When light rail finally arrives in Downtown Redmond this Saturday, riders will find themselves in perhaps the most vibrant station area on the Eastside. A well-woven fabric of established and new retail and residences is ready to greet visitors and provide homes for new arrivals, and it’s only getting more realized by the day.
This downtown is the product of decades-long planning to craft a dense and mixed-use core for the suburb-turning-city. Redmond’s 1993 Downtown Plan helped kick off a streak of dense urban development in a historic downtown that had become a mix of low-rise multifamily and commercial development.
That first plan legalized the density of residential development that now characterizes the neighborhood. Subsequent comprehensive plan updates further liberalized land use regulations that have incrementally increased the scale of newer development downtown. The 1993 plan’s legacy can also be seen in the near ubiquitous presence of small and medium-sized ground-floor retail spaces. This was done by prohibiting residential use on the first floor.
The Urbanist has located every mixed-use and commercial project completed in Downtown Redmond since the turn of the century.
The first cluster of Downtown Redmond’s modern form was completed between 1999 and 2001, with the completion of the Avalon ParcSquare Apartments, Redmond Town Square, and Frazer Court. At 16075/16080 NE 85th Street, the Avalon ParcSquare Apartments is a collection of four four-story multifamily buildings with 124 homes, 6,372 square feet of retail space, and 149 parking stalls. At 8201 164th Ave NE, Redmond Town Square is a three-story, 65,584 square feet office building. At 16275 NE 85th Street, Frazer Court is a 59-unit, four-story two building condominium complex with 60 parking stalls.
A long streak broken by a pandemic
From 2004 to 2020, Downtown Redmond saw a continuous streak of mixed-use completions. In that timespan, over 40 new mid-rise buildings were erected. Major projects that completed in this period include the Redmond Park and Ride transit-oriented development (TOD) project and River Park Development, both completed in 2009.
The TOD complex replaced Redmond’s old surface park and ride with a 385 parking stall, elevated parking garage and the Veloce Apartments. The three-building, six-story, apartment complex has 322 units, 11,751 square feet of commercial space, and 130 parking stalls.
The River Park Development built out five buildings with a total of 750 parking stalls. It’s made up of a 106,910 square foot office/medical building, three apartment buildings, and a 149-room Hyatt House hotel with 4,100 sq feet of restaurant/retail space. The River Park Apartments have 319 homes and 3,580 square feet of retail space.
A crescendo of more than 30 other projects have been completed around these two pioneering projects. In total, these 38 commercial, mixed-use, or residential projects have added over 5,300 new residences, over 343,000 square feet of commercial space, over 6,400 parking stalls, and 486 hotel rooms to Downtown Redmond between 1999 and 2020.
A Great Urban Foundation
Mapping all this development really shows how tightly packed this development has been in Downtown Redmond. A keen observer might notice that the light rail station isn’t exactly in the center of all this older development, the station is southeast of most of this new urban fabric. This is a side effect of older plans preferring office development in the center of downtown and the lack of office development thereof. Visitors will need to make a little jaunt northwest to find the more established mixed-use core of Downtown Redmond.
However, many new projects have brought fresh development to the immediate station area of Downtown Redmond Station. Many projects are also under construction or in planning, they’ll also flesh out the immediate station area. We’ll cover that next.
In case you’re interested…
For those curious about those 30 plus projects, they’re below…
- Delano Apartments / 7805 170th Place NE
- 126-unit, four-story, three building apartment complex with 191 parking stalls.
- Completed in two phases, 2004 and 2009
- The Cleveland / 16141 Cleveland Street
- 84-unit, six-story mixed-use building with 2,512 square feet of commercial space and 111 parking stalls.
- Completed in 2006
- Urbane Redmond / 8296 160th Ave NE
- 22-unit, five-story, three building mixed-use complex with 1,953 square feet of commercial space and 31 parking stalls.
- Completed in 2007
- Redmond 160 East / 16095 Cleveland Street
- 115-unit, six-story mixed-use building with 7,408 square feet of commercial space and 121 parking stalls.
- Completed 2009
- Redmond 160 West / 16015 Cleveland Street
- 135-unit, six-story mixed-use building with 5,553 square feet of commercial space and 174 parking stalls.
- Completed in 2010
- Porch+Park / 16050 Cleveland Street
- 106-unit, six-story mixed-use building with 9,178 square feet of commercial space and 93 sparking stalls.
- Completed in 2010
- Evergreen Medical Center / 8980 161st Ave NE
- Four-story, 48,822 square feet medical building.
- Completed in 2011
- Redmond Square Apartments / 7977 170th Ave NE
- 154-unit, six-story, two building apartment complex with 193 parking stalls.
- Completed in 2012
- Vision 5 Apartments / 8525 163rd Court NE
- 96-unit, five-story mixed-use building with 860 square feet of commercial space with 40 parking stalls.
- Allez Apartments / 8397 158th Ave NE
- 148-unit, seven-story mixed-use building with 3,000 square feet of commercial space with 201 parking stalls.
- Completed in 2014
- The Luke Apartments / 8280 164th Ave NE
- 208-unit, six-story mixed-use building with 2,335 square feet of commercial space with 228 parking stalls.
- Completed in 2014
- Old Town Loft Apartments / 16175 Cleveland Street
- 149-unit, six-story mixed-use building with 7,625 square feet of commercial space with 189 parking stalls.
- Completed in 2014
- Elan Redmond / 16325 Cleveland Street
- 134-unit, six-story mixed-use building with 7,796 square feet of commercial space with 183 parking stalls.
- Completed in 2014
- Milehouse / 8300 160th Ave NE
- 177-unit, seven-story mixed-use building with 2,200 square feet of commercial space with 181 parking stalls.
- Completed in 2015
- Core 83 Apartments / 16590 NE 83rd Street
- 120-unit, five-story apartment building with 151 parking stalls.
- Completed in 2015
- The Carter on the Park / 7508 159th Place NE
- 180-unit, six-story apartment building with 185 parking stalls.
- Completed in 2016
- Providence John Gabriel House / 8632 160th Ave NE
- 75-unit, five-story mixed-use building with 17,122 square feet of commercial space and 85 parking stalls.
- Completed in 2017
- Station House / 16550 NE 83rd Street
- 196-unit, six-story apartment building with 181 parking stalls.
- Completed in 2017
- The Triangle / 16450 Redmond Way
- 195-unit, six-story mixed-use building with 4,775 square feet of commercial space with 195 parking stalls.
- Completed in 2017
- Archer Hotel / 7200 164th Ave NE
- 160 room, seven-story hotel with 170 parking stalls.
- Completed in 2017
- Heron Flats & Lofts / 7662 159th Place NE
- 95-unit, six-story apartment building with 104 parking stalls.
- Completed in 2017
- Ravello Apartments / 16180 NE 80th Street
- 106-unit, six-story mixed-use building with 827 square feet of commercial space and 85 parking stalls.
- Completed in 2017
- 162Ten Ecoflats / 16210 NE 80th Street
- 96-unit, six-story apartment building with 30 parking stalls.
- Completed in 2017
- Everlight Apartments / 8709 161st Ave NE
- 300-unit, five-story apartment building with 303 parking stalls.
- Completed in 2018
- Edge Apartments / 8356 165th Ave NE
- 104-unit, five-story apartment building with 118 parking stalls.
- Completed in 2018
- Talisman Apartments / 7405 168th Ave NE
- 286-unit, six-story apartment building with 10,896 square feet of commercial space and 526 parking stalls.
- Completed in 2018
- Radiate Apartments / 15808 Bear Creek Parkway
- 360-unit, six-story, two building mixed complex with 1,622 square feet of commercial space and 355 parking stalls.
- Complete in 2018
- Blackbird Apartments / 7601 159th Place NE
- 154-unit, six-story apartment building with 150 parking stalls.
- Completed in 2018
- Hilton Garden Inn / 16630 Redmond Way
- 177 room six-story hotel with 124 parking stalls.
- Completed in 2019
- Modera River Trail / 15881 NE 85th Street
- 233-unit, six-story mixed-use building with 5,020 square feet of commercial space and 218 parking stalls.
- Completed in 2020
- Zephyr on the Park Apartments / 8020 161st Ave NE
- 193-unit, eight-story mixed-use building with 3,878 square feet of commercial space and 191 parking stalls.
- Completed 2020
- Aria Redmond / 7705 168th Ave NE
- 102-unit, seven-story mixed-use building with 2,161 square feet of commercial space and 101 parking stalls.
- Completed 2020
Not included are numerous townhouse projects completed around Downtown Redmond.
The Urbanist staff occasionally teams up to cover breaking news or tackle large projects. See more about our team on the staff page.
