On Bellevue's "Auto Row," taller buildings could pop up

The aging "Auto Row" area just east of downtown Bellevue could eventually have multistory apartments or condos, more major streets, and taller retail stores and car dealerships.

The Bellevue City Council on Monday gave preliminary approval to a city comprehensive-plan update that would increase height limits up to 75 feet in some areas and allow more dense development.

Over the next few years, the city plans to extend Northeast Fourth Street from 116th Avenue to 120th Avenue Northeast. The city would also build an extension of Northeast Sixth Street, open only to pedestrians, buses and carpoolers, over Interstate 405 to 120th Avenue.

For decades, "Auto Row" has been home to car dealerships, but as downtown has grown, some of the dealers have left. The area is better suited as a taller and more dense "transition" zone between the high-rise downtown to the west and the residential Wilburton neighborhood to the east, city officials said.

The city is planning a 36-acre "retail village" along 120th Avenue, between Best Buy and Northeast Eighth Street. The pedestrian-friendly design would be similar to University Village in Seattle, but would also include apartments or condos and service-oriented businesses for residents, such as a grocery or drugstore, said Paul Inghram, the city's comprehensive planning manager.

One of the Auto Row landowners, KG Investments, has talked to the city about buying up more property and building dense, mixed-use development.

The rezone has also attracted the attention of affordable-housing advocates, who say it's a prime opportunity to provide housing for people who can't afford the swanky units downtown, including teachers and restaurant employees.

The council should require affordable housing, rather than try to convince developers through incentives, which usually don't work, said Mike Nielsen, executive director of St. Andrew's Housing Group in Issaquah.

"There's not many large tracts [of land] left to make these kinds of decisions," he said.

City leaders do not plan to include an affordable-housing requirement in the Auto Row rezone, but this year they are completing a citywide review of housing policies.

Redevelopment in the Bel-Red Corridor and Auto Row could both be ripe for affordable housing, and the City Council has to figure out "what's the right mix of incentives and requirements," Mayor Grant Degginger said.

Affordable housing could still be required or encouraged in Auto Row, after the citywide housing review is finished, officials said.

The City Council is set to give final approval to the Auto Row comprehensive-plan update at its meeting on Feb. 19 or Feb. 25.

Ashley Bach: 206-464-2567 or abach@seattletimes.com