Bellevue deputy mayor says city is ‘poised to really take off’ in coming years
May 26, 2021, 5:07 AM | Updated: 10:14 am
Bellevue, Washington. (Chris Machielse, Flickr Creative Commons)
The deputy mayor of Bellevue says the city is in good shape to recover post-pandemic, adding that it’s “poised to really take off” in the next few years.
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During Tuesday’s state of the city address, Deputy Mayor Jared Nieuwenhuis said most of Bellevue’s available office space is leased, and the economy should only get better with Amazon and Facebook both planning major expansions.
“We’ve got nine million square feet of office space, and 90% of it is already pre-leased,” he said.
The Bellevue 600 site now under construction will feature two office buildings for Amazon with a capacity of more than 7,000 employees. The expansion in Bellevue is part of Amazon’s effort to eventually bring 25,000 jobs to the area, and they’re not the only ones.
“Facebook invested close to $400 million in the Spring District, so they’re very bullish on Bellevue,” Nieuwenhuis said.
The deputy mayor shared that the city’s unemployment rate is at 4.4%, which he says is “quite good” compared to other cities of similar size both regionally and nationally.
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He also says the city’s new economic plan calls for a focus on tourism, small businesses, and the “creative economy” to continue economic growth in Bellevue.
