Thank You & Happy New Year!

We wanted to thank you, our readers for a great 2007. The Downtown Bellevue Network is growing in readership daily, and shows no sign of slowing.

Thank you to all the individuals and companies that have helped with our growth this year. We look forward to serving you up some great news, resources, and fun in 2008.

Have a happy, memorable and safe New Years, we'll be back in 2008!

Attempted Downtown Bellevue Bank Robbery

Curious what all the police cars were up to at the Washington Mutual in Downtown Bellevue at Northeast Eighth Street and 108th Street NE Monday afternoon?

According to Bellevue police at 12:23pm December 31st, a 23-year-old man was leaving the bank when an off duty police officer was driving by and saw the suspected bank robber walking out of the bank as a dye pack exploded which was placed with the stolen money. The dye is used by the bank for security reasons.

The robber, who drove a silver BMW, was arrested on sight. The $1,500 stolen from the bank was fully recovered.
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Update
A local videographer, Travis has captured the aftermath of the robbery on video.

New Years in Downtown Bellevue

Ring in the New Year in style this holiday season. Check out some of Bellevue's finest spots, and the parties they'll be throwing December 31st for New Year's Eve:

Parlor Billards & Spirits
DJ Entertainment, Billard Trick Shots, Shadow Dancers, Prize giveaways every 30 minutes, New Year party favors.
Tickets - $50 per person ($89 per couple)

Hyatt Recency - Cjazz Lounge
Live entertainment (by the Beatniks) and dancing in the Hyatt Grand Ballroom. Saxophonist Darren Motamedy & Trio will be playing in the Regency Ballroom. Included also is a champagne toast at midnight, appetizers, and two drink tickets.
Tickets - $99

520 Bar & Grill
9pm - 1am 3 drink tickets, DJ, Dancing, appetizers, and New Years Eve party favors.
Tickets $100

Spot Off Main
8pm - midnight 2 Drink Vouchers, free hors d'oeuvres, $5/hour pool, midnight champagne toast.
Tickets $15 in advance or $25 at the door

Tap House Grill
DJ, Dancing, and Midnight Champagne toast.

Vertigo Lounge & Grill
Live DJ, Dancing, & Great dinner options.
Tickets Call for details 425-467-6767

Joey's
Champagne toast at midnight, served by staff in cocktail dresses and formal attire.

Rock Bottom Brewery
Live DJ & Midnight Champagne toast.

0/8 Seafood Grill and Twisted Cork Wine Bar
Dinner, live entertainment, party favors, midnight champagne toast. (Special hotel rates!)
Tickets $145 w/ Dinner $20 w/o Dinner

Cheesecake Factory
Open until midnight, and will have a champagne toast with party favors.

Kemper Freeman Jr: "Executive of the Year" Says Puget Sound Business Journal

The Puget Sound Business Journal has put together a very lengthy article on Kemper Freeman Jr. and his Bellevue empire. They have credited Kemper as "Executive of the Year."

The article takes you through his journey of the days when Bellevue Square was an outdoor mall, to the point now where he will expand Bellevue's retail flagship Bellevue Collection an additional 2.2 million-square-feet.

One of the additions, as we've reported in the past, will be to the Bellevue Square JC Penny's parking lot. The project where the parking lot currently stands will be called "The Bellevue." This development plans for a hotel with 200 rooms, and another 192,000 square feet of retail.

After the current Downtown Bellevue Safeway location moves across the street, the project known as Lincoln Square Two will begin development. This plan calls for 392,000 square feet of retail, a 600,000 square foot office tower, 120 room hotel, and a 200 unit luxury condo tower. The expected completion of these projects is 2010. Freeman projects, "Half again of what we have built over 60 years will be built over the next give," as he stated in an interview with PSBJ.

All of Freeman's accolades are not future projects, but are the current projects and real estate that he has developed over time. The Bellevue Collection consistently ranks in the top 20 sales per square foot in the country (for retail). Stores previously averaged $672 a square foot, and now are projected to reach $700+ per square foot this year. Also interesting to note is that three Bellevue Collection restaurants gross $10 Million annually (it was not mentioned which particular ones).

The article finished up touching on Freeman's personal life, talking about his over 40 years of marriage to his wife, Betty, and their interests.

It will be an extremely interesting next couple of years for this Downtown Core, and a lot of the past successes should be attributed to the projects Kemper Development Co. have touched. Kemper and team have paved the way for some exciting projects of their own and for other developers. It will be nice to see them unfold and be completed over time.

Lucky Strike Unveils Exterior

Lucky Strike Lanes, Downtown Bellevue's soon to be new hip bowling alley has unveiled it's exterior over the weekend.

The venue will bring much more than just a traditional bowling alley to Lincoln Square. The location will play host to two bars, a DJ booth, and an upscale decor unheard of at most bowling alleys.

Lucky Strike Lanes on the second floor of Lincoln Square will open on December 30th, barely making promise on their "Holiday 2007" scheduled open date.

Live Music Entertaining Downtown Bellevue

Looking for something to liven up your weekend? As of recently there has been an array of live music entertaining Downtown Bellevue crowds. Don't miss out on these live performances this weekend and beyond:

0/8 and Twisted Cork Wine Bar
Live Jazz
Wednesday - Saturday
9pm - Midnight

Sunday
6pm - 9pm

Starbucks Hear Music Store
Scheduled dates (see our events calendar for future performances)
Dec 21st & Dec 22nd 7pm - 8pm (following snowflake lane)

The Parlor
Live Music
Wednesday's
8pm - Midnight

Vertigo
Occasional Jazz, Latin, & piano performances (see our events calendar for updates)

Zen Asian Bistro
Live Music (Jazz Genre)
Thursday - Saturday
6:30pm - 8:30pm

BECU Branch to Open in Downtown Bellevue

For all of those out there that are proud BECU customers you will be delighted to hear that BECU will be opening a banking branch at the corner of NE 2nd & Bellevue Way in Downtown Bellevue.

The branch will be opening in spring at one of the retail locations below the Avalon Meydenbauer apartments that will be completed in early 2008. The anchor tenant of this project is Safeway, which will be moving across the street from their current location on Bellevue Way.

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UPDATE
Since this post was made, the BECU signs have been taken down...

Panoramic Views of Downtown Bellevue

AerialPan Imaging has put together a breathtaking panorama aerial tour of the Downtown Bellevue Skyline.

This imagery was shot directly above the Bellevue Towers project. The photography gives a great sense of the magnitude of construction taking place in Downtown Bellevue with the many cranes towering high above the ground.

Elements Too - Apartments & Retail

The Elements Too project, which you might have seen under construction (as we voted it Downtown Bellevue's most festive construction project) has been a bit more quiet than some of the other major developments in the Downtown Bellevue core, but will be just as prominent once it's complete.

The 22-story tower and 13-story mid-rise named Elements Too, (originally known as Ashwood II) will play home to 274 apartment homes. Complimenting these "architecturally unique" buildings will be 48,000 square feet of retail with five levels of underground parking.

Bellevue-based Su Development has had careful attention paid to the design of these two buildings and their interiors. A three-story, light-filled atrium will connect the two buildings. In addition to the atrium, a water feature will flow from the atrium to an open-air piazza. This will encourage the community living at Elements Too and the surrounding areas to gather for outdoor arts performances in a green space.

Located at 112th Ave NE right off NE 8th look for the high-rise to be complete and open in the summer of 2008, while the mid-rise building and atrium will follow in the fall of 2008.

Plans for Bellevue's "urban village" revealed

The plans for a 36-acre "urban village" in Bellevue's Bel-Red Corridor were reported yesterday in The Seattle Times. The proposed project would consist of 800 apartments, retail space, acres of open recreational space, and over 3 million square feet of office space.

The "urban village" will be built in an area now being familiarized as the "Spring District," which is currently an aging Safeway distribution plant that was purchased for $68 million in May by Wright Runstad and San Francisco's Shorenstein.

Although this project doesn't fall into the Downtown Bellevue boundaries, in the future we could see the Downtown area naturally expand into the Bel-Red Corridor. Nevertheless, it would be a nice compliment to the Downtown area.

The project anticipates 16 acres of open space, roads and trails, a soccer field, a health club and high-capacity transit station.

The construction for this project could start as early as in 2009, and finish up in 2010.

Image courtesy of The Seattle Times

Hear Music Starbucks Bellevue Store with live music this weekend!

The "Starbucks Hear Music " store at The Lodge in Bellevue Square will now be featuring live music for the next couple of weeks. Deveraux, a local band who just recently played at the High Dive in Fremont will be playing following Snow Flake Lane on Saturday from 7:30pm-8:30pm, as well as the following Friday December 21st.

The Starbucks Hear Music Coffeehouses, if you are not familiar with them feature a great selection of CD's on hand to listen to or purchase, and you can even customize your own CD there. There are only four stores across the country in Miami, San Antonio, Santa Monica, and our very own Bellevue! Live music has been played very infrequently at these stores, but artists such as Paolo Nutini and Lilly Allen have had performed.

Hopefully this can become a happening spot for live music throughout the week. Seems like the entertainment in Downtown Bellevue is coming into it's own!

The Parlor Focuses on Events!

On a recent trip to The Parlor we found they have been putting together some great events!

Every Wednesday they are hosting live music starting at 8pm - midnight. These next couple of weeks will feature Mycle Wastman who is a well known local musician. He plays guitar and is well known for his fantastic covers of popular songs, which he performs. His Michael Jackson-like voice is surely something worth checking out if your available on a upcoming Wednesday night. The music will nicely accompany their happy hour which starts at 10pm!

The Parlor will also be welcoming in the New Year with, "Bellevue's 2008 New Years Bash." They claim it will be "the largest New Years Party on the Eastside". The $50 tickets (or$89 per couple) will include a DJ and dancing, billiard trick shot shows, shadow dancers, prize giveaways every 30 minutes, party favors and more. Also available is a VIP package ($95 each or $175/couple) which gives you access to the VIP lounges, as well as some free cocktails and hors d'oeuvres.

Also in January The Parlor will be hosting every Tuesday night as a "Single's Night." There are more details to come on this later.

These events will surely stir up some much needed entertainment in this growing Downtown Bellevue nightlife!

Downtown Bellevue Cadillac Dealership property SOLD

The Hanover Company based out of Houston, TX has just purchased the current Downtown Bellevue Cadillac dealership property for $39,300,000. The dated looking Cadillac dealership at 1001 106th Ave NE is over 2.5 acres, and is planned for two high-rise apartment buildings.

This is the Hanover Company's third property and construction project on NE 10th St. The two buildings will be 18-20 stories tall.

The Cadillac dealership will occupy the space for five months longer, then construction is projected to begin at the end of 2008. Cadillac is expected to move to the previous Dodge dealership location on 116th.

Do you want stop light cameras in Downtown Bellevue?

The city is debating implementation of traffic light video and photo cameras to catch red light violators. The decision is if the city should implement a one year trial with the equipment or not.

If decided favorably, the cameras would be installed at approximately six different Bellevue locations.

You can have a say in this matter on Monday 8:00pm, December 10th at the Bellevue City Hall, they are looking for community members feedback

"Ho Ho Ho," says Ashwood to commuters

"Ho Ho Ho!" Ashwood II , located on 112th Avenue NE right off of NE 8th Street, wins Downtown Bellevue Network's Most Festive Construction Site Award.

The developer/construction team has put up wreaths in the shapes of the letters "H" and "O" that light up sporadically across the construction site facing the freeway!

Thanks for the laughs and smile! Hopefully the project continues to be newsworthy (and completes on time).

For late night eats: Zen Asian Bistro & Lounge

Zen Asian Bistro & Lounge, as of last weekend, becomes the second venue to stay open until 2am (the first being Vertigo in the same building) and is the first and only restaurant in Downtown Bellevue to keep their kitchen open that late! The restaurant now lives up to "lounge" part in their name by extending hours Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights.

"People are coming during the lunch hour," said owner Shin Kim. "Our customers are asking for us to stay open later. Bellevue needs a restaurant open late. We feel we can provide that in addition to a great environment."

Well, it looks like now there's a place to grab some grub until the wee hours of the morning.

Enjoy.

Tree Lighting Ceremony: A Non Event

We wanted to take this opportunity to apologize to our readers who attended the "Tree Lighting Ceremony" on Friday. We here at the Downtown Bellevue Network were jazzed up to attend on Friday night, and thought this could become quite the annual event in the future complementing Snowflake Lane.

This, "Tree Lighting" was anything but exciting. First off the event was scheduled to start at 6pm, and surely didn't start anytime near then. Secondly, the "sound system" they used was a portable karaoke machine that looked as if it was from an elementary school and made by Fisher-Price.

The event was thrown together, and had no organization to it whatsoever. Nobody was relaying messages of what was going on, or when we could expect the "Tree Lighting" to take place.

After much anticipation, all hope for anything good was lost, when it was realized that the "Tree" they were lighting up was similar to a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree (which was actually a tree with only branches). The 50,000 promised lights that were on the tree... have been there for months. This was no special event, but just a "turning off and on" of already existing red Christmas lights, which have been present on this tree since September.

Next time you want to "alert" the media and get the word out about an event, make sure it is something worth hyping up, because this was surely not.