Bellevue Square

infobox shopping mall
shopping_mall_name = Bellevue Square

---

caption = USGS satellite image of the mall.
location = Bellevue, Washington, USA coord|47.61555|N|122.20392|W|region:US_type:landmark|name=Bellevue Square
opening_date = 1946
developer= Kemper Freeman Sr
manager = Kemper Development Co.
owner = Kemper Development Co.
number_of_stores = 180
number_of_anchors = 3
floor_area = 1.3 million square feet
(GLA)
floors = 2
website = http://www.bellevuesquare.com

Bellevue Square is a shopping mall in Bellevue, eight miles (13 km) east of Seattle. The mall has 180 retail stores, including anchors JCPenney, Macy's, and Nordstrom, specialty stores like Mercer, the Apple Store, Armani Exchange and Williams-Sonoma, and restaurants like P.F. Chang's China Bistro, Cheesecake Factory, Red Robin, and Ruth's Chris Steak House. Bellevue Square also offers concierge services, valet parking, a local shuttle bus, and children's play areas.

Bellevue Square attracts over 16 million visitors annually who individually spend nearly two hours per trip spending $126, well above the national average. Over $600 is spent for every square foot of retail space each year. [ [http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/218982_kemper06.html "A new Bellevue rising: Big-thinking Kemper Freeman Jr. thinking even bigger"] "Seattle P-I" article published on April 6, 2005. Retrieved May 30, 2006.]

History

Bellevue Square was first opened in 1946, trading under the name "Bellevue Shopping Square"http://bellevuesquare.com/aboutus_history.php, accessed August 18, 2006] , with the first suburban department store opened by Marshall Field & Co. through its Seattle-based subsidiary, Frederick & Nelson.

With the mall's name shortened to Bellevue Square a few years later, JCPenney opened a store in 1955. Nordstrom, then a local shoe store, opened in 1958, before adding apparel and becoming the third major anchor in 1966, initially under the name Nordstrom Best.

In the 1980's the mall, then led by the original developer's son, Kemper Freeman Jr., expanded in several phases, finally adding a location for the dominant Seattle department store The Bon Marché in 1984. In 1992, with the bankrupcty and closure of Frederick & Nelson and collapse of a deal to lease part of the vacated space to Saks Fifth Avenue, the center used the opportunity to reconfigure the vacant anchor as mall shop space. 1994 saw the addition of a separate The Bon Marché Home Store, while Nordstrom expanded the size of their store by half. In 2003 The Bon Marché stores were renamed Bon-Macy's, and in 2005 they adopted the name Macy's.

In 2007 Bellevue Square was linked by a skybridge to Lincoln Square, another Kemper Freeman owned property. Currently, Bellevue Square is in the midst of a $40 million dollar renovation. [ [http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/362050_bellsquare07.html "A $40 million face-lift for Bellevue Square"] "Seattle Times" article published on May 7, 2008. Retrieved June 2, 2008.]

Bellevue Square continues to be owned by Kemper Freeman Jr. and his family, one of the few shopping centers in the United States that have not been purchased by a Real Estate Investment Trust/REIT.

Anchors

*JCPenney (200,800 sq ft.)
*Macy's (180,000 sq ft.)
*Macy's Home Store (51,000 sq ft.)
*Nordstrom (270,000 sq ft.)

References

External links

* [http://www.bellevuesquare.com/ Bellevue Square Official Website]