Following the day’s sessions on Thursday, September 4, IRDC attendees will spend the afternoon exploring two of greater Seattle’s most successful retail developments— Bellevue Square east of the city and University Village near the University of Washington campus—as well as

Choose one of three, 1-1/2-hour guided tours when you register for the conference:

Bellevue Square/Lincoln Square/Bellevue Place

One of the highest-grossing retail centers in North America, Bellevue Square began as a 16-store, open-air shopping center in the 1940s. Sixty plus years and several remodels later, the now-enclosed, 1.3 million-square-foot shopping center sits adjacent to its sister properties, upscale mixed-use developments Lincoln Square and Bellevue Place. The Bellevue Collection, as it’s known today, covers four blocks and includes 250 shops, 19 restaurants, a 16-screen cinema, 700 luxury hotel rooms, a 28-story office tower (occupied by Eddie Bauer and Microsoft), luxury condominiums and 10,000 free parking spaces—a veritable city unto itself, with more development underway.

We’ll travel by bus across Lake Washington to Bellevue Square, where vice president of marketing Jennifer Leavitt will walk us through the considerable changes the properties of Kemper Development Company have seen in the last decade. She’ll include a quick review of the $40 million renovation currently underway at Bellevue Square, the addition of luxury to the merchandise mix, and the future expansion of Lincoln Square to include an additional 1.5 million square feet.

University Village

Just north of downtown Seattle, near the University of Washington campus, lies another redevelopment success story—University Village. Built in 1956 on 24 acres, this open-air shopping center held a small collection of local chains that included a QFC grocery (a regional division of Kroger). The transformation began in 1993 when the QFC chairman and a partner bought the property and restored its “village” sense of place with the addition of canopies, boutique storefronts, fountains, whimsical sculptures, street furniture, custom oil-rubbed bronze light fixtures, an abundance of trees and plants and an enhanced internal pedestrian path.

Today’s mix of 100+ upscale retailers—equal parts national chain and local gem—has made “U-Village” one of the most successful lifestyle retail centers in the Pacific Northwest. Even the QFC flagship now sitting on an adjacent lot is a design and customer-amenity standout. The store’s café, open 24 hours, features a fireplace, flat-screen TV and free Wi-Fi.

We’ll travel by bus to University Village, where Susie Plummer, vice president and general manager of the development, will lead our tour.

Walking Tour: Downtown Seattle Architecture

Within a few blocks of the conference hotel, the Grand Hyatt Seattle, lie some of the Pacific Northwest’s most interesting (and eccentric) architectural treasures. This walking tour, led by Seattle-based NBBJ architects and designers, will give IRDC attendees a local—and professional—perspective on a variety of spaces, from internationally recognized landmarks to popular local architectural gems.

Rem Koolhaas/OMA’s 11-story oblique glass and steel Seattle Central Library, completed in 2004, still challenges the public perception of library space while Turgeon-Raine Jewelers lures customers to its luxurious interior by tempting passers-by with minimal jewelry displays in elegant, yet modern, street-facing jewel boxes.

Experience inviting and interactive public spaces which have been largely influenced by the people who live and work in the area, along with intimate and refined retail areas carefully designed and executed to provide a feeling of luxurious retreat from the hustle and bustle of downtown Seattle.

Following the walking tour, NBBJ will host a reception, cocktail hour and tour of its design studio in Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood. The offices are located in Alley 24, one of Seattle’s first gold LEED-certified, mixed-use developments, which opened in 2006 and was designed by NBBJ. The office building operates at half the energy consumption of average office space in the city and has an incredible rooftop garden which affords a beautiful view of downtown Seattle.