STOCK QUOTES     More market data...

Northwest mall projects have an airy feeling

By Jake Batsell
Seattle Times business reporter

E-mail this article Print this article Search archive Most read articles Most e-mailed articles

Related stories Opening up malls to create friendly feel of Main Street

Lynnwood's Alderwood Mall is months away from opening a pair of outdoor shopping areas with about 50 specialty stores and restaurants, including Pottery Barn, REI, Apple Computer and P.F. Chang's China Bistro. The additions, which also include a 16-screen movie theater, are to open Nov. 4, Alderwood General Manager Jerry Alder said.

Northgate Mall in Seattle plans to tear down a vacant medical building and theater just west of the mall and build about 150,000 square feet of shops and restaurants as part of a neighborhood plan to create more open space.

Northgate also aims to redevelop about 63,000 square feet of streetfront space east of the mall. The additions would open in late 2005 at the earliest.

The Puget Sound region's largest mall, Westfield Shoppingtown Southcenter in Tukwila, has filed plans with city planners for a three-level, 636,000-square-foot expansion south of the existing mall.

Two levels of new shops, two parking garages, a hotel and a three-level movie theater of up to 16 screens would boost the mall to nearly 2 million square feet.

The Southcenter addition would be mostly enclosed. But first-level stores would open to outdoor plazas, and restaurants would feature patio dining.

The city released an environmental analysis this week, and the project is in the midst of a month-long public-comment period. Construction is scheduled to start in January, with a target opening of summer 2006, said Moira Carr Bradshaw, a senior city planner.

The Lincoln Square project in Bellevue, which will connect to neighboring Bellevue Square by a skybridge, is aiming for a breezier feel by opening to landscaped sidewalks on Bellevue Way and Northeast Eighth Street.

Jennifer Leavitt, vice president of marketing for Kemper Development, said Lincoln Square will encompass roughly 310,000 square feet of retail, restaurant and movie-theater space and is expected to open by fall 2005.

The new owner of Everett Mall, Steadfast Commercial Properties, has said it plans to add an outdoor shopping area as part of a renovation that will cost at least $20 million.
 
The former owner filed plans last year to add more than 100,000 square feet of outdoor shopping, and Steadfast has said it will follow through with those plans.

Jake Batsell: 206-464-2718 or jbatsell@seattletimes.com

Seattle Times business reporter Jane Hodges contributed to this article.