Bellevue City Council set to approve tunnel connecting parking garages

Bellevue city officials are set to approve an underground car-pedestrian tunnel that would connect the parking garages at Bellevue Place and Lincoln Square.

City officials and Kemper Development, which owns both buildings, say the 96-foot-long tunnel underneath Northeast Eighth Street would cut down on surface traffic and give customers more parking options, especially during busy seasons.

"I think this is a very exciting, kind of cutting-edge thing that Bellevue is doing," said Councilman Conrad Lee.

City officials say 800 cars would use the tunnel each weekday, including shoppers, workers and hotel guests. Surface streets would lose about 235,000 car trips a year, according to the company.

The developer is set to start digging the tunnel next month and would open the new facility in June, just in time for the opening of the Lincoln Square office tower, with Microsoft and Eddie Bauer as tenants, spokeswoman Jennifer Leavitt said.

Also coming to the same location is the city's second skybridge, which will be erected in March over Eighth Street. It will connect the second floors of Lincoln Square and Bellevue Place. A steel-and-glass bridge between Lincoln Square and Bellevue Square opened last November.

Tunnels are common in dense urban areas — pedestrians in downtown Seattle, for instance, can walk underground between Columbia Tower and nearby buildings — but combining pedestrians and cars in one tunnel is unusual, city officials say. Cars would travel in two lanes, with pedestrian paths on each side. The tunnel would be about 45 feet below ground, 36 feet wide, 18 feet tall and connect the third levels of each parking garage.

The tunnel would provide overflow parking for customers at the Lincoln Square garage, which sometimes becomes full, Councilman Don Davidson said. Bellevue Place has about 2,100 parking spaces, and Lincoln Square has more than 1,700.

Kemper Freeman, CEO of Kemper Development, is also planning a 20-story addition to the Hyatt Regency hotel at Bellevue Place. The new building is set to open in 2009.

Freeman has a third development, Bellevue Square, which is across Bellevue Way from Lincoln Square. Bellevue Square has about 6,200 parking spaces but will not be connected to the other developments by tunnel because all the parking is above ground, Leavitt said.

Still, with downtown Bellevue becoming more dense and valuable, more tunnels between buildings are possible, city officials said. "Fast forward 30 years and we may have the same 14 miles [of roads] underneath that we do on top," Councilwoman Connie Marshall said.

Kemper Development would pay the city about $8,500 a year for use of the tunnel right-of-way.

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