Village at Totem Lake LLC has announced its completed purchase of the Totem Lake Malls in Kirkland, with the intention of redeveloping the 40-year-old center to give it a village-style feel.
The updated masterplan calls for a mixed-use development including a theatre‐anchored center with retail, residential, entertainment and office space. It will also include surface parking and other parking structures, with vehicle entrances to the mall from Totem Lake Boulevard, 120th Avenue Northeast and Northeast Totem Way. The Village at Totem Lake LLC is a joint venture partnership between CenterCal and PCCP, LLC.
“The existing Totem Lake Mall represents an outdated shopping experience,” CenterCal President Jean Paul Wardy said in a press release announcing the purchase. “We are very excited to bring a modern ‘gathering place’ experience to Kirkland, and we are confident the community is going to love its new favorite place.”
The master plan anticipates Metro Transit will add a bus stop along 120th Avenue Northeast, the location of a joint effort between the city and CenterCal as part of a redesign in order to make it more friendly to pedestrians that could include more sidewalks and walkways. In all, the new mall is expected to include one million square feet of space.
Totem Lake Malls has remained relatively empty for years due to the economic downturn and litigation between the former property owners.
In anticipation of the purchase, the council voted to extend the redevelopment agreement it approved in 2006. Centercal requested that the city do so in order to assure that it will retain the same development standards and have the city’s commitment of $15 million for public improvements associated with redevelopment.
Before construction begins, the project will go through the design review process with the city, which has already approved an amendment to their conceptional development plan. Planning Director Eric Shields has previously said that the city is expected to make other amendments as part of the design review process. Once the design review board approves the project, they will be able to obtain building permits.
CenterCal expects construction to begin in about a year.
Coventry Real Estate Advisors and Developers Diversified Realty purchased the Totem Lake Malls in 2004 from the California Public Employees’ Retirement System for $37 million, intending to redevelop the site. Instead, the site became entangled in a $500 million fraud lawsuit filed in New York state.
According to figures provided by CenterCal published in a Feb. 27 memo reviewing the fiscal analysis of the agreement, the first phase of their redevelopment is estimated to bring in roughly $1.4 million in sales tax revenue and a total tax revenue of $2.4 million, though BERK Consulting which contributed to the report had a smaller projection.
