Bellevue’s Boom Near Completion, Investors Ready for the Echo

By Lucy Bodilly

Developers looking for a safe bet should put their money on downtown Bellevue, Wash. The New York Times and Fortune magazine have both noted its ability to survive these gloomy economic times with continued development.

CNNMoney.com just listed it as the Number 1 place to “Live and Launch.”

Microsoft leased two entire office buildings, while they were still under construction and its subsidiary Expedia, a third. It’s 118,000 residents boast an average family income of almost $90,000 annually. Gucci, Tiffany & Co. and Nieman Marcus will all have retail shops.

Last year contractors completed $800 million in construction. Thirty projects were under way, but almost all of them will be finished by this time next year.

What’s about to happen is in the Bellevue boom Phase II?

“Obviously it all depends on the economy,” says Greg Johnson, president of Wright Runstad & Company, a Seattlebased developer, which just finished one of the buildings Microsoft leased.

His company has enough confidence in the city to have bought 38 acres on the edge of the downtown core with a joint venture partner, Shorenstein Properties LLC. The Spring District is the first parcel of the Bel- Red Corridor, one of the main thoroughfares that runs from downtown to the main Microsoft campus in Redmond, Wash.

Right now the area is mostly warehouse and under utilized retail space. The team plans to build a LEED rated neighborhood, now under design by NBBJ, a Seattle architecture firm.

Besides the economy, the plan has one other potential hurdle. The Bellevue city council has to rezone the area. “We think they will be looking at the plan by the end of the year,” Johnson says.

If it is all approved, the Spring District will have over 3 million sq ft of office space in buildings ranging from six to 12 stories with supporting retail amenities. The emerging urban neighborhood will include up to 1,000 multifamily residences with an open space plan that includes a turf athletic field, a large park and green spaces and plazas interspersed throughout the development.

“And it will sit right along the new light rail route that links Bellevue and Remond,” says Johnson.

Funds for Sound Transit’s $18 billion light rail expansion, which would pay for the light rail line between Bellevue and Redmond, will have to be approved by voters in the November election.

Kemper Development, also has plans for new construction, immediately across the street from the city’s retail mecca, Bellevue Square. Additional retail space and a boutique hotel are being planned, says Dan Meyers, vice president of development for Kemper Development.

“Whether we build the hotel or the retail space first, will depend on the economy,” says Meyers. Under way now is a renovation of Bellevue Square, and an addition to the Hyatt Regency across the street. GLY Construction, Inc., Bellevue, is adding 350 rooms to the existing hotel. The 21-story expansion will increase capacity for conference and hospitality space in downtown Bellevue. Expansion consists of 5 floors of subterranean parking, three levels of ballrooms and auditoriums, sloped meeting and conference center, 25 floors of post-tension deck and 18 stories of hotel rooms. The project includes renovation of a kitchen and Wintergarden atrium.

City leaders are in the fundraising stages for a new Performing Arts Center, to be near Bellevue Square.

The only other major project on the city radar is a $40 million, 50,000 sq ft medical services building for Children’s Hospital. With the amendments to Bellevue's comprehensive plan and land use code, Children's will be allowed to move ahead with plans to construct a facility at 116th Avenue Northeast, just north of Northeast 12th Street.

Overlake Hospital Medical Center andl Group Health Cooperative are just southwest of the site.

City officials said the Children's property eventually would have been rezoned to allow construction of a medical facility as part of the ongoing Bel-Red Corridor planning initiative. That initiative is presently underway.

Children’s has indicated to city officials that it plans to complete construction of its new facility by 2010. When it purchased the property in late 2007, the hospital said it planned to build a 50,000-sq-ft ambulatory care facility to provide outpatient specialty services, urgent care and pediatric specialty offices to treat Eastside children closer to where they live.

Washington Square

Wasatch Development entered the Bellevue scene in 2005 with groundbreaking of Washington Square, a $1.2 billion mixed use development which will total over 1 million sq ft. The first phase features 26 2-story ownhomes complete with front yards.

A four-phased complex which will nearly 1000 residential units in 4 towers ranging in size from 22-30 floors, a 22+ floor hotel/condo/retail tower, and a 30 floor office building.

Each phase will have its own underground parking structure.

Bellevue Towers

Gerding Edlen, Portland, broke into the Bellevue market two years ago when it demolished the Puget Sound Energy building for the future construction of Bellevue Towers.

The two buildings follow Gerding’s Portland template of being LEED rated and using some of the most advanced sustainable systems available.

Green roofs with plantings that cool the building in summer, keep it warm in winter, reduce the "urban heat island" effect. Energy usage that beats industry standards by nearly 30 percent. Building exterior incorporates high-performance, insulated, "lowe" coated glass windows that let in plenty of light while filtering damaging ultraviolet rays.

The two towers––of 42 and 43 stories–– will feature 540 condos. Prices for the homes range from just under $500,000 to nearly $10 million.

The design of Bellevue Towers is a collaboration between GBD Architects and Mulvanny G2. Phil Beyl and Kyle Anderson of Portland’s GBD Architects are designed the tower elements of the project. to offer residents comfortable and gracious living spaces constructed with premium materials. Mulvanny G2 designed the podium element to serve as a s public space and garden area for tenants only.

The building will feature a 25,000 square foot eco-landscaped urban garden as long as a city block, with a large lawn, collection of outdoor spaces, walking paths, water installation, wood deck promenade, outdoor fireplace, pet exercise area and terrace.

Other amenities include two private screening rooms, a dining room with terrace and kitchen, a library and great room opening to the large outdoor terrace and fireplace, plus a fitness center, spa and sun deck. Residents will have access to these flexible spaces for work and entertaining, and each building will have 24 hour concierge service.