Bellevue's downtown becoming urban nirvana

Todd Simonton had done the house thing before. He'd had the yard he never had time for. He'd done the long commute to afford that house and yard. He'd had enough.

Shortly after marrying a fellow Bellevue police officer, Simonton was ready for a change.

He found it in a condo in the heart of downtown Bellevue.

Now Simonton gets up, has his breakfast and walks a few blocks to work. He jokes he is so close to the shops, theaters and restaurants of Bellevue Square that with a week of practice, he could hit it with a rock.

He doesn't have to worry about a yard but can have green grass or even a lakeside afternoon by walking a few blocks. When friends come to visit, they have a short walk to restaurants and shops.

The only downside is that during those occasional snowstorms, he has no excuse to miss work.

"I think more and more people will come to downtown Bellevue looking for the same thing we did: a great place to live and work," Simonton said.

"Now I'm an insider, and I know how much goes into this, but I really do feel that it is a safe, friendly, lively city," he said.

"I never feel scared at all walking around downtown at any time of day or night. Everything here is so new, and unlike a lot of downtown cores we are attracting a lot of upscale new businesses, restaurants and shops."

According to Leslie Lloyd of the Bellevue Downtown Association, some 25,000 new jobs will be created downtown over the next three to five years when such companies as Eddie Bauer, Microsoft and Expedia move into its core.

In addition, an estimated 2,500 new condos and apartments will be built.

Look at the Bellevue skyline, and growth is made obvious by many construction cranes bobbing among the skyscrapers.

"The job market is getting more and more robust," Lloyd said, "and there are a lot of very attractive amenities here for people who want to work and live in the same area, with all the shops from the unique to the big-box, Meydenbauer Center, Bellevue Arts Museum and all the parks.

"Unlike some downtown cores, we aren't blight to the surrounding neighborhoods," Lloyd said. "We're an asset."

Downtown Bellevue is a condo and apartment community, and most of those condos are in the $400,000-to-$600,000 range.

Some smaller condos are selling for closer to $300,000, and more upscale units with views across Lake Washington can run over $1 million.

There are few single-family homes available, according to Rob Knowles, a real-estate agent who lives downtown. Every year, Knowles said, he has more and more clients looking to live closer to their work on the Eastside but wanting an urban lifestyle.

He recently sold a home and gallery space to a young artist couple.

"We haven't seen the true face of downtown Bellevue yet," Simonton said. "It will have its own unique face and it will be an important urban center, and it will be interesting to see how it takes shape."