August 16, 2013

Bell Square moves ahead with plan to add 3 housing towers

Images courtesy of Sclater Partners Architects [enlarge]

Kemper Development Co. is moving forward with plans to build housing above Bellevue Square.

Kemper Development applied for design review to build three 17-story residential towers on a three-story retail podium at the southeast corner of the mall. There will be 303 housing units, as well as 1,756 parking spaces on five underground levels.

The southern tower, which is closest to Bellevue Way Northeast and Northeast Fourth Street, will have a 96-room hotel on the bottom 10 floors and housing on the top floors.

(Editor's note: The story has been changed to say the hotel will be 96 rooms, not 96 stories.)

There will be 785,000 square feet of new space in the retail podium and the towers.

At the top of the retail podium will be a landscaped plaza with views of Downtown Park. A small outdoor plaza is planned for the corner of Bellevue Way Northeast and Northeast Fourth Street.

Sclater Partners Architects is designing the complex, and GLY Construction is the general contractor.

A public meeting on the project is set for 6 p.m. Sept. 10 in Bellevue City Hall, 450 110th Ave.

Kemper Development paved the way for expanding the mall when it purchased a .3-acre parcel on the southeast edge of the property in January. The company paid the Khorram family $3.13 million for the land, which housed the Oriental Rug Co.

The DJC first reported on the expansion plan in March.

The Bellevue Square projects are just part of a $1.2 billion expansion of Kemper Development's Bellevue Collection. A second phase of Lincoln Square is planned: a 31-story, 700,000-square-foot office tower; and a 42-story, 250-room hotel with condos or apartments. The Lincoln Square expansion would be on a lot south of the existing Lincoln Square.

The second phase of Lincoln Square will likely begin first, but both projects are expected to finish at the same time.

Related Stories:

• Kemper to start $1B expansion of Bellevue Collection next year  05-21-2013
  
• Kemper to expand Bellevue Collection in 2014  05-20-2013
  
• Freeman wants to add housing at Bell Square  03-15-2013
  
• Kemper buys final Bellevue Square site  02-04-2013
  
• Bellevue Square adding 6 stores  01-31-2013