In a Bellevue Downtown Association membership meeting this week, Tom Woodworth of Schnitzer West talked about how The Bravern became a reality over the years. Originally the site of The Bravern was planned to have 2 hotels and 3 offices buildings with retail space. In June 2004 this quickly changed to 4 office towers with retail space (which in retrospect may have been best, given our current economy).
Developer Schnitzer West began having conversations with certain retailers to gage their interest in coming to Bellevue at its future development. In meetings with luxury retailer Kate Spade, Schnitzer was told there was no way that the development would succeed. Kate Spade, which at the time was 51% owned by Neiman Marcus, helped branch the relationship for Schnitzer West and began the talks about having Neiman Marcus as the anchor tenant. This was the start to what would later be known as The Bravern. Schnitzer West was days away from breaking ground on the project that was focused on 4 office buildings when they received a letter of intent from Neiman Marcus to become the anchor tenant. This news would eventually sway the project to be redesigned and ultimately turn into what we now know as The Bravern with 2 office towers and 2 condominium towers. Mr. Woodworth joked during his speech that although 2 condominium towers seemed like a good idea at the time, the realities of the economy are much different now.
We all know how the story ends here with The Bravern opening only a couple of weeks ago. Mr. Woodworth was able to shed some new light on some of the highlights from the opening, which had not yet been publicly shared.
Highlights from opening week:
- About 5,000 people showed up for the Saturday 8am-10am pre-opening celebration (by 8:30am they had already run out of their 2,000 tote bags)
- 5,000 cars arrived by 5pm at the grand opening that Saturday
- Neiman Marcus Gala sold out and raised $90,000 that went to local charities: Hopelink, Overlake Hospital Medical Center, and PONCHO
- ALL retailers were 20% – 300% above their sales forecasts after the first week, and the average was 40%
- Jimmy Choo’s grand opening weekend at The Bravern in Bellevue broke a company record for a grand opening weekend, beating out even Madison Avenue in New York
Also interesting to note is that since opening there has been a lot of speculation about the fact that there is no coffee shop at The Bravern. Initially Dilettante Mocha Cafe was announced in November of 2008, but since there were complications with the deal, it was one of the only retailers not to occupy their shop. Mr. Woodworth stated that this is one of their biggest priorities, and they are urgently looking for a company to fill this void. He also mentioned that they have a couple of interested parties.
