Today an article entitled “The Cranes are Back, and So Are the Tenants” concerning downtown Bellevue was featured in The New York Times real estate section. The story begins by referencing the dot com bust and how Bellevue’s vacancy rate was at a high of 28% six years ago.
Unbelievable what a few years can do for a city. Bellevue’s vacancy rate is now at 4.5%, which is the lowest it has been since 2000, when the area was flourishing from the dot com boom. (Seattle’s vacancy rate is 9.3%)
Article Highlights about Bellevue:
- 2.2 Million square feet of office space are under construction.
- 2,500 Apartments / Condominiums are under construction.
- Bravern will have 1.6 million square feet for a mixed used complex, which will also include 450 condominiums.
- $2.6 Billion this year in real estate transactions versus $34 six years ago.
- This year the average square foot in Bellevue is priced at $376, compared to $146 in 2001. (Seattle is currently $364 a square foot.)
- Median Household income for “the area of King County east of Lake Washington” where Bellevue is located is $82,228, compared to Seattle which is $57,378.
- Bellevue is planning to build midblock crosswalks.
- Bellevue plans to provide a free bus service in the downtown area.
It is impressive to see that Bellevue is getting press for how quickly it is growing all the way across the country in New York. It conveys how significant the growth in the downtown Bellevue area truly is.
I wasn’t aware of a free bus service. I think a loop around downtown that serves the core, the mall, downtown park, home depot/bestbuy and whole foods would be great.
My guess is that the bus service will only be in the downtown areas, but maybe overtime will extend to the areas like home depot & bestbuy.
Successfully turning and transforming the once well known Seattle culture of “Scando-Japanese reserve” in to some yuppie million dollar condo tower dotted cultureless urban area with no identity. In-filled with ex Californians and foreign investors.
I tend to disagree. I believe Bellevue will retain its culture throughout its transformation into a much larger city.
I have been living in Bellevue since 1996. Everything got a facelift.