The plans for a 36-acre “urban village” in Bellevue’s Bel-Red Corridor were reported yesterday in The Seattle Times. The proposed project would consist of 800 apartments, retail space, acres of open recreational space, and over 3 million square feet of office space.
The “urban village” will be built in an area now being familiarized as the “Spring District,” which is currently an aging Safeway distribution plant that was purchased for $68 million in May by Wright Runstad and San Francisco’s Shorenstein.
Although this project doesn’t fall into the Downtown Bellevue boundaries, in the future we could see the Downtown area naturally expand into the Bel-Red Corridor. Nevertheless, it would be a nice compliment to the Downtown area.
The project anticipates 16 acres of open space, roads and trails, a soccer field, a health club and high-capacity transit station.
The construction for this project could start as early as in 2009, and finish up in 2010.
Image courtesy of The Seattle Times
I would much rather they wait to do this until DT Bellevue is better flushed out, there are still plenty of lots that could be re-developed.
Arresting the traffic congestion in and around Bellevue will be key to the successful expansion and development of the city. The current urban village plan sounds interesting – hoping it works well for the city and its residents.