The Bellevue Downtown Association, locally known as the BDA, was established in 1974 to help the downtown area thrive - and thrive it has. BDA's Annual Celebration on February 6, 2025 will honor people, places and ideas that have made a transformative impact on the future of Downtown Bellevue. The event will award 2025 Placemaking awards to Skanska for its work on the new Eight Development, Sterling Realty Organization for the reimagining of Symetra's lobby, Visit Bellevue for our creative tourism programming, and Vulcan Real Estate for the development of Tower555 and West Main. Joy Shigaki, president and CEO of the Friends of the Waterfront Park organization, will deliver the Keynote Program with a focus on how public-private partnerships and transformative investments can ignite change and create lasting impacts.
Skanska's Eight Development is a LEED Gold building opening this year with 25-stories and 540,000 square feet of office space in downtown Bellevue, with an additional 10,000 square feet for retail. The space was already 72% leased by January of 2024.
Sterling Realty Organization reimagined Symetra's lobby this year, constructing a modernized and inviting lobby, a new conferencing center with the latest AV technology, a new ground-floor fitness center, and a new all-day cafe and bar that will be open from breakfast to happy hour.
Visit Bellevue's creative tourism programming in 2024 delivered a variety of hospitality services for the community and the visitor economy. Some of the programming includes the expansion of the BellHop program and the BikeHop program, the introduction of Bellevue Lake Cruises, Bites of Bellevue walking food tour, and the Bellevue Airport Shuttle, as well as Belle the Bobcat and a variety of marketing and communications programing.
Vulcan Real Estate developed the 555 Tower in the heart of Bellevue's business district, standing at 600 feet tall to reshape the downtown skyline. The 42 floor building offers 968,000 square feet of office space and 28,000 square feet of retail space. The team also developed the West Main complex, which is an ensemble of three buildings slated for office, retail, and mixed-use. The space has already seen a burst of exciting new retail and dining openings.
