Lincoln Square expansion passes city design review

The long-awaited Lincoln Square expansion project is back on track.

The initial application has been at City Hall for nearly three years, but delays pushed back the project, which was happening around the same time as a massive expansion to nearby Bellevue Square. Thursday, the city issued a notice of decision that the property made it through the design review process.

Kemper Development Company plans to use the mostly vacated site just south of the current Lincoln Square complex to build two towers that feature office space, retail, residential units and hotel rooms, as well as a nine-story underground parking structure, according to the application and Bellevue staff report.

The two towers will be linked by a three-story commercial area that will feature retail, offices, lobbies for the hotel and residential areas and a health club.

The north tower in the complex will rise 42 stories with hotel rooms occupying the fourth through 13th stories. The rest of the tower will feature residential units.

The 31-story office tower will be in the southeast corner of the development at the intersection of Northeast Fourth Street and 105th Avenue Northeast. Both buildings will be approximately 450 feet high, the highest allowable under the zoning for the land.

The property is zoned Downtown Office-1, the most intense urban zoning within the city of Bellevue.

The former Safeway/Bartell's building and Scan Design store will be demolished for the project.

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