According to city permits West Elm and Robbins Brothers will be opening at the project formally known as the Main Street Gateway, now Venn at Main, an apartment building in Bellevue with retail at the base.
This would be West Elm’s first Bellevue location with the closest location in South Lake Union. Robbins Brothers Engagement store currently has a location at NE 2nd St in downtown Bellevue, but their site is the future location of a condominium building.
Venn at Main is located at 10360 Main Street on the corner of Bellevue Way and Main Street. According to the developer’s website the project will have 350 residential apartments, 21,000 square feet of retail space, 5,000 square feet of restaurant space, and parking for 600.
To learn more about the apartments visit the Venn at Main website.
6/23 UPDATE:Representatives for the Venn at Main have confirmed that Williams Sonoma (the parent company of West Elm) will not be moving into Venn at Main. One of the permits on file is in the name of Williams Sonoma, which originally caused confusion for which tenants would be occupying the building. Additionally Kemper Development Co. has confirmed that Williams Sonoma will be staying at Bellevue Square.
Excited for Williams Sonoma and West Elm, but seriously Bellevue, another jewelry store?! Right across from the one that just opened?! Way too many jewelry stores as it is!! 🙁
@breadicus, Robbins is simply moving locations. It’s not a net new to the total jewelry shops.
I hate to sound cliche… but the Main St has been ruined.
They really screwed up the redevelopment on that one, nothing is left, old buildings are torn down, replaced by two tacky and cheap apartment-quality buildings.
The old buildings torn down weren’t worth keeping. Did the 7-11 provide charm? The old gas station being used as a haircut place?
The buildings should have been built 3-4 stories taller, but what’s there now is definitely an improvement.
@Anona Just the fact that the new buildings are bright and shiny don’t mean they are good for the “feel” of the Old Bellevue.
Main St was called “Old” Bellevue for a reason.
And your suggestion for the buildings to get 3-4 stories higher next to such a narrow street shows that you probably want another mini-Manhattan in Old Bellevue, which is a ridiculous idea.
@Kevin – How do you know the new buildings are cheap quality? They look pretty damn nice to me and are a huge improvement over what they replaced.
Just because something is old doesn’t make it better. The buildings that went down were eyesores and provided nothing of value to Old Bellevue.
There was a little bit of small business that one could argue was displaced, but it wasn’t necessarily right for the area. There was an odds-and-ends decor shop that seemed nice, Jarbo which has relocated in the area, and a pizza truck on the south side. The rest was empty buildings and parking lot. On the north side it was a bar and a 7-Eleven which has relocated nearby? These were not integral to the character of “Old Main”, and the majority of the SF was parking lot or unused empty buildings. I would have designed the two apartment complexes differently but overall it’s a win. There’s been some changeover in the neighborhood too which I don’t think you can argue is the fault of the buildings (Mexican Place => Araya’s, for example).
@Kevin – how in the world is a group of 7-9 story buildings a “mini-Manhattan”? You do realize that Manhattan is full of 50+ story buildings, no? 7-9 story buildings along Main St would be building a “mini-Paris” if anything, and that would be great, IMO.
Eye test reveals those are cheap build quality buildings on either corner. I asked a construction worker who was a mngr on the north side blding – he confirmed they were of cheaper quality. Walk into the bakery there – zero character. Jewelry stores as your primary tenets is awful – right on the corner? Have a cafe restaurant w outdoor seating.
The Venn at Main has ridiculous leasing prices. Those prices are just crazy. It’s nice to have something better on that corner after it looked so run down for a long time, and the sidewalk area is much nicer to walk on. You don’t feel like you are going to get run over by cars now when walking down that side of the street.
I have to agree with the look of the building. On the Main street side, it is very nice looking. On the front and back side however, that is definitely not very appealing looking. Why would they spend all this money to make the corner area look more appealing, and in turn make it less appealing. It looks nothing like the photos. The colors are absolutely gross.