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BELLEVUE, WASH. — Northwest developer Kemper Development Co. announced Monday plans for a $1.2 billion mixed-use expansion to its shopping and dining complex, The Bellevue Collection, in downtown Bellevue.
Plans for the project include 2 million square feet of additional retail, office, hotel and residential space covering more than a block of prime real estate at Northeast Fourth Street and Bellevue Way Northeast. Construction is expected to begin in early 2014 and wrap up by fall 2016.
Kemper Freeman, chairman and CEO of Kemper Development Co. is pitching the project in Las Vegas at a gathering of the International Council of Shopping Centers and says he is talking with lenders and expects to secure financing soon, according to the Seattle Times. Freeman also says he believes he can pre-lease much of the space during the next few months and has no plans to build on speculation.
Located 10 miles east from downtown Seattle, the regional shopping destination draws more than 22 million shoppers annually from a six-state region and Canada.
The Bellevue area is home to corporations such as Microsoft, Expedia and T-Moblie and boasts an average household income of $120,000.
Noting the area’s growing concentration of affluent shoppers, Kemper Freeman says that consumer demand for luxury brands has skyrocketed in recent years. “With the influx of high net-worth individuals and the area’s booming tech market, luxury retailers have been circling the Pacific Northwest region in search of high-profile locations for some time.”
In addition to more than 375,000 square feet of new retail, dining and entertainment space, The Bellevue Collection’s mixed-use expansion will feature 700,000 square feet of Class A office space and a 250-room luxury hotel. Plans also include an additional boutique hotel, approximately 500 high-end residential units and 3,700 freeparking spaces in two six-level underground parking garages.
“Bellevue and the entire Eastside community have come a long way since my father, Kemper Freeman Sr., first opened Bellevue Square more than 65 years ago, serving a sparse population of 25,000 residents,” says Freeman. Today, the 4 million-square-foot Bellevue Collection is home to more than 250 stores and restaurants, a 16-screen premier cinema, 1,100 luxury Westin and Hyatt Regency hotel rooms; 148 luxury condominiums and more than a million square feet of office space.
—Rachel Goff