$2.3B Spring District Construction Kicks Off Monday

The first step in the $2.3 billion development in Bellevue's Spring District starts Monday, as developer Wright Runstad begins demolition of the old Safeway distribution center at Northeast 12th Street and 120th Avenue Northeast.

The first phase of the project, close to Bellevue's "Medical District" --  the neighborhood with Overlake Hospital Medical Center, Group Health and a cluster of medical offices -- will have 490,000 square feet of office and residential development, with ground-floor retail space, according to Wright Runstad, and a park.



The entire, $2.3 billion, 36-acre project, eventually will extend 16 blocks, with more than "5.3 million square feet of space in buildings ranging from six to 12 stories with supporting retail amenities, a hotel, and over 1,000 multifamily residences together with street level retail spaces, green areas, and plazas interspersed throughout the entire neighborhood," according to the Wright Runstad website.

The developer says in a press release that development is aimed at high-tech companies and their workers who want to live close to amenities like shops and restaurants and transit.

The area will be connected to Sound Transit's Link light rail, via the Bel-Red East Link stations on 120th and 130th avenues northeast.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the project is moving forward, despite having no tenants or financing secured, betting on future growth.

"We have just got this entrepreneurial culture that drives a huge amount of growth," Greg Johnson, Wright Runstad's president, told WSJ.

Crosscut writer Knute Berger described the project as akin to creating Portland's Pearl District from scratch.

More information about The Spring District development is available from Wright Runstad's website.