After 36 years Dick’s Drive-In has announced that the company will open a 6th location somewhere in the greater Seattle area.
The local fast food hamburger company has posted a list of locations that it is choosing between:
- North (Shoreline, Mountlake Terrace, Lynnwood, Edmonds, South Everett)
- South (West Seattle, South Seattle, Renton, Burien, SeaTac, Tukwila)
- East (Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland, Bothell, Mercer Island, Issaquah, Sammamish)
To add your vote for Bellevue go to the Dick’s Drive-in website and select ‘Eastside’ as your preferred location. This would not be the first time that Dick’s had a drive-in located in Bellevue. The original Dick’s Bellevue restaurant closed in 1970’s.
What’s the best location for a Dick’s Drive-in in Bellevue?
The best location I can think of would be on the former KFC/Taco Bell site at the corner of Bellevue Way and Main. As far as I know the condo development that was planned there got cancelled, and Dick’s seems like it would be a good fit for a place like Old Bellevue.
One of the underutilized lots near or around QFC. The KFC site would be great but the planned project is just stalled. The zoning on the site will eventually allow something to be built whether by the current owner or someone else.
I agree with JS, the QFC lot will be there for a while and you can still get a lot of traffic from the hotels and mall shoppers. Is there still that old Verizon Wireless building just south of NE 4th off Bellevue Way open or did Mod Pizza take that building down? But other than that, there are really not a lot of places that would make sense for Dicks to move to in Downtown Bellevue… Downtown Kirkland has way more options.
Dick’s Drive-In used to be in Bellevue a long time ago where the Sherwin Williams Piano Store(?) is now, next to Aqua Quip on Bellevue Way. Maybe it should be part of the Hanover Project that would be where the old Cadillac dealership is. I also like the idea of the PDC/QFC parcel. If it’s going to do REALLY well stick it down by Old Main by Bellevue High School. First, we need to get our voting numbers up online!
Dicks would be more accessible in Downtown Bellevue than it would be in Downtown Kirkland, IMO. Its very crowded with small streets and would have a hard time accommodating the large volume of customers
My Bellevue picks:
1. Where KFC used to be. (Old Main)
2. In the same complex where Pogacha was in the past (west of current Rite Aid on 106th
3. In the business complex that has Panera bread.
4. Old Cadillac dealership
Let’s do this!!
The old Storables location is a possible option as well that has a good amount of parking space.
They’ll be in West Seattle or Kirkland before even blinking an eye at Bellevue. Dick’s is all about late-night, which Bellevue has none of.
It’s the chicken or the egg issue here…
If you go to Jack in the Box after 11pm in Downtown Bellevue it’s PACKED, and anybody that’s been there then will testify to this. It’s one of the only places that’s open this late for food. I think there is room for more.
Have you been to DT Bellevue, West Seattle, and Kirkland past 12am? Three years ago I wouldn’t disagree with the Kirkland comment but not anymore. And the West Seattle comment confused me, am I missing something?
Lack of late-night dining on the Eastside (besides the usual chains) is a longstanding pet peeve of mine. I guess there’s one or two places in downtown Kirkland these days and Burgermaster stays open until 1 on weekends (11 on weekdays,) but beyond that there’s basically nothing. I guess a few of the Bellevue Collection places stay open a bit later, but they’re generally not the type of place you’d go for a quick bite.
I was talking about the lack of late night bars. West Seattle and Kirkland have FAR more people in the area past midnight than Bellevue ever will. Bellevue is a happy hour circuit at best. No bars, no small concert venue’s, no late night.
+1 Karl. Don’t really see Dick’s fitting in around here (but I’m happy to be wrong)
Karl: West Seattle and Kirkland have FAR more people in the area past midnight than Bellevue EVER will.
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Karl, I don’t know how old are you, but “forever” is difficult to predict.
I won’t be surprised, and I still constantly hear from Seattle snobs, that Bellevue will NEVER succeed as an alternative downtown.
And now years later I think Bellevue is doing just fine, and is going to do better when SR520 starts to toll and the Performing Arts Center finally gets built.
Coming back to the location discussion, Main St seems a little narrow for Dick’s, they probably have some fancy apartment or condo planned there anyway.
I’d love if they have one around QFC or the old Storables location.
I think the lot where Sea Garden used to reside would be perfect. Perfectly positioned between the mall, Main Streetand the bus depot. Also VERY closse to my office. Hello onion rings.
I think it will do okay at first in the DT Bellevue area, but then start to become a problem with drunken high school kids, fights and trash out the “clean” City appearance. Not exactly what Bellevue PD will want to spend their evenings monitoring. Until then it’s Jack in the Box, Wendy’s and Safeway for a quick bite.
Man, judging by the poll on the Dick’s website, doesn’t look like Bellevue, Kirkland or anywhere on the Eastside is getting it, we counted for 2% of the votes LOL
There’s something fishy going on with the voting. There were 4x that many votes for Eastside yesterday!
Hey I want them here as much as the next guy. I just don’t see Bellevue as an lively downtown area where people are spending their entertainment time, aside from dinner and a movie. I suppose some may enjoy the cleanliness and (gasp) sterility that come with the image Bellevue is holding onto, but a place like Dick’s needs a late night crowd as well as a space for loiterers. That’s simply not going to fly well with the brass.
Karl: You’re wrong wrong wrong.
Gtl: something is VERY fishy- West seattle area had 21k votes this morning, and now only 16k+… curious.
First rule of debate is to explain yourself, not just say someone is wrong and you’re right.
First off, I think we are all forgetting that it is NOTHING MORE THAN A GOOD FAST FOOD RESTAURANT. No matter what type of restaurant moves into a city, its highly unlikely that a negative crowd of people will automatically be attracted to hang out in the surrounding area.
Clearly Bellevue already has a reputation of being “cleaner” and “more upscale” by the surrounding communities. Due to this I don’t think the average homeless bum who smokes meth daily is going to hang out here just because there is a Dicks that moved in.
BRING DICK’S TO BELLEVUE. It will be good for us 🙂
I’m confused. The JC Penney at Bellevue Square isn’t upscale enough(https://downtownbellevue.com/2009/11/11/bellevue%e2%80%99s-wish-list%e2%80%a6/) for Bellevue but Dick’s would be welcome?
The community is full of snobs who advocate pushing out fast food chains. No way those snobs would want someplace like Dick’s that would bring late night crowds and noise.
Besides, it won’t fit in any of the dozens of empty lower level commercial spaces in our bevy of 25% occupied mixed-use complexes.
This ISN’T Seattle…let’s keep it that way.
RL, I don’t know which Bellevue community are you talking about… judged by the number of comments people have posted here, looks like people are very excited about this possibility.
I would absolutely welcome Dick’s but as someone said above, it’s just a freaking burger chain. If they go somewhere else, so be it.
People who started associating a fastfood restaurant and “Bellevue vs. Seattle” clealy has some mental issues.
Bellevue, or even the Eastside for that matter, will never get a fair chance of getting a Dick’s. Even though people on the Eastside love Dick’s just as much as people in the Seattle area, the Eastsiders are not as informed about the survey, and as such, will not participate. I really hope they see through the survey and put one on the Eastside but I’m not going to hold my breath.