161st Street will punch straight through Redmond Way and B&B Auto to connect with Bear Creek Parkway. This red roofed, unsightly strip mall will be leveled. Redmond's first skyscraper (Cleveland building ) is in the background. (Taken from 161st / Redmond Way intersection.)Small businesses are just beginning to exit the older downtown strip malls of Redmond and more will follow. Downtown real estate is expensive so these shops are being forced out of their digs by "higher and better uses."
The historic and now unsightly "Redmond Shopping Square" (pictured above) is scheduled for demolition by 2009, according to tenants. The 58-year old 8-store strip mall is anchored by B&B Auto Parts, Frederick's Appliance Center and Parker Paint. It's at the intersection of Redmond Way and 161st St. According to tenants & historical society, "Sol" has owned the property since about 1955. Before that, I think it was a grocery store run by a Filipino farming family - but the Historical Society or Sol would know best.
I visited almost every store in the Square including having a savory lunch buffet at Kanishka Cuisine of India. Great food and I discovered taste buds never known! Sol wasn't happy when the city asked him to demolish his Square for the road. At last resort, the city had to "take" Sol's (with compensation) property because improving traffic circulation downtown is now critical. Luke at Frederick's Appliance said they were happy with the city's relocation support and terms.
The 161sth Street extension will move B&B, Frederick's, Parker Paint and Kanishka Cuisine of India out of the immediate downtown but I don't know what will happen to the smaller eastern shops. Rumor has it a "modern" retail and or parking may go in. Will our fair city convert 161st Street to an attractive, pedestrian friendly "promenade" with outdoor shops, book stands, dining, bicycle racks, and...? Is this an opportunity!
Where will the small businesses flee? It appears most prefer to be associated with Redmond, but downtown real estate is expensive ....up to 5 times more expensive than their strip mall digs, according to a tenant. The Bell-Red and Rose Hill areas were mentioned a lot. Parker Paint is planning to merge with their Bellevue Store when they move and focus more on retail business. I hoped for Kanishka Cuisine, they would move to the evolving Overlake urban"international district".
When my neighbors watch Black-tailed deer wander down 116th St. looking for a new forest home taken by redevelopment, I'm saddened. Fortunately, these small businesses aren't on the "endangered list" - in fact, I'm counting they will thrive. We WILL miss our "old friends" at the Redmond Shopping Square and look forward to rediscovering them when they find their new homes next year. In the meantime, this historic mall and their tenants will be in business all this year so stop by, and say hi!
The historic and now unsightly "Redmond Shopping Square" (pictured above) is scheduled for demolition by 2009, according to tenants. The 58-year old 8-store strip mall is anchored by B&B Auto Parts, Frederick's Appliance Center and Parker Paint. It's at the intersection of Redmond Way and 161st St. According to tenants & historical society, "Sol" has owned the property since about 1955. Before that, I think it was a grocery store run by a Filipino farming family - but the Historical Society or Sol would know best.
I visited almost every store in the Square including having a savory lunch buffet at Kanishka Cuisine of India. Great food and I discovered taste buds never known! Sol wasn't happy when the city asked him to demolish his Square for the road. At last resort, the city had to "take" Sol's (with compensation) property because improving traffic circulation downtown is now critical. Luke at Frederick's Appliance said they were happy with the city's relocation support and terms.
The 161sth Street extension will move B&B, Frederick's, Parker Paint and Kanishka Cuisine of India out of the immediate downtown but I don't know what will happen to the smaller eastern shops. Rumor has it a "modern" retail and or parking may go in. Will our fair city convert 161st Street to an attractive, pedestrian friendly "promenade" with outdoor shops, book stands, dining, bicycle racks, and...? Is this an opportunity!
Where will the small businesses flee? It appears most prefer to be associated with Redmond, but downtown real estate is expensive ....up to 5 times more expensive than their strip mall digs, according to a tenant. The Bell-Red and Rose Hill areas were mentioned a lot. Parker Paint is planning to merge with their Bellevue Store when they move and focus more on retail business. I hoped for Kanishka Cuisine, they would move to the evolving Overlake urban"international district".
When my neighbors watch Black-tailed deer wander down 116th St. looking for a new forest home taken by redevelopment, I'm saddened. Fortunately, these small businesses aren't on the "endangered list" - in fact, I'm counting they will thrive. We WILL miss our "old friends" at the Redmond Shopping Square and look forward to rediscovering them when they find their new homes next year. In the meantime, this historic mall and their tenants will be in business all this year so stop by, and say hi!
A native of Redmond owner of the EASTSIDE GYM ( 95st St. & Willows Rd.) first told me about the proposed extension of 161st St. The Gym is friendly & affordable & I can bike to it from my home on Ed. Hill. It was dis-located last year from a strip mall demolished to build a new Group Health clinic and multi-family housing. (near the construction cranes.)
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ReplyDelete2006-07-16 Nao notes re Redmond Shopping Square:
ReplyDeleteAs unattractive as it is, it was Redmond's first modern shopping center, built in 1955. Originally: the local ice skating pond in the winter and mosquito hatchery in warm months. Verify it was Clarence Barker’s junk yard before shopping center
2006-07-18 Dianna Broadie:
“maybe someday Redmond shopping square will come down. The City wants to put a road through but Sol Israel, the owner, has no intention of selling right now so the City is just waiting.
- compliments of Nao Hardy, co-founder of Redmond Historical Society
Hello? That strip mall is an eye-sore. Why are you so attached to an ugly monstrosity of poor architectural quality? The businesses seem to be well-supported in their relocation, and I look forward to better traffic flow and interesting new shops. Good riddance!
ReplyDeleteWhat is going on with the former Denny's restaurant and then Red Meat restaurant? And what about Valley Plumbing? They have moved on. This article also raises a question about the Subway restaurant, another eye-sore in the core downtown. And what about the Workshop Tavern? Will the new road way connecting to Bear Creek Parkway to eliminate eye-sore tavern? The railroad needs to be removed, as well, since it is no longer serving the Feed Store. Here is a nice map of this area:
ReplyDeletehttp://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&time=&date=&ttype=&q=workshop+tavern,+redmond,+wa+98052&ie=UTF8&ll=47.672843,-122.124324&spn=0.008626,0.014012&z=16&om=0
I am all for progress. But tearing down these "eyesores" for the sake of something shiny is not always a good thing. Redmond is quickly losing it's charecter - as to the question if it will be a nice pedestrian promenade? No it won't. If we do then it goes against all the rhetoric we heard in the recent campaign to focus on priorities like safety and lowering taxes.
ReplyDelete