Numerous downtown projects in the works

Originally published Saturday, December 13, 1997

By DEBERA CARLTON HARRELL
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Bellevue is still ripe for development.

In the works is a staggering array of projects for the downtown core: Nearly five times the amount of condo and apartment housing than existed six years ago; several new high-rise office buildings with public plazas; a three-story Galleria retail and entertainment/movie complex with 11 screens and adjoining open space; a new home for the Bellevue Art Museum; and more restaurants and night spots that stay open later for those in-city dwellers.

These follow the pedestrian concourse that now links Bellevue Square to nearby office buildings and the domed atrium Wintergarden that is home to events such as the Bellevue Philharmonic, plus a miniboom of restaurants, bars and a giant Barnes & Noble bookstore.

"It's an interesting time for downtown," says Dan Stroh, senior planner with the Bellevue Department of Planning and Community Development. "It's been part of the city's vision to have these things come together. And because we recently have reached a critical mass of attractions -- arts, shopping, the downtown park, restaurants, the library -- we're on the cusp of that happening. The hope is that all the new housing will produce a big sea change and make Bellevue a really vibrant place."

While some longtime residents grouse that Bellevue Square was "the beginning of the end" for small-town Bellevue, the classy shopping mall is arguably the shopping capital of the Northwest and one of the state's biggest tourist attractions during the holiday season.

City officials say the stream of scanned bar codes means a healthy economy, and more tax revenue for growing civic needs such as transportation, human services, parks and other amenities.

"Bellevue is starting to bring people together," says Stephanie Klappenbach, who lives and works in Bellevue.

"There's a lot more to Bellevue than the mall," says Klappenbach, co-owner of a commercial real estate firm. "It's a workplace now, an employment center. It's a wonderful place. I think Bellevue is just starting to wake up -- and more people are beginning to realize that."