Located on the east side of Lake Washington across from Seattle, Bellevue was a small farming community until the 1940s, when the first roadway spanning Lake Washington was built. Today, the city is the third largest in population in the Puget Sound region.

Bellevue's downtown has undergone significant changes in the last dozen years. The city was fortunate to have a plan prior to the passage of the Growth Management Act, and they built on it, maintaining and strengthening the vision of a strong presence for the downtown.

Bellevue has a number of key accomplishments in the downtown area:

• Large park with pedestrian promenades and fountains.
• Numerous mid-rise multifamily housing developments which create whole new neighborhoods.
• King County Regional Library.
• Bellevue art museum.
• Major roadway and streetscape improvements throughout the downtown.
• Pedestrian promenade, breaking up a super-block to link Bellevue Square Mall, the art museum, the Galleria mall, and the improved transit center.

The city kept a strong focus on retaining the existing geographic boundary for the urban center to minimize real estate speculation, to help focus growth, and to help preserve nearby single-family neighborhoods. The city was aided by a strong private sector effort, with an active downtown development association, and an active chamber of commerce.

At about 430 acres, the center accounts for only about 2% of the city's land. However, it was the focus of a significant portion of the city's growth.

• Around 6% of the city's population growth was focused in the center, with the largest demographic segment being the 50-64 age group.
• Around 14% of city's housing growth was focused in the center, with about three-quarters of the center's housing growth being in rental units.
• Around 34% of city's employment growth was focused in the center, with almost two-thirds of the employment growth being the Financial, Insurance, Real Estate & Services sector.

A wide range of opinions emerged during the interviews. Some felt the city was successful primarily because of its location, while others felt public actions and investments, such as development of the park and library, had a major effect. Most felt the market had been strong enough that indirect incentives, such as efficient government, clean streets, and strong public involvement were sufficient in the 1990s, but that direct incentives would be necessary in the future.

Most interviewees felt that focusing growth into the center would continue in the future because projects had been financially successful, consumer tastes continued to support downtown living, and because of the protection it provided single-family neighborhoods.

As the center and city evolve, a number of challenges remain: creating housing that is affordable to a wide variety of people who work in the center, continuing to break up the super-blocks to improve mobility, and creating parking management programs in order to both decrease the need for surface parking and to encourage pedestrian activity.

For more information, visit the following regional growth center related sites:

• City of Bellevue
  • Planning & Community Development Department
  • Downtown Implementation Plan
• Bellevue Downtown Association
• Bellevue Chamber of Commerce
• 2002 Regional Growth Centers Report, Bellevue Profile  [pdf]

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