SEATTLE — In response to growing concerns over food and pharmacy deserts in Seattle neighborhoods, Mayor Bruce Harrell is preparing to introduce new legislation aimed at making it easier to replace shuttered pharmacies and grocery stores with new ones.

A lesser-known barrier to reopening these critical businesses lies in some commercial leases. In certain cases, landlords are contractually restricted from leasing vacated space to another grocery store or pharmacy. Harrell calls is "anti-competitive" behavior.

“Sometimes they place restrictive covenants that block efforts to bring on a new store, a new pharmacy,” Harrell explained. “So this legislation is designed to prohibit that.”

The mayor’s proposed legislation would ban these types of covenants, which can last for decades, and have

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