture that has owned the property since the 1960s. The Safeway store was built in 1967.

Safeway moved out of the building in the 1990s, when a new store was built in Factoria. A commercial plant retail business called Rentokil moved in, sub-letting from Safeway, but moved out in December 2008, leaving the building empty and a blight on the Island.

BRE is now saying it is possible that they will sell the lease, which is allowed in the terms of the lease, yet said they are still working on the permits.

Tim Stewart, director of developmental services group for the city of Mercer Island said permits and developments are sold all the time.

“This is typical,” Stewart said. “There’s so much uncertainty, and financing is often a challenge.”

Stewart said the permits are ready to be issued – but somebody from BRE needs to come in and pay the fees and sign for the conditions of the permit.

Mary Jane Brissing Hynes, whose family owns the land, confirmed the lease can be sold, and that there are provisions in the document to protect land owners. She too, is surprised that the site remains untouched.