Eastside business notes
Remaking Bellevue by design

By Kristina Shevory
Seattle Times Eastside business reporter

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When planners designed downtown Bellevue in the 1950s, they put in wide streets, long blocks and acres of parking lots. It was a place where city residents would drive to shop.

But Bellevue has been trying to remake itself, and a group of local architects wants to help.

The architects are participating in a two-day design workshop later this month to find ways to give the downtown more personality. They want to transform the area into a collection of distinct neighborhoods that draw people from around the region.

"Beyond Bellevue Square and Old Main, Bellevue is a bunch of buildings plopped here and there," said Brian Brand, president and principal at Baylis Architects in Bellevue, which is participating in the workshop. "There's a lot of open space, and we need to tie that together in a cohesive way with parks, plazas and other destinations."

Baylis has been in Bellevue since it opened in 1972 and has built some of the new mixed-use complexes in the city — including Palazzo II, a six-story building with stores, offices and 33 condominiums at 1100 106th Ave. N.E. Other firms that have worked in Bellevue — including NBBJ, CollinsWoerman, MulvannyG2 and Mithun — also plan to participate.

The design workshop is a follow-up to a planning process the Bellevue Downtown Association worked on with the city for the past three years. Last year, the city finally wrapped up the 20-year comprehensive plan for downtown Bellevue and now wants to put those policies into action.

"We want people to think of downtown Bellevue as a place full of unique neighborhoods instead of a homogenous whole," said Leslie Lloyd, president of the Bellevue Downtown Association, which is co-hosting the event with the city. "Maybe it's not there yet, but we can articulate what we would like to see."

Ideas from the Sept. 17-18 workshop will be presented at the downtown group's October meeting. The civic group hopes the ideas will be used to formulate amendments to Bellevue's land-use code, building requirements and development incentives.

Fred Kent, president of the Project for Public Spaces, will kick off the workshop with a lecture and slide show on how cities have turned unwelcoming spaces into attractions. The New York-based nonprofit group was recently hired to turn around Occidental Park in Seattle's Pioneer Square.
 
Kent's lecture will be at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 14 at Key Center, 601 10th Ave. N.E. in Bellevue.

For more information, go to www.pps.org online.

Openings

• Trammel Crow, a multinational commercial real-estate company, reopens its office in Bellevue today. In late 2001, the brokerage closed the office as part of a restructuring. The new office is in the Bellefield Office Park.

Companies like Trammel Crow are helping downtown Bellevue's office market rebound. The office-vacancy rate has dropped from a high of 29 percent in 2002 to 18 percent this year because low rents have attracted companies to the once pricey area.

• The Original Tony Maroni's, a New York-style pizzeria at 1075 Bellevue Way N.E. in Bellevue, has developed a following since opening in January. Customers include Bill Gates, who orders 12 to 15 pies delivered every week to his Medina home.

What's the attraction? Try seasoned, garlic-laced dough, tomato sauce imported from New York, and hand-thrown pizza baked in a brick oven. The store is open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily for carry-out or delivery.

Kristina Shevory: 206-464-2039 or kshevory@seattletimes.com