June 6, 2022

Hines debuts design for Main Street Place, with offices, apartments and a ‘town square'

Renderings by Kohn Pedersen Fox [enlarge] [gallery]

The apartments on the corner of Main and 108th, where Blazing Bagels is now.

Hines and partners are planning a major mixed-use redevelopment of an old shopping center at 103 110th Ave. N.E. in Bellevue, near the future East Main Station. Main Street Place is now in design review with the city, and while the numbers are about the same, the massing is strikingly different.

Before, the nearly 7-acre site, almost a full block, was to be divided into four quadrants. Split zoning would've placed the taller two office components to the north, with midrise apartment buildings facing Main Street. That was about 1.4 million square feet, roughly the maximum allowable.

Now, the northwest quadrant will essentially be left fallow, with surface parking and the H Mart building to remain. The PetSmart, Blazing Bagels and other old buildings get scraped. The apartment layout is unchanged; offices go on the northeast corner, and the total is about 1.3 million square feet.

H Mart may have a long lease, and Hines may be betting on future zoning changes, but the northwest corner void is a mystery for now. A large central plaza, the “town square,” remains to link the four quadrants. That's about an acre.

Kohn Pedersen Fox is the design architect, with GGLO as the architect of record.

[enlarge]

Looking north, with Main in the foreground, the offices are on the northeast corner of the development.

Two linked office towers, with five and 15 stories, would have about 963,132 square feet. The shorter south building has floor plates with around 19,000 square feet. The north tower ranges from about 17,000 to 19,000 square feet for its plates.

The five- to eight-story apartment buildings would have about 400 units, running from studios to three-bedrooms. Retail/commercial space distributed among all the buildings would total around 79,187 square feet. Three to four levels of shared underground parking — plus the surface lot — would have about 2,124 stalls.

The phased plan could start in 2024, apparently with the southwest apartments and northeast offices. The southeast apartments would follow in 2026. The latter, smaller apartment building isn't actually on the corner — that's occupied by the deconsecrated former Sacred Heart Church, now a pilates studio, and its gravel parking lot.

Environmental cleanup from a former dry cleaner and possible underground fuel tanks will be part of the excavation and shoring. The state Department of Ecology hasn't yet issued a determination of no further action.

Main Street Place is also backed by Benenson Capital Partners, the landowner, and USAA Real Estate. The design team also includes A+I. The entire roster includes Magnusson Klemencic Associates, civil and structural; Hart Crowser, geotechnical; Alvine Engineering, MEP; Design Workshop, landscape architect; and Pace, surveyor.