On Tuesday, the Bellevue City Council approved the Bel-Red development plan. The re-zoning plan is made up of over 900 acres of industrial and commercial property. This plan, which has been worked on for over 3 years, has the expansion centered on Bellevue’s Light Rail, which was approved in November.
The old industrial and commercial property is intended to become new office, retail and residential space. Many might be familiar with the location of Safeway’s distribution center, which is one of the areas this project intends to occupy.
Although this area certainly isn’t considered a part of “Downtown Bellevue,” it will surely be a natural area of expansion when the downtown core reaches capacity. Although the economy is currently on a down swing, this project has a much longer lifespan and will outlive any current up or down trend in the economy.
- New parks, trails and bike paths to enhance neighborhoods and better connect them to other parts of the city
- The day lighting of six streams to benefit salmon and other aquatic life
- Increased open space
- More affordable housing, with specific targets to serve low- and moderate-income households
- New office and commercial space blended with residential development, including up to 10,000 new jobs and 5,000 new housing units organized around high-capacity transit stations by 2030.
Bel-red would be a perfect place for dense affordable townhomes, we desperately need lower income people to not have to drive from maple valley or tukwila to get to Belleuve.
Done correctly this would be a huge asset to belleuve, done incorrectly it would undercut downtown.