Brand new construction and cranes will immediately greet light rail riders exiting from the Downtown Redmond light rail station, set to open this Saturday. This activity is a continuation of a 30-year effort to establish a true downtown for the city, catalyzed by light rail’s arrival. In our last story on Downtown Redmond, we detailed the neighborhood’s transformation from 1999-2021.
Like its neighbors Bellevue and Kirkland, Redmond has been transforming its downtown with dense development. However, Downtown Redmond has predominantly attracted residential projects with ground floor retail. Only three office projects have been built since 1999, meanwhile over 30 mixed-use residential projects have been completed over that span of time.
Covid-19 put a brief pause on this transformation, but the pipeline to get units open has kicked back into gear. Beyond what’s visible on the ground, there are also big projects in planning and development, including the first projects in Downtown Redmond to potentially reach 10 stories.
The Newest Completions
Openings resumed in 2023 with Polaris at Together Center (16255 NE 87th Street), a two-building 280-unit six-story mixed use complex with 35,188 square feet of commercial space and 228 parking stalls. In 2025, The Charles (8005 161st Ave NE), a 246-unit eight-story mixed-use building with 3,905 square feet of commercial space and 201 parking stalls opened. It added the newest building to encircle Downtown Park.
Back in 2024, the first Eastline building, Eastline Grand, directly adjacent to the light rail station opened. Phase 2, Eastline Central, completed in 2025. The two building six-story mixed-use complex (16502 & 16595 Redmond Way) contains 623 units, over 30,000 square feet of commercial space, around 600 parking stalls, and a “woonerf”-style pedestrian street.
What’s Under Construction
Nearly completed is Broadstone Vega (16135 NE 8th Street), a two-building eight-story mixed-use complex with 362 units, 33,800 square feet of commercial space, and 393 parking stalls. Another two building mixed-use complex is under construction at 16771 Redmond Way. AMLI Redmond Way’s five and seven-story buildings will have 374 units, 7,514 square feet of commercial space, and 442 parking stalls across.
The newest construction project underway is at 16350 NE 80th Street, where an eight-story residential building with 217 units and 204 parking stalls is underway. Also under construction are 14 townhomes at 7962-88 170th Ave NE, one of many townhouse projects that have occurred in and around Downtown Redmond.
What may be next
The biggest projects in Downtown Redmond are under consideration now. The two biggest are proposing to redevelop some of the densest character of the old downtown. Chelsea Square II is considering demolition of 113 existing low-rise apartments. The Redmond Town Center Master Plan is considering a mix of redevelopment of commercial space and surface parking in the existing Redmond Town Center.
Chelsea Square II is a mixed-use development considering a two-phased development with around 733 units at 16340 NE 83rd Street. For phase one, the developer is considering an eight-story mixed use building with 390 units, parking, and some ground floor retail space. Phase two may have 342 units, around 7,800 square feet of commercial space and parking in an eight-story building.
The Redmond Town Center Plan has laid out two approaches to updating the Redmond Town Center. One is considering a residential heavy approach with 942 units and 38,560 square feet of commercial space and the other is office heavy with 424 units and 563,270 square feet of commercial space. Both options would place residences in three seven-story mixed-use buildings and add two stories to the existing two-story parking garage. Two 12-story buildings are where the plan weighs the addition of either residences or offices.
Other planning and permitting include…
- Cascade View East / 16310 NE 80th Street
- 270-unit, eight-story residential building with 260 parking stalls
- The Stelvio / 15815 Bear Creek Way
- 48-unit, six-story mixed-use building with some retail and 53 parking stalls
- 16701 NE 79th Street
- 180-unit, six-story mixed-use building with some retail and parking
- Cleveland Street Development / 16330 Cleveland Street
- 110-unit building some some retail and parking
- Cleveland / 16701 Cleveland Street
- 121-unit, six-story mixed-use building with 3,212 square feet of commercial space and 72 parking stalls.
- Plymouth Redmond Supportive Housing / 16725 Cleveland Street
- 100-unit, six-story mixed-use building with 2,150 square feet of commercial space.
- Anderson Park Apartments / 16912 NE 79 Street
- 96-unit, five-story residential building with 75 parking stalls.
- Mount Anderson
- 40- to 50-unit, seven-story condominium building
Numerous townhouse and small multifamily buildings are also being planned in and around Downtown Redmond.
Quantifying Downtown Redmond’s Transformation
With the five completions since the Covid-19 lockdown, Redmond is up to 43 major mid-rise project completions since 1999. That is another 1,245 units, over 71,000 square feet of commercial space, and over 1,100 parking stalls. This totals more than 6,500 residential units, over 415,000 square feet of commercial space, and over 7,500 parking stalls completed in Redmond from 1999 to the opening of the Downtown Station.
Soon to join these over 50 new mid-rise buildings in Downtown Redmond are five others under construction. The immediate pipeline of projects includes 953 units, over 52,000 square feet of commercial space, and more than 1,000 parking stalls.
Potentially down the pipeline are either around 2,300 units, over 580,000 square feet of commercial space, and likely over 1,000 parking stalls or around 2,800 units, over 60,000 square feet of commercial space, and likely over 1,000 parking stalls. This’ll depend on the direction of the Redmond Town Center Master Plan, projects at this stage of the planning and permitting process don’t always make it across the finish line.
Mapping it all
What’s Next
Redmond’s latest comprehensive plan is setting the course of Redmond’s next incremental increase in zoning capacity in its downtown. The allowance for 12 story buildings is expanding from just the Town Center to a similarly sized area north of the light rail station, in a proposed transit-oriented development (TOD) focus area. Eight-story zoning is set to expand to the vast majority of the rest of Downtown.
Keep an eye on Downtown Redmond, its downtown has rapidly transformed with a skyline, albeit a short one, potentially on deck.
The Urbanist staff occasionally teams up to cover breaking news or tackle large projects. See more about our team on the staff page.
