Greater Seattle's first post-war shopping center was developed on a 34.3-acre site. This was located 9 miles east of Seattle's center city, in an unincorporated section of King County. BELLEVUE (SHOPPING) SQUARE was designed by the Bliss Moore, Junior & Associates firm and developed by Kemper Freeman, Senior and his father Miller. The Freeman's obtained permission from the US government to build a movie theater, utilizing the scarce construction materials available, in 1945.
The Sterling Entertainment Organization Bel-Vue Theatre opened on March 20, 1946. A 1-level (20,000 square foot), Seattle-based Frederick & Nelson welcomed first shoppers on August 20, 1946. This store was the first suburban shopping center branch of Chicago-based Marshall Field & Company (with F & N having been a subsidiary since 1929).
A center-wide grand opening was held as part of Frederick & Nelson's dedication. Eight stores and services set up shop. These included the Clark's Crabapple Restaurant, Candy Kane Restaurant, First National Bank of Bellevue, Johnson's Ice Cream and Bellevue Square Barber Shop. The Food Center supermarket opened its doors on August 24, 1946 and re-opened, as an A & P supermarket, on March 3, 1949.
In March 1953, the shopping complex became part of the newly-incorporated city of Bellevue. Additional stores were added over the following years. Frederick & Nelson moved into a 3-level (158,000 square foot) building on August 8, 1956. Nordstrom's Shoes made its debut in July 1958. J.C. Penney dedicated a 3-level (52,200 square foot) store on August 7, 1958.
By the late 1960s, the "SHOPPING" reference had been dropped from the official name of BELLEVUE SQUARE. It had been expanded into a fifty-store retail hub. Tenants included Karl Larson's Village Shoes, Florsheim Shoes, Mamselle & Mr. Paul's Hair Design, Pacific National Bank and a J.J. Newberry 5 & 10. A 2-level (67,500 square foot) Nordstrom Best was dedicated on November 5, 1967. This store was refitted with a Nordstrom nameplate in December 1972.
Major shopping centers in the BELLEVUE SQUARE trade area included CROSSROADS CENTER (1964) {3.2 miles northeast, in Bellevue}, TOTEM LAKE MALL (1973) {6.5 miles northeast, in Kirkland}, FACTORIA MALL (1975) {3 miles southeast, also in Bellevue} and -eventually- REDMOND TOWN CENTER (1997) {5.2 miles northeast, in Redmond}.
Kemper Development embarked on a total rebuild of BELLEVUE SQUARE in 1979. An official ground breaking was held on February 29, 1980. Sections were demolished as a fully-enclosed mall was built. The Frederick & Nelson and Nordstrom structures were retained and became part of the new mall.
Three new anchor stores were built. The first, a 3-level (180,000 square foot) Nordstrom, was dedicated on November 5, 1981. J.C. Penney left their circa-1958 building and set up a temporary store in a single level of Frederick & Nelson. A 3-level (200,000 square foot) J.C. Penney welcomed first shoppers on August 18, 1982. Seattle-based The Bon Marche opened a 3-level (180,000 square foot) store on August 1, 1984. When all construction dust settled, BELLEVUE SQUARE encompassed 1,090,000 leasable square feet and housed 145 stores and services.
In 1982, Frederick & Nelson began operating out of two BELLEVUE SQUARE buildings; their circa-1956 store and the circa-1967 Nordstrom Best building. The F & N chain eventually went under. The BELLEVUE store closed for good on May 25, 1992. New York City-based Saks Fifth Avenue was courted as a replacement, but the deal fell through. It was, then, decided not to lease the anchor space to a single retailer.
The building was sectioned into forty-five inline stores The first opened in August 1993. Tenants would eventually include F.A.O. Schwarz, Ann Taylor and Brooks Brothers. The basement of the old F & N was utilized as a (51,000 square foot) The Bon Marche Home Store. The new Nordstrom was eventually expanded by 90,000 square feet.
An auxiliary shopping complex, known as THE CORNER AT BELLEVUE SQUARE, was completed in the year 2000. It encompassed 120,000 square feet on 2 levels. Stores included Crate & Barrel, P.F. Chang's China Bistro and ZTejas Southwestern Grill. The mall now spanned 1.3 million square feet and housed over 200 stores and services.
The Bon Marche was rebranded as a Bon-Macy's on August 1, 2003 and received a bona fide Macy's nameplate on March 6, 2005. A 40 million dollar renovation of the shopping venue got underway in 2007. No new retail area was added, but several of the major inline stores, such as Williams-Sonoma, Banana Republic and Pottery Barn, expanded into adjoining space. Likewise, the interior of the mall was given a face lift. New flooring, lighting, seating and landscaping were installed. The project was completed in November 2008.
J.C. Penney had operated stores at BELLEVUE SQUARE since 1958. The circa-1982 store was shuttered on November 1, 2014. The building was gutted and reconfigured as the "South Common Shops," which housed 2 levels of inline stores.
A (16,000 square foot), Tokyo-based Uniqlo ["yoo-nee-klo"] became the first to open for business, on November 6, 2015. It was followed by a 1-level (26,000 square foot), Spain-based Zara, which debuted on November 11, 2015. On September 14, 2016, a 1-level (30,500 square foot) 365 by Whole Foods Market welcomed first shoppers.
Sources:
The Seattle Times
The Seattle Star
The Catholic Northwest Progress (Seattle, Washington)
Architectural Forum, The Magazine of Building / April 1947 / https://usmodernist.org
Eastside Heritage Center / Bellevue, Washington
https://www.bygonely.com
https://kdc.bellevuecollection.com / Kemper Development Company
https://www.bellevuesquare.com
https://www.cinematreasures.org
http://www.neighborhoods.com / Bellevue Square History
http://www.historylink.org /Essay # 4143/Alan J. Stein / February 2003
"Bellevue: Its First 100 Years" / Lucille McDonald / Bellevue Historical Society / 2000
https://kingcounty.gov / King County, Washington
