The downtown Bellevue super-block with a Barnes & Noble, a Mars Hill Church campus and several short commercial buildings could be redeveloped, according to David Schooler, the president of the Bellevue-based Sterling Realty Organization, which owns the site.
“We are talking with someone about a ground lease for an office building and potentially a phased development,” he said.
The New York-based Rockefeller Development Corporation could be working with Sterling to redevelop the area, on 106th Avenue Northeast between Northeast Eighth and Sixth streets, but Schooler didn’t want to officially confirm or deny the rumor. “I will not comment on the identity of who we are talking with, whether by adding or subtracting to a list,” he said, because there’s still “no signed agreement with anybody,” yet.
Leaders at Mars Hill Bellevue, currently the largest Mars Hill campus and main preaching site for Pastor Mark Driscoll, have spoken publicly about many of the terms of their lease, and the church still has about six years left on its portion of it. After that, “it’s terminable,” Schooler said – “both have the right to end the lease.”
The lease on the Barnes & Noble expires in February of 2014. “At expiration, the Bellevue Barnes & Noble will have been open and serving our customers for more than 20 years,” said David Deason, the vice president of development at Barnes & Noble. “We are hopeful that we can extend the lease beyond its expiration, but we are aware that the property owner does have interest in redeveloping the site. We hope that we will be able to operate here for years to come, however we will have to see how the property owner’s redevelopment plans impacts that opportunity.”
Schooler didn’t offer any more details about the project’s timeline.
