Seattle Sweet Digs

June 30, 2008

Factoria Redevelopment Begins…FINALLY!

It’s happening. The Eastside is changing. Factoria is coming to life. On a recent trip to the running track at Newport High School, I stumbled upon proposed land action signs posted around the current (and rather dumpy) Factoria Mall. Rumors have circulated for more than a year that the mall would get an extreme makeover, which would include U-Village-like outdoor shopping, upscale restaurants and modern condominiums. 

Now with official City of Bellevue signs posted, architects assigned to Factoria mall, Kimco Redevelopment Group, are moving forward with the redesign to create Marketplace at Factoria. Target is re-situating. Grazie Ristorante Italiano closed its doors on June 29 to make way for Target. Torero’s is upgrading locations and moving into the old Billy McHale’s building.  

This is a hallelujah for homeowners in the area. It’s also a sign of relief for the company remodeling the apartments just across the street. One week ago, they were advertising the sale price of the “luxury apartment homes” in the mid $200’s. Now with the mall’s projected completion sometime in 2009, the developers have decided to lease the apartments. SMART MOVE! They will be able to capitalize on the inflated rental market and then sell the apartments for probably much more than originally projected.   

Nearly 30 homes within one mile of Factoria mall are currently listed for sale on Redfin. Half of those homes have been on the market for more than 45 days. If possible, it might be a good idea for them to hold on the property for at least another eight months to allow the public more time to understand the value of Factoria homes. If the graph below is an accurate representation of the area, Kimco isn’t going to let this cash cow fail.

Here’s a look at the Marketplace at Factoria project demographics.

Project Demographics

  1 Mile 3 Miles 5 Miles
Total Population 9,661 84,988 180,846
Total Households 4,127 34,603 73,546
Average Household Income $95,331 $109,254 $110,702
Median Household Income $76,838 $83,317 $84,992

Graph provided by Kimco Redevelopment Group 

Posted by Tera Randall on June 30, 2008 11:00 AM | del.icio.us | Digg

  • As promised earlier, I have posted a new update on the situation at Factoria over at my Blog:

    http://thesledgehammer.wordpre...

    Most of this is stuff that is already known, but in addition to the Target planning to move to a new location out in the parking lot where Gtazie and Torero's reside now, I found evidence of building permit activity with the city of Bellevue (but few useful details) that suggest that the Safeway will be moving to a newly constructed store as well (if I had to guess, I'd say this will most likely be over next to the planned condos, near the location of the soon-to-be demolished old Mervyn's store.)

    The update can be found here:

    http://thesledgehammer.wordpre...
  • tera.randall
    Hi Won:

    Exactly. Well said. The location is superb as it is close to large businesses (T-Mobile, Boeing, MSFT, Expedia…) and high density neighborhoods from Renton to Mercer Island.

    Literally the redevelopment signs state the new mall will create a smoother pedestrian flow. AKA – the redesign will make people buy more.
  • Won Chang
    Factoria mall has not been a popular or busy place despite of its prime location and the population surrounding it. It's because it is not an one-stop shopping place. It needs more variety of shopping catagories. It's too limited compare to the size of it. Hopefully this change will accommodate more one-stop shopping needs.
  • I believe that most of the updates in the Nordstrom Rack store were more cosmetic (signage changes) than anything. I don't shop there all that often, so I probably wouldn't notice a lot of the changes anyway.

    I took a trip over there today to grab a few new photos, and check up on things. Inside the mall, you can see a number of tenants being moved from the soon-to-be redeveloped areas into the area that will remain as enclosed mall (Trade Secret, Claire's, Master Cuts and the shoe repair place are all moving, but I'm not sure about the Greek Cafe, Radio Shake, Pearle or the jewelry store.) The space that used to be the hallway from the main entrance to Lamonts/Gottschalks was being turned into a new store space as well, but I didn't see anything about a tenant yet.

    At some point this week, I think I'll put together a new update on my Blog with this info, as well as some other things that I found.
  • Hi Brian,

    The sign posted on the Grazie door indicates the restaurant is closing to make room for Target's relocation, which will be closer to the road and Nordstrom Rack. Torero's has a banner sign on its front door letting customers know it is moving to the old Billy McHale's building. I, too, thought they would have demolished the building, but I guess Torero saw some beauty in it.

    RE the Nordstrom Rack remodel – I really don’t understand it. I shopped at the store before and after and did not notice any improvements. Did you?!?

    I’d love to see another update on the mall redevelopment. Maybe you can dig up some more juicy information.
  • Correction:

    while the Nordstrom Rack, TJMaxx and DSW Shoes were specifically listed. I should also note that the Nordstrom Rack store has done sone recent remodeling as well, so I suspect they're not going anywhere for a while.
  • First of all, thanks for the link. I've been going to this mall for years now (less so these days now since the Game Plays arcade shut down,) and although the place hasn't declined to nearly the extent that Totem Lake Mall over in Kirkland has (that one is also apparently headed for a major overhaul in the near future,) it sure hasn't thrived either.

    Second of all, where did you get the info that the Target store was moving? I hadn't heard this before, although I did note that on the redevelopment site plans the current space occupied by the Target was listed with the generic "anchor store" label while the Nordstrom Rack, TJMaxx and DSW Shoes (the latter two having taken over the vacated Lamonts/Gottschalks space.) I also assumed that the Billy McHales space would be demolished in the redevelopment based on the site plans, so I suspect things may be changing there.

    I've been meaning to do an update on the Factoria Mall redevelopment; I should probably go ahead and do that this week since I've got some time on my hands.

    Thanks again,
    -Brian
    http://thesledgehammer.wordpre...
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