A deal allowing the city of Bellevue to purchase 1.5 acres of land on Meydenbauer Bay was approved by the City Council Monday night. The deal for $9.5 million will allow for a larger waterfront park, with a better pedestrian connection to the bay from the downtown and more industrial area.
With the city purchasing the property and creating a park it will allow for the community to be invited to enjoy the waterfront property. Currently private residences occupy most of the waterfront property in Bellevue.
The land, which was purchased, is currently owned by Bay Vue Village Apartments, a 51-unit complex and located just about a block away from Bellevue Downtown Park.
Details for expanding the park according to the Seattle Times should be complete by next summer.
Image courtesy of The Seattle Times
I live in this zone and am pissed! The city of bellevue with their investigation of how to plan the park is also doing economic impact studies of what would happen with changing the zoning in this block to mixed use, and possibly raising the height limit up to 11 stories. We have enough towers in the Core, we don’t need any in this quiet residential hood.
City Planners take note: make people park at the downtown park, or at the marina parking lot. The best route would be to have people walk through Main St. to the new park, that would increase foot traffic, and make a lively feeling main street.
sweet!! As often as I go to bellevue’s downtown, I NEVER knew it was so close to the waterfront…I never even knew about the downtown park till just recently. The first comment sounds like a typical NIMBY who doesn’t understand the “bigger picture”. Bellevue’s growing up. Move to Mercer Island or go with the flow.
Bellevue is blessed with having water so close to it…It’s great it will be shared with the masses! (AKA the rest of us that can’t afford the waterfront properties)
This is great for Bellevue. And what’s good for Bellevue is good for the Eastside. Eastsiiiide!
I think this is on balance a good idea and great expansion but lots of questions. First, when is the city going to evict the tenants and will there be cries of ‘affordable’ housing? If this was Burien or Seattle there would be howls. Second, it looks like the city has been assembling property for a while but they haven’t moved on making any changes yet. What is the schedule?
the schedule seems very slow, I have not heard anything about a date to start demolishing those homes. You are right about the affordable housing, those apartments were “cheap” compared to all the high end lux going in this area. a block away from this new park a crappy apartment complex is being gutted and converted to condos, they used to be one of the cheapest places around.
I like the area being gentrified but there has to be some kind of balance, we don’t only rich elderly people in the City!
This whole issue is just like them wanting to make Bellevue more bike friendly. They should have thought of that back in the 50’s! Now we have huge car lanes with no bike lanes downtown, and they are trying to buy back land for millions they could have bought for a song before. I guess the only good news is that nowadays the city is being more proactive about planning.
They want Bellevue to reconnect with the water, which is funny because back in the day there was a ferry that came over from Seattle and dropped people off at the bottom on 100th, and they walked up Main for all the shopping picnicking.
LOL to the NIMBY comment above, NIMBY’s are everyone else but you right? You would want an 11 story Hotel built next door to you in your quiet low rise neighborhood right? I agree NIMBY’s are annoying, but come on have some sympathy. “Bellevue is growing up” does not mean we need 11 story hotel mixed use buildings in an entirely residential neighborhood.
To the nimby post above, what 11 story high rise are you talking about? The city is turning this land into a waterfront park, not selling it off to developers to build towers.
Look at : http://www.bellevuewa.gov/pdf/Parks/
packet_meydenbauer_steering
_7-19-07_5.pdf
On page 7 they are doing an economic impact study of varying heights of buildings, up to 11 stories. This is more of a zoning change study, tossed into a park study so us NIMBYS don’t freak out and protest. Smooth move!
Some of my neighbors have been going to the city meetings, and they are tossing around all kinds of grandiose plans. If they were just planning the park I would be very happy, but the possible rezoning and increase in traffic is not so nice.
I would be very interested in any more news about this park, I heard that it may not be fully done for 20 years! Why don’t they get bulldozing now? In the few years we will have many more people downtown that could enjoy a large park on the water.