January 22, 2025

Fore! Housing planned at Bellevue's Glendale Country Club

Rendering by Clark Barnes [enlarge]

The early townhouse design is subject to change.

As golfers and homebuyers know, houses next to golf courses command a hefty premium. With open land in short supply, new courses aren't being developed in central King County, and links-adjacent housing is left to the resale market. That means shopping in the pricey Highlands, Broadmoor, Inglewood or Medina, next to the Overlake course.

And yet, on the northeast shoulder of the Glendale Country Club in Bellevue, there is a new housing plan. It's small, with Toll Brothers planning four townhouse buildings with 15 units. The vacant grassy triangle at 13575 N.E. Eighth St. offers about 3.3 acres, and half of that is unbuildable wetlands.

But Toll and architect Clark Barnes have secured a residential rezone from the city of Bellevue. Environmental review is now underway, with the public comment period ending Jan 30. The new parcel was created four years ago, followed by the rezoning process.

Most would place the site in the Crossroads area. It went on the market in recent years, unpriced. The brokers, at Kidder Mathews, are Ross Klinger and Todd Gauthier.

The team also includes Atwell, civil engineer; and Raedeke Associates, the wetlands consultant. The south wetlands would get a new buffer, with appropriate new landscaping.

Toll doesn't yet have all its permits in hand. The broker's listing describes the property status as pending. Toll would presumably act as its own builder, following the land sale. The three-story complex would have two garage parking stalls per unit, plus nine surface stalls for visitors.

Three of the units would have southwest views of the third hole. There would be no direct access to the golf course. Glendale is now over a century old, having been founded circa 1921 as the Washington Golf and Country Club. It later rebranded as Glendale, then moved to Bellevue in 1957. (The original course lives on as Glen Acres.)

The club's founders were prominent Jewish families including Leo Schwabacher — of the famous merchant family — and Nathan Eckstein, who were denied membership at the nearby Rainier Golf and Country Club. No such restrictions exist today.