March 13, 2015

Projects keep popping up in Bellevue, suggesting this boom has a ways to go

While cranes have dotted the sky in downtown Bellevue for the last few years, another boom is in full swing.

Kemper Development Co. has been a major catalyst for Bellevue's growth over many decades and the firm is leading the way yet again with two mega expansions at Bellevue Square and Lincoln Square.

But this boom isn't all about Kemper.

Monica Wallace of Wallace Properties told the crowd at a Commercial Real Estate Women Seattle & Sound event Thursday there is depth to this development cycle.

Even if you exclude Kemper's projects and plans for the Spring District in the Bel-Red corridor, there still are at least 26 projects planned or under construction, she said, with 1,970 housing units, 2.3 million square feet of office space, 610 hotel rooms and 125,000 square feet of retail.

Those numbers, Wallace said, may not tell the whole story because new projects are popping up all the time. “Bellevue's skyline is changing monthly,” she said.

Main Street on the south side of downtown has been a focus for residential development. Nearly 2,000 housing units are planned in downtown, and 1,100 of them are along Main. They will be accompanied by 74,000 square feet of retail.

People who live on Main may soon be getting a big new park. Bellevue Mayor Claudia Balducci spoke at the event and said the city has included funding in the latest budget for a long-planned expansion of the park along Meydenbauer Bay.

The city is trying to beef up its parks to accommodate all the new development.

“One the thing the city can do to make people want to come here is to provide the kinds of amenities and services that make it an attractive place,” Balducci said.

The city may also make some zoning changes.

The current “wedding cake” plan — with the tallest buildings in the center surrounded by shorter buildings on the edges of downtown — has been around since the 1980s. The Downtown Livability Initiative is looking at zoning and land use tools that could improve downtown for both workers and residents.

The city also may try to overhaul incentive programs that give developers extra height or density for building open space or refurbishing sidewalks.

Balducci said the system could work better. She would like to see the city use incentives to encourage the construction of an “iconic tower” that is taller and distinctive to enhance the skyline. Retail has played an important role in downtown Bellevue's growth. Wallace said the retail vacancy — excluding Bellevue Square and The Bravern — is 1.6 percent out of more than 1.5 million square feet of space.

Wallace said Bellevue is a destination for retailers large and small, national and local, and she expects some big retail announcements in a few months, though she wouldn't reveal any details.

“Every national tenant is knocking on our door daily,” Wallace said, “but there is nowhere for them to go.”