What’s going on with Parkplace?
It’s a question we hear around the community on a regular basis. And it’s a good one.
Parkplace, at the intersection of Sixth Street and Central Way, is one of the first areas people see as they enter the downtown Kirkland area. It’s also arguably the city’s most significant proposed development. It’s a major city attraction and a big part of the city’s economic engine.
Developer Touchstone Corp. plans to redevelop Parkplace Center with a mixed-use project that includes seven buildings up to eight stories high; and approximately 1.8 million square feet of office, retail, hotel, sports club and supermarket. This includes 3,500 underground parking spaces and 160,000 square feet of public space.
Residents have eagerly waited for the project to break ground and new tenants to flow in since the city approved the Comprehensive Plan and zoning updates for the project five years ago.
But the project hit several barriers, including ongoing reviews and appeals to the city’s Design Review Board’s decisions, among others. Property owners near the proposed project also filed suit against the city and developer in 2010. The lawsuit was finally settled in 2011 to avoid a trial.
For nearly two years, the community has not heard so much as a hammer drop on new development.
And that brings us back to the question – what’s going on with Parkplace?
Angela Ruggeri, a project planner for the city, said she hasn’t heard anything new with the project. A-P Hurd, vice president of Touchstone, said the company is “actively working” on the project.
“We’re working on a phasing plan, talking to some tenants …” said Hurd.
But she declined to comment further.
What tenants the developer has spoken with remains unknown. When the company will apply for a building permit remains unknown.
And so that begs a new question – could Parkplace become the new Totem Lake Malls?
We certainly don’t want to see it happen. City officials have referred to the malls as the “sleeping giant.” Others in the community have dubbed the malls “the albatross” around the city’s neck and the “white elephant.”
A juxtaposition of both properties illustrates some eerie similarities.
Like the rundown malls, Parkplace is regarded as being outmoded, dating to 1982. The malls opened just about a decade earlier.
Parkplace once housed a Frederick & Nelson discount outlet as among its main tenants; the Totem Lake Malls’s main attraction was Lamont’s. The anchor tenants for both properties are now long gone.
Both Parkplace and the malls now trail such competitors as the Redmond Town Center.
And similar to the legal hurdles that Parkplace has finally cleared, the Totem Lake Malls are currently going through some legal maneuvering between the malls’ co-owners.
But both properties also have potential. And like others in the community who share their annoyance over Parkplace with us week after week, we too hope to see something happen. Soon.
It’s time to take that gear out of park and move forward with Parkplace development before the property ends up just another dead shopping center in Kirkland.
