Bellevue was founded in 1869 by William Meydenbauer and was officially incorporated on March 21, 1953. Prior to the opening of the Lake Washington Floating Bridge in 1940, Bellevue was a rural area with little development. Once the bridge opened, access from Seattle improved, and the area gradually grew into a bedroom community.
Following the 1963 opening of a second bridge across the lake, the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge, the city began to grow more rapidly. It has since become one of the largest cities in the state, with several high-rise structures in its core and a burgeoning business community.
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 directly across Bellevue Way from the Square promise to solidify downtown Bellevue as the primary Eastside shopping and dining destination. The Bravern, a large mixed-use project currently under construction, will feature a Sak's Fifth Avenue (the first in the Pacific Northwest) as well as other upscale shops.
After a regional downturn in the early 2000s stopped construction in its tracks, Bellevue is again growing. The first phase of Ashwood Commons, a mostly-residential hi-rise, recently completed construction. A second tower (for offices) is under construction at Lincoln Square; a new mixed-use development with a Safeway flagship store and luxury apartments (Avalon Meydenbauer) and a two-tower luxury condominum project (Bellevue Towers) have already broken ground. Another development similar to Lincoln Square is also planned for the site of the current Safeway. A "superblock" development called Washington Square will cover nine city blocks and eventually include no fewer than 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, at long last, the resumption of construction on the abandoned Tech Tower site, now to be called Tower 333. Developers have reported that they do not expect to have any difficulty finding tenants for all this new space.
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