Sipping a self-served brew as you sit with friends on whimsical swings around a table. A barista bot making your café au lait. Quiet conversations on thoughtfully placed benches amidst eye-catching sculptures. And your pup getting her wiggles out on an artificial-turfed play area just for her. It’s all part of Vulcan Real Estate’s recently completed three-tower West Main project in downtown Bellevue.
Reshaping a city block with office towers could be perceived as drab, but this development is anything but. With wow-worthy architectural elements, lush landscaping, seating areas, open space, public pathways, and several dining and entertainment venues, it’s the new place to work and connect in Bellevue.
Amazon workers (who currently fill one tower), Bellevue residents, and anyone looking for a new hot spot to hang will soon flock to this newly energized area of downtown. They’ll fill the seats at Tapster, a self-service tasting bar with 50-plus brews on tap (from beer to cider to cold brew to kombucha), try the Peruvian restaurant slated to open later this summer, and the Chinese hot pot eatery, scheduled to open in first quarter 2025, and order up their favorite caffeinated beverages at Artly, known for its barista bots. More businesses are on the way as part of the towers’ combined 33,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space.
Amazon currently occupies Tower 1 – which it has coined Dynamo – and estimates the company will eventually have 25,000 employees in Bellevue in the next several years. No move-in dates for the other two towers, Mercury Vail and Alf, have been scheduled.
According to Patrick Bannon, president and CEO of Bellevue Downtown Association, West Main redefines downtown Bellevue between Main and Northeast 2nd streets, and 105th and 106th avenues northeast. The new neighborhood is made for walking and connections from block to block allow for easy transition about the property, and into Old Bellevue, Downtown Bellevue Park and two light rail stations. Bannon considers it more a destination than any old type of major office park, thanks to its design quality, the amenities of the open space, and the connectivity it inspires.
West Main isn’t just three mundane high-rise towers. Peter Krech of Graphite Design Group in Seattle and Seattle’s Compton Design Office envisioned the similarly sized towers to have unique character – and the resulting architectural features are an art piece unto themselves. Depending on the light and the angles at which they’re observed, each building has its own design ethos. Krech refers to the first tower as “Push-Pull” for the pushing and pulling of the façade catching the light. The second is “Weave,” for its chevron-shaped vertical elements. The third, which is the middle of the three towers, is nicknamed “Tuft” for the profiled white mullions that run along the glass, casting reflections to create chevron images and the semblance of a tufted pillow.
Sculptures by northwest artists Julian Watts and Iván Carmona are purposefully placed throughout the property. The towers themselves were also intentionally offset to protect views from within of the Olympic Mountains, downtown Seattle, Mount Rainier and more.
Offering community and cool amenities, West Main sets a high bar for the modern workspace – an urban village where creativity thrives and connections are made.
This post was based on information found on 425 Business. Photo credit to: Graphite Design Group
