New Marriott to serve Bellevue

Bellevue! Get ready for your second Marriott.

A developer and hotel operator is in advanced discussions with Marriott International, Inc. to brand the hotel a full-service Marriott Hotel.

HEI Hotels & Resorts, a rapidly growing hotel ownership and operating company, announced on August 28, 2007 that it is planning to acquire a one-acre site in Bellevue, Washington, for its development of a 378-room full service hotel right in our backyard. The company is currently undergoing final permitting and development planning and expects to open in 2010.

"Development is an important component of our growth strategy," said Steve Mendell, HEI's executive vice president of acquisitions and development. "Combing with our W Hotel and Residences in Hollywood, California, we are adding top-quality properties to our portfolio that will provide substantial value to our investors."

Located in the southeast quadrant of NE 110th and NE 3rd, the potential Marriott is placed in the heart of the rapidly expanding area. The planned 14-floor hotel would feature Marriott's new "Great Room", 13,000 square feet of meeting space, restaurant, fitness facility, indoor pool, and parking garage.

Marriott has already seen success in Bellevue. The Marriott Courtyard in downtown Bellevue met its financial goals within six months of opening.

RAG Now Open in Bellevue Place

Three hair stylists working together at Obadiah Salon a year ago sat down and shared a dream to open a high-end fashion forward clothing store. A year later Apryl McCarthy, Serenity Wallen, and Gabe Walton have achieved their dream.

They opened RAG, a much-needed men's clothing and high-end fashion boutique at Bellevue Place at the beginning of August. Bellevue Place is also where Obadiah Salon is located. Downtown Bellevue is now beginning to receive a reputation for being a well-respected shopping mecca, and RAG fits into this profile to a tee.

RAG is targeting male customers in their 20's - 60's. They are going for that customer who doesn't want to be like everyone else, "He wants to stand out in the boardroom." said Apryl. You will stand out in the boardroom wearing RAG's unique, sophisticated and elegant clothing.

Anything from T-Shirts, jeans, and suits are all featured in the store. A personal favorite was the high-end umbrella's they offer. This seems like a natural in Bellevue. Imagine being dressed up in your best suit with a chinsy $1.99 umbrella walking down Bellevue Way. Something doesn't seem right about that picture.

Get your wallet ready...the clothes aren't cheap. But you get what you pay for. The clothes, and service are of the utmost quality. And the best part is that you can just about bet that nobody else will be walking around Eastside with the same outfit, the clothes are imported from the east coast.

Go and check it out, the store is very inviting. The owners are very hands on and seem to genuinely be having a fun time with the store.

Vida Condos: Sustainable living comes to Bellevue

According to developers, what will be the most sustainable mixed use space in Bellevue is planning on opening in late 2009. Tonsing Properties LLC of San Francisco and ProNet Capital LLC of Denver bought the one acre site at 111th Avenue Northeast and Eighth Avenue Northeast for $10 million to build the Vida Condos. The 12-story, 242-unit condo tower will replace what is now small retail and some residential units.

Total development costs for the Vida project, which will also include 10,000 square feet of street-level retail space and four levels of underground parking, is $75 million, developers said.

Vida condo units will range in size from 400 square (about the size of nine ping pong tables) feet to 900 square feet, with the average size being 650 square feet. Prices will start at $275,000 for the smaller units, with the largest priced up to $800,000.

No stranger to living small, Raymond Tonsing, the CEO of Tonsing Properties LLC says he happily spend a recent summer living in a 325-square foot apartment in downtown Vancouver, BC.

So what does this mean? Do smaller units mean Bellevue is getting big? Is there really a market for what Tonsing is offering? Note, this is the same architectural team that created the Moda condo project in Seattle and it sold out in less than a week!

The Vue at Meydenbauer Bay Condos Grand Opening in September

The Vue at Meydenbauer Bay a, condo conversions project now has its Web Site up and running with floor plans available for public viewing. In a recent announcement The Vue stated that the units would be available for reservation at the end of September.

There has been much going on in the Main Street / Meydenbauer area recently including the City of Bellevue purchasing land, One Main Street condominium construction, Main Street construction, as well as other condominium conversions in the vicinity.

The Vue’s floor plans offer views overlooking Meydenbauer Bay right onto the water. The Vue at Meydenbauer’s address is 9951 Lake Washington Blvd NE. There is no shortage of condominium projects going up in the Downtown Bellevue area, but few to none will offer waterfront views such as The Vue.

Units will be priced from mid $400’s – mid $800’s. Square footage on particular units is not available on the Web Site, but the homes seem to offer quite spacious floor plans.

Floor Plan Images

President Was In and Out

Bush's visit to Bellevue on Monday brought demonstrators, road closures, and secret service snipers. Stuff the city isn't typically used to on a Monday afternoon.

A passionate, yet smaller than expected group of protesters petitioned the Bush administration outside of the Hyatt hotel. A day prior to Bush's arrival, lead protesters estimated that close to a 1,000 protesters would show up. The estimates were short by a mile. Only about 400 protesters showed up.

The President's time on the ground after arriving at Sea-Tac international airport was just over two hours. He gave a 23 minute speech to the people whom donated $1,000. And those to donate $10,000 were able to take a picture with the president as well.

Bellevue can now return to regularly scheduled business.

President Bush in Bellevue Monday *Update*

President Bush is scheduled to be campaigning in support of Congressman Dave Reichaert on Monday at the Downtown Bellevue Hyatt Regency.

The City of Bellevue is predicting massive traffic backups due to the presidential motorcade. Some streets and highways will be closed to the public. Much of the information for the Presidents trip including timeline of the event are being kept secret for security reasons.

Also expected to create ruckus are protests in Downtown Bellevue against the president and his presence in the area. All which should make for an interesting day for Downtown Bellevue on Monday.

The best advice the City of Bellevue has to offer for the event is, "Commuters are advised to 1.) be patient with delays, 2.) and as always, not call 911 unless there is an emergency"

My advice would be, if you're interested in being part of the "festivities" get to Downtown as early as possible, surely parking will be a nightmare (Hyatt underground Parking will be closed to the general public). And secondly, if the thought of traffic and chaos makes you cringe, stay as far away as possible from the Downtown area.

Are you excited for the President to be in town? Vote in our Poll.
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Seattle Times reported on Sunday that Bush will arrive at the Hyatt Regency at 4:25pm and will return to fly out early evening.

Before Bush's arrival about a dozen anti-war groups plan to gather and outside the Hyatt. Signs of these protest groups will read, "Bush You're Fired." The protest groups will be dressed in orange Guatanamo Bay jumpsuits with giant papier-mâché heads, which are supposed to resemble Bush and Cheney.

Organizers for the event speculate that as many as 1,000 protesters could show up.

New Look & Name

Yes, you are on the right site!

We have changed our look up a little bit to reflect the upscale and sophisticated nature of Bellevue. In addition to the look we are sporting a new name. We are still a Downtown Bellevue News Blog, but we thought "Downtown Bellevue Network" was more appropriate for some future projects we have in the works!

Enjoy!

Bellevue is Missing Artists

According to John Su, the owner of 989 Elements apartment tower, what Bellevue is missing are artists.

Su is engaging in a project called Open Satellite. It will allow artists to use a large open (what would've been retail space) space to create large-scale art in all mediums. The idea is it will allow for emerging and mid-career artists to have a place within the city to be inspired and create all types of art. Exhibitions will be staged quarterly.

The opening event will take place next week Wednesday August 29th from 5 - 8pm. The location's address is 989 112th ave NE Suite, 102.

The 23-story apartment tower opened last September, but has been slow to roll out retail in the bottom floors of the building. Recently it has been springing to life. Zen Asian Cuisine & Vertigo Lounge are two retail tenants which will be moving in within the coming weeks.

Picking up a Wendy's Double Stack?

If you are planning to visit the Wendy's in Downtown Bellevue from this point on... Driver Beware:

Bellevue Place construction, which is in beginning stages of building an additional 351 rooms to the Hyatt has taken over the Wendy's original entrance on Bellevue Way and most of their parking lot. The back entryway now becomes the sole entrance into Wendy's. Parking is also very limited, which has created some major bottlenecks pouring onto the streets during peak hours.

Wendy's is one of the few remaining fast food restaurants in Downtown Bellevue. Fast food chains are disappearing quickly so pick up a frosty, don't waste anytime or it will be gone before you know it.

Bellevue Towers to Release South Tower Inventory in September

With around 80% of the North Tower now sold in pre-sales at Bellevue Towers condominium project, some might be awaiting the release of the South Tower units to go on sale.

Well, wait no longer. September 21st represents the release of the these units. For those of you who waited too long, or couldn't find exactly the right unit in the North Tower, now is your opportunity to jump on this early. Bellevue Towers will not release all the North Towers inventory at once (like the South Tower), but in phases to avoid flooding the market with available units.

The South Tower will include the "5th Floor" and its amenities which include an outdoor fireplace, two screening rooms, a dining room with terrace and kitchen, a reading room, fitness center and spa, weight studio, cardio studio, whirlpool, cold-dip, sauna, steam room and terrace. All Bellevue Towers residences regardless of which tower they have purchased into will have access to these amenities.

The South Tower of Bellevue Towers will represent the tallest building in all of Downtown Bellevue with 43 floors. The North Tower comes in a close tie for second at 42 floors.

Bellevue Downtown Park needs to add Summer Movie Nights

Woodinville, Freemont, South Lake Union, and Carillon Point all host outdoor movie nights in local parks throughout the summer. Bellevue Downtown Park seems like a perfect candidate for a summer series of movie nights.

After viewing the type of turn out that the 4th of July had this year at Bellevue Downtown Park, it is clear that Bellevue residents are in desperate desire of fun community activities in their backyard.

The typical "model" of these outdoor cinemas includes a $5 entry fee, some festivities such as food and entertainment before dusk, and then for the main event is a classic movie projected on a large screen when dark. The most desirable part of this type of event is bringing blankets, chairs and making yourself comfortable while watching the movie outdoors.

One of the roadblocks I have heard to this concept at Bellevue Downtown Park is that there is not enough parking to accommodate everybody. Events such as the 4th of July held at Bellevue Downtown Park have parking available at Bellevue Square (across the street) because the mall is closed on holidays, which leaves ample parking.

The movie must wait until dusk to play, which allows for a late start time around 9pm. The mall closes at 9:30pm, and mall traffic dies down substantially after 8pm. Although there would be some time overlap to people attending the movie, and guests going to the mall there seems to be a possible arrangement that could be made between the two. With the residential construction projects going up in the area many residents will be walking to the event in coming years.

This big and beautiful park needs to be taken more advantage of during Bellevue's somewhat sunny summers. I propose Bellevue look into hosting movie nights next summer at Bellevue Downtown Park. Would you go to an outdoor movie night at Bellevue Downtown Park? Vote in our poll!

Main Street in Old Bellevue Closed this Week *Update*

Puget Sound Energy workers will close sections of Main Street throughout a 10-day period to install new natural-gas pipeline. The work will begin Monday August 20th and be complete by Thursday August 30th.

The roads will be closed 7 days a week from 7am - 7pm, but will be open during non-working hours.

The City of Bellevue's site shows the following closures:

• Phase 1: Main Street will be closed between 101st and 102nd avenues Northeast (101st and 102nd will remain open) for an estimated two days.
• Phase 2: Main Street will be closed between 101st and 103rd avenues Northeast (101st and 103rd will remain open) for an estimated four days. 102nd Avenue Northeast will be closed at Main Street, but the closure should not last the entire duration of this phase.
• Phase 3: Main Street’s eastbound lane will be closed between 100th and 101st avenues Northeast for an estimated four days. Traffic will be allowed only in the westbound direction.

Something interesting to note is that the stated reasoning for the construction and improvements is so the pipes "can handle the increased capacity needed for a nearby 10-story condominium now under construction."
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*Update*
It is verified that the "10-story condominium" project in which the construction for the improvement in pipes is for "One Main" condos on Main Street.

Yahoo Coming to Downtown Bellevue?

According to Brier Dudley a reporter for the Seattle Times he says he has been "tipped off" that Yahoo is looking to open a office in Downtown Bellevue. The office space they are supposedly looking to occupy would be around 120,000 square feet. In comparison, Expedia will be leasing 348,000 square feet of office space from Tower 333 for all their employees.

When contacted, a Yahoo representative replied to the rumors to expand to Bellevue by stating, "We're always looking to diversify our real-estate portfolio and we want to be where the most talented people are." but didn't give any future clues to actual plans.

Well if Yahoo and truly wanted to diversify, and wanted talented people, the Seattle area seems like a great choice for expansion. (We already know there are great people here!)

If Yahoo decides to occupy a Downtown Bellevue location it would allow for all the major "Search Engine" players (Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo) to be within miles of each other. Yahoo's headquarters are, and would remain in Silicon Valley but would now occupy an additional office in Bellevue.

Where are some possibilities for Yahoo to occupy? Did somebody say the new City Center building???

5 Reasons Bellevue is better than Seattle

Thanks for the great introduction Michael! It's true we are growing and my name is Vikrant (rhymes with croissant). Feel free to call me Vik. I'm hoping that my weekly column (still to be given a formal title) is enjoyable. It wasn't difficult to come up with an idea for my first piece. With all of Michael's amazing adventures and pictures on the site, my first inkling was to write about why! It just seems natural that we begin to substantiate some of our claims.

So here we go...five reasons Bellevue is better than Seattle. I dare you to knock any of these down!

• Better pedestrian experience. This is probably the most important. If you can't enjoy walking around your city, why bother living in it? Granted it's a bit tough in areas where there is construction, but it's pretty smooth otherwise. Getting from one part of downtown to the other is pretty simple. The downtown area isn't all that big in its current state and you really don't have to walk far from anywhere you park to get around.
  

• 24 Companies are Headquartered in Bellevue. Need a list? Here's some great news...most of them are hiring!
  
• 5th Cell
• ArenaNet
• Bellevue Nursery (been in Bellevue for 50 years)
• Bocada
  
• Brio Realty
• Centeris
• Coinstar
• Drugstore.com
• Eddie Bauer
• Microsoft's North American Sales Headquarters
• Expedia, Inc.
• The Generations Network
• InfoSpace
• Paccar
• ShareBuilder
• Symetra
• T-Mobile
• Uievolution
• Valve Corporation
• WizKids
• Print Inc.
• Talyst
• QFC
• Zango

• In 2006 Money Magazine Ranked Bellevue, Washington to the Top 25 Places to Live. Here's the link, I don't think I need to comment on this one. Oh, by the way...I didn't see Seattle on that list...oh, wait..I found it. It's not ranked!
  

• Kemper Freeman, Jr. is making it happen. What isn't he involved in around town? The boy just owns this town. Keep it up Kemper!
  

• Greater increase in property values over Seattle. Anyone who's been reading the local Seattle Times over the last couple years has seen it over and over in the Sunday Editiona. The eastside continues to have increases in property values over Seattle.

So there we have it. Five reasons why Bellevue is a better city than Seattle. But hold up. Before everyone starts to point out what the city doesn't have, let me remind you...we're in the middle of an extreme makeover. The amazing thing is that we have an opportunity to put in to the city what we want. So, what do you want to see in downtown Bellevue? I guarantee you city officials are taking notes...

Make it happen!

We're Growing!

This site started a couple months ago with the idea that their was a lack of community knowledge in what was going on in the Downtown Bellevue area. I wanted to open up a forum where I could express my knowledge of the area, and learn more about other areas in which I had gaps!

A couple of months later now, the site has quite a loyal following!

My name is Michael, and I have lived in Bellevue my whole life. I am a big supporter and believer in what Bellevue is, and what it will become. You will not find somebody more passionate about Bellevue and what it represents. This is a very exciting time in our city's history, and it needs to be documented, and discussed!

Today is especially exciting for the site, because we are bringing a new "Thought provoker", "Writer", and "Brain" to the team. His name is Vikrant, and he has a strong knowledge of our great city and understanding for in-building technologies and construction.

We have some exciting things planned for the future, and have been brainstorming new ways to bring the site to the next level. Don't expect anything in the immediate future...but just know we have our thinking caps on!

Have ideas for the site? Shoot us an email, nothing is out of the question right now. I hope your enjoying the site.

-Michael

Washington Square Drive By

A trip to Washington Square brought to my attention a "Washington Square Car". The car is a Cadillac DTS, with decals on the sides and back of the car with Washington Square logos.

The second I saw this, I immediately chuckled. Folks, this is Downtown Bellevue not New York City. This is not a ritzy city, but a ultra high luxury city. Last time I checked, people have a fairly easy time getting around downtown area, and don't need chauffeurs (yet). The car I'm sure is intended to shuttle around prospective guests, and give tours of the city.

If Bellevue were a car, it would surely not be a Cadillac. Bellevue aligns more with the likes of a Lexus. Bellevue is smart and sophisticated, and a Cadillac is simple and ordinary. Clientèle interested in living in a vibrant, up and coming, technology driven region in condos such as Washington Square aren't impressed being driven around in a town car, especially a Cadillac.

Washington Square Town Car Photos

Harry Potter Fans Pour into Lincoln Square Cinemas

Lincoln Square Cinemas is the 9th highest grossing movie theater out of 5,500 theaters nationwide for the most current Harry Potter movie.

Just in case you were wondering I did the math for you...Lincoln Square Cinemas ranks in the top one percentile of the theaters in the nation for the newly released Harry Potter Movie!

"Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix" is the 34th highest grossing film of all time in the USA, so far raking in a total of $272,047,388 as of August 12th.

Two Lincoln Tower Being Planned?

Final plans have been unknown for what exactly the fate is for the current Safeway location on Bellevue Way. The Safeway will be moving across the street to join the retail space underneath the Avalon-Meydenbauer apartment complex when complete.

Monday afternoon it become clear that Kemper Development Company (the property owner) is actively making strides in researching the location's environment. A Holocene Drilling truck was present and drilling a hole into the ground taking what seemed to be a core sample of the earth below.

The rumor until now is that a condominiums will take over the outdated location of the Safeway. The area is prime real estate, which is across the way from Bellevue Square, and next door to the Bellevue Arts Museum and One Lincoln Tower.

Bellevue "Great Streets" Project Workshops

Do you care about the look and feel of the streets in Bellevue?

The City of Bellevue is holding an open forum inviting the community to help advise and assist in the "Great Streets" project. The meetings at Bellevue City Hall will allow the members of the community to review the design concepts and give feedback.

The "Great Streets" project, according to the City of Bellevue promises to:

Develop conceptual design plans for five key street corridors

Create a toolkit of design options for use along other streets in downtown

Revise the street tree and landscape standards for downtown

Identify opportunities to integrate public art into the downtown street corridors

There will be two meetings. The August 15th workshop will focus on Bellevue Way, NE 4th, and NE 8th st corridors. The August 29th workshop will focus on 106th & 108th Ave corridors.

Both meetings will take place at Bellevue City Hall (450 110th Ave NE) 5:30pm-7:00pm. To find out more about the "Great Streets" project and the upcoming workshops visit the City of Bellevue website.

Eastside housing prices continue to grow, despite national trend

Housing areas in most parts of King County were up year over year for the month of July. The most impressive numbers came out of the Eastside, where the median price for a house was up 10.4% according to the Northwest Multiple Listing Service. Also up were the amounts of closed sales at 837, or up 8%.

These statistics include town homes, but do not include condominium sales. The condominium market is currently in flux on paper because of the many people who've purchased pre-sales in the condo market.

A Seattle Times article suggests reasons why even with increasing housing inventory the prices continue to rise in value. The amount of King County houses & condominiums on the market grew 51% this July compared to last year, yet hasn't negatively effected pricing.

Bellevue and the whole Eastside continues to live inside of a healthy ecosystem, while some areas within the country are experiencing major losses in the real estate market.

Image Courtesy of The Seattle Times

Recent Downtown Bellevue Photography

Sometimes pictures can say so much more than words...


















More DowntownBellevue.net Photography at Flickr

Bellevue prepares to Buy 1.5 acres on Meydenbauer Bay

A deal allowing the city of Bellevue to purchase 1.5 acres of land on Meydenbauer Bay was approved by the City Council Monday night. The deal for $9.5 million will allow for a larger waterfront park, with a better pedestrian connection to the bay from the downtown and more industrial area.

With the city purchasing the property and creating a park it will allow for the community to be invited to enjoy the waterfront property. Currently private residences occupy most of the waterfront property in Bellevue.

The land, which was purchased, is currently owned by Bay Vue Village Apartments, a 51-unit complex and located just about a block away from Bellevue Downtown Park.

Details for expanding the park according to the Seattle Times should be complete by next summer.

Image courtesy of The Seattle Times

President Bush Will Visit Downtown Bellevue

President George W. Bush will attend a fundraiser in Downtown Bellevue for Dave Reichert's 2008 re-election campaign on August 27th later this month.

The Seattle PI reports that there will be a $10,000-per-person "VIP reception" and $1,000 general reception at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Bellevue.

Not much more detail into the event of President Bush's whereabouts will be detailed until the event is closer.

Performing Arts Center Eastside Officially Approved

The Performing Arts Center Eastside (PACE) project will break ground in 2008, and is scheduled to open in 2010. The final design and proposal were officially approved. The original proposal was for $100 million, and now with upgrades has jumped to $160 million.

The 2,000-seat venue has the mission to, "Enrich Eastside cultural life with a wide diversity of live entrainment, arts, and education." PACE promises to bring nationally and internationally acclaimed performances to Bellevue.

PACE when complete will be located in the midst of Downtown Bellevue at the corner of NE 10th St and 106th Ave NE.

Images Source Performing Arts Center Eastside

Prime Location at Lincoln Square

All of Lincoln Square's retail spaces are either filled or accounted for, with the exception of one prime spot. The empty location is located on the ground floor facing Bellevue Way.

The space played host to the first annual Bellevue Collection Fashion Week last year, and will be expected to host the event again this September.

Will this empty space be used specifically for events in the future or will it gain a permanent tenant?

Lexus of Bellevue Grand Opening Party

Lexus of Bellevue's new facility officially opened their doors Thursday evening with their grand opening party. The new Lexus dealership, which lies at Main Street and 116th Ave, threw a party in true Lexus fashion. The 275,000-square-foot dealership was morphed into a top-notch catered function.

The event was expected to host 4,000 people, which the venue held with grace. The party played host to many amenities including live music, El Gaucho and Sea Star catered food, cocktails, and an exciting raffle. The raffle, which included many exciting gifts such as shopping sprees, art, and dinner packages, was surely outdone by the Lexus ES350 (sticker priced at $44,000) that was raffled off at the end of the night. The money raised from the party's raffle will benefit the Overlake Service League.

This "who's who" Bellevue event with guests such as former Bellevue Mayor, and ex Mariners stars, spanned almost five hours and was topped off with a fireworks display. Applause to O'Brien (owner) and his team for putting on a truly spectacular Bellevue event that surely will not be forgotten.

Bellevue Galleria to Add a floor, Eliminate Movie Theatre, and Add Office Space

Cushman & Wakefield, the representing real estate company for the Bellevue Galleria, has posted marketing material with some major implications. The first thing to jump off the page at you will be what looks like the elimination of the Bellevue Galleria's movie theater. Secondly the addition of a fourth level appears to be in the plans as well. It is unclear if the Galleria will be built higher, or if the ceilings on the third floor currently are high enough to accommodate another level. Regardless, the fourth level's ceiling will possess a skylight allowing in the daylight.

The site at 106th Ave NE calls for "126,284 RSF Available of Quality Office Space". Those of you who were looking for some great new retail tenants will be disappointed to find out that the fate of Bellevue Galleria's top three floors will most likely end up converted to office space. The plans for the building show that the exterior will acquire new glass windows on areas in which will be converted to office space.

When taking a look at the plans for the makeover it appears that Yama, a restaurant, which opened recently in December 2006, does not exist in the future plans of the Galleria.

All retail on the ground floor seems to have stayed untouched. L.A. Fitness, though occupying portions of floors 1, 2, and 3 appears to also remain untouched.

This will be quite a change for the Bellevue Galleria, which originally opened with a vision of being Downtown Bellevue's go to area for nightlife. It seems the owners of the Galleria might have been awaiting leases to expire to continue on with their grand scheme of transitioning a portion of the building to office space. This would explain many of the empty retail spaces in the recent months.

Open Vacancy in Bellevue Place, Now Occupied

Opening later in August RAG, a much needed men's high fashion clothing shop will open in Bellevue Place. The store will occupy retail space in the Hyatt's luxurious lobby on the first floor.

The amenities expected inside include a shoeshine chair, pool table, and a big screen television.

The boutique will hold a private event on August 11th, and open for business shortly after.

RAG will carry high fashion items ranging from jeans to suits. The Bellevue Collection is filled with various boutiques for women specializing in fashionable clothing. This new unique boutique should help fill the gap for men shopping in Bellevue.