At 7th Ave South and Lane Street, sits a simple sand-colored building with basic signage and a line of unmarked medium duty trucks outside. Since the 1960s, it has served as the headquarters for wholesale distributor City Produce.
The structure is located centrally, near community gathering spaces like the Donnie Chin International Children’s Park, the local branch of the Seattle Public Library system, and the International District/Chinatown Community Center, making it a valuable asset.
In March 2024, International Community Health Services (ICHS) worked with the Low Income Housing Institute (LIHI) to purchase the parcel for $7.88 million. Located a block away from ICHS’ CID medical and dental clinic, the two organizations plan to construct a mixed-use development at the new site, with 90 affordable housing units above and a healthcare facility below. LIHI is known for developing tiny house villages around the city and the An Lac Apartments on Jackson Street in Little Saigon. They also own two other properties in the neighborhood.
“It’s a challenge for a nonprofit to buy property in the CID when competing with for-profit corporations and developers,” said Kelli Nomura, CEO of ICHS. “[The purchase] will offer us the opportunity to better serve our patients, to continue to work with our valuable business partners in the CID community, and to remain committed to our roots — serving the Chinatown International District and its people at an affordable cost.”
As news of the acquisition spread, community members speculated that the property’s sale meant that its longtime tenants, the legacy business City Produce, was closing, and its owners retiring. This was never the case, according to co-owner Mark Hidaka. He explained that no one from his company was informed of the sale until after the deal was completed. Otherwise, they would have entertained the idea of redeveloping the lot themselves or looking into alternative options.
“We were all shocked,” said Hidaka. “We had no idea that that was even a consideration. As the original tenants, we always thought that if that situation arose, we would be at least contacted and given first right of refusal to purchase the building.”
“It’s hard,” added longtime City Produce bookkeeper Sharon Suyama, the granddaughter of the business’ original owner. “I’m regretting that we didn’t try to buy the building, but we didn’t know. When the landlord talked to [business co-owner Steve Suyama], it was always, ‘You can stay here as long as you want to.’ We’ve been great tenants. We always paid our rent on time.”
City Produce is one of the oldest wholesale distributors of fresh fruits and vegetables in Seattle. It opened in 1926 at Pike Place Market by Japanese immigrant Shosaku Suyama, servicing Chinese and Japanese restaurants before later expanding to other ethnic groups such as Southeast Asian refugees when they began settling in the area. City Produce closed during World War II, when the U.S. government incarcerated 120,000 Japanese Americans after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
Fortunately, an Italian family helped Suyama keep his possessions together while he was imprisoned at Minidoka, and in 1961, City Produce moved to its current location, where it has spent the majority of its existence. For years, the family operation, along with grocery store Uwajimaya, supplied the CID with its produce, even opening a retail section at one point. Today, City Produce supplies eateries from Tacoma up to Marysville, as well as the Asian Counseling and Referral Services’ neighborhood food bank and the senior living facility Nikkei Manor.
Hidaka joined the team at City Produce in the mid-1980s, shortly after graduating from college. A family friend of the Suyamas, he was raised in and around the CID, where his father owned a hardware store. He used to look forward to eating dinner at the now-closed Atlas and Hong Kong restaurants. Though the district has changed since Hidaka’s childhood years, some good parts remain the same, he said. That’s what makes City Produce’s relocation so bittersweet.
“It costs us a lot of money to stay here because we’ve incurred a lot of damages due to vandalism and tagging. Homeless people have been doing a lot of drugs at our place, so we’ve had to do constant cleanup. It’s gotten really bad,” he said. “But the [CID] is our identity, right? I mean you don’t walk away from things like that. That’s our history and this is our community.”
City Produce previously shared the site with the wholesale fish business Okuma Fish for three years from 1985 to 1988, followed by Matthews Candies, then Monarch Trading Company, which sold Chinese canned goods in the 1990s. Now, the top floor is occupied by La Mi Nail Supply, a company that stocks nail and beauty salons.
“We have strong ties with the Asian community,” said Hidaka. “Many second or third generation businesses aren’t able to survive because they’re not open to change. They’re kind of stuck in their own ways. The ability to remain flexible and be open to change is critical to survival.”
Hidaka first heard of the City Produce building sale from his retired business partner Pat Suyama, who heard it from his hairdresser. Later, Laurie Leak, the daughter of one of the property’s former owners, MacDougall Thomas LLC, called Hidaka to formally notify him. Apparently, the sale had been on the table since fall of 2023.
Leak could not be reached for comment to confirm.
“I could retire, but we have employees who have been with us for over 20 years. We worry about them. I feel a lot of loyalty to them. Trying to find a new location is not easy. It’s our home. It’s going to be a big change. It’s sad because I grew up in the community,” said Sharon Suyama.
Though the 7th Ave South and Lane Street parcel is now owned by ICHS, both Nomura of ICHS and Sharon Lee, Executive Director of LIHI, clarified that the housing institute’s role in the purchase and sale was helping to investigate the site’s feasibility, engage an architect, complete environmental testing, and order an appraisal, as well as other pre-development work.
They also shared that LIHI helped ICHS conduct community notification, sending out letters “months before the purchase” to surrounding businesses and residents about the proposed construction project, including City Produce and La Ming Nail Supply, according to Lee.
Hidaka stood firm that no communication was received until after it was too late.
“I don’t want to run anybody under the bus because that’s not what I want to do. It’s not going to change what happens,” said Hidaka. “The people who we had contact with felt really bad that we didn’t get a heads up on this thing. It kind of happened really fast.”
Lee said she was originally approached by a MacDougall Thomas LLC representative about LIHI’s interest in the site last year, and identified the parcel as an ideal spot for a mixed-use development that could benefit low income residents of the CID. She also emphasized that the decision to sell the lot was made by the property’s original owners, not ICHS or LIHI.
“We aren’t aware of what kind of communication transpired between the owner and the tenants. The owner’s decision to sell is what is impacting the two businesses,” said Lee. “This would have occurred regardless of whether ICHS or a private developer bought the property.”
Hidaka said that ICHS did reach out after the sale and has been “more than accommodating” by extending the lease to sometime in 2026 while City Produce searches for a new location. Nomura added that she doesn’t know why City Produce didn’t know that their former landlords were looking to sell, but that she looks forward to working with them under their extended lease.
According to Lee, offers of available space within the CID have already been made to City Produce, although she did not specify from whom.
“We understand and appreciate the historical significance of City Produce to our community, to the neighborhood, and to the people who have been a part of their 100-year legacy,” said Nomura. “They have been in our community for a long, long time. They feed our community.”
Meanwhile, City Produce hopes to stay in or near the CID if possible, even though according to Hidaka, light industry — the manufacture and production of ‘small’ consumer goods like food, textiles, vehicles, and machinery, all of which require less demanding energy compared to heavy industries like steel production or chemical plants — is no longer promoted in the district, which is now more focused on housing and restaurants.
Although Hidaka is supportive of affordable housing, he generally feels that low income housing for homeless people is “totally different.”
“[Homeless people] don’t really contribute to the economy of the district. They don’t go to Uwajimaya to shop, they don’t go to the restaurants,” said Hidaka. “Not to point fingers, but there’s a lot of collateral damage that accompanies those types of facilities. But I believe in affordable housing. It would be great if my workers could all live and work in Seattle, but they can’t because it’s too expensive.”
ICHS’ CID clinic is still on a lease overseen by the Seattle Chinatown International District Preservation and Development Authority (SCIDpda), and a separate lease agreement for its assisted living facility Legacy House. Nomura said that ICHS has yet to decide which of its services, departments, and programs will move to the new building once opened. The priority, she said, is to provide an improved patient care experience.
“We are here now to find a path forward that allows time for City Produce to find a new location and for affordable housing and culturally competent and affordable healthcare to be a part of the community,” said Nomura.
When City Produce does eventually relocate, Hidaka does not believe the business will change much. He said his team is still running through ideas, but that the hope is to stay nearby.
“It’s nice being close to the district. It just feels good, right? It’s kind of like home. I mean, that’s just how it feels,” he said. “Everything is accessible and we’re real comfortable here. We know our neighbors, we support each other, we look out for each other, so it’s a community. When you move to another place, a lot of times, you don’t have that community anymore.”
Ron Chew contributed reporting.
