Your Guide to Buying a Home in Bellevue, WA

Buying a Home in Bellevue, Washington

Bellevue is located in King County

The 5th largest city in Washington, Bellevue features a diverse population amidst a buzzing metropolis and international economic center. Located between the pristine waters of Lake Sammamish and Lake Washigton, quiet neighborhoods and ever-green parks flourish amid high-rise office complex and elegant retail shops. It's the urban heart of the eastside and with it comes the cultural amenities from fantastic galleries and musuems to world-class restaurants and chic boutiques. Just a short drive over the floating bridges links Bellevue with Seattle accommadating commuters and visitors alike and rounding out the perfect "city life".

Economy
With its immediate proximity to Redmond, home of Microsoft, and direct highway access to Seattle via Interstate 90 and Washington State Route 520, Bellevue is now home to the headquarters of many small and large businesses. Many of these are technology companies, most started in the 1990s. The city has numerous thriving commercial districts. It also immediately borders the tiny but extremely affluent Lake Washington “Gold Coast” district (Medina, Hunts Point, Clyde Hill, and Yarrow Point), whose residents include Bill Gates and control a large portion of the local wealth. There are three major suburban centers, besides Bellevue Square, for retail that are Factoria Mall to the south, Crossroads Mall to the East, and the Overlake Shopping Disctrict in the north.

Education
Bellevue is home to Bellevue Community College (BCC) and City University. The highly rated BCC is the largest community college in Washington and the third largest institution of higher education in the state.

The city hosts the Bellevue School District. Its four main public high schools - Bellevue High School, Interlake High School, Newport High School, and Sammamish High School were all included in Newsweek's listing of the Best High Schools in America (measured by the number of AP tests taken divided by the number of seniors). The Bellevue School District also has two alternative high schools, International School (which also made the list) and Robinswood High School. Four main high schools and International are the top-five ranked high schools in Washington State. Stevenson Elementary School, Odle Middle School, and Interlake High School offer the PRISM program, a program for gifted children. A full-day Spanish immersion program begins in elementary school at Puesta del Sol, and continues part-time through Tillicum Middle School and Newport High School. Sammamish High School is the designated Arts Magnet of the district, featuring a highly competitive choir and fine arts program with a professional hot glass studio.

At the elementary level, Bellevue is home to the Eastside's only Waldorf Education, at Three Cedars School, and to several Montessori schools.

Reflective of Bellevue's growth over the years is Bellevue Square, now one of the largest shopping centers in the region. Opened in 1946, Bellevue Square underwent a significant expansion in the 1980s. More recently, an expansion to Bellevue Square along Bellevue Way called "The Lodge" and the new One Lincoln Tower promise to strengthen downtown Bellevue's role as the largest Seattle Eastside shopping and dining destination. The Bravern, a large mixed-use project currently under construction, will feature a Neiman Marcus (the first in the Pacific Northwest) department store as well as other upscale shops.

Bellevue's size stabilized during a regional downturn in the early 2000s, but growth has since resumed. The first phase of Ashwood Commons, a mostly-residential hi-rise, recently completed construction. A second office tower is under construction at Lincoln Square, as are Avalon Meydenbauer, new mixed-use development with a Safeway flagship store and luxury apartments, and Bellevue Towers, a two-tower eco-luxury condominium project with a block-long urban garden and retail space. Another development similar to Lincoln Square is also planned, and a "superblock" development called Washington Square will cover nine city blocks and eventually include six 22-story towers.

Other projects in Bellevue's future include Meydenbauer Place, a new Performing Arts Center, a second City Center office tower (which broke ground in July 2006), three more residential towers, and resumption of work on the previously abandoned Tech Tower site, now called Tower 333. Developers are not expecting to have difficulty finding tenants for these new construction projects.

Source: wikipedia.org