Kemper Completes Lincoln Square Acquisition, Names Manager

BELLEVUE, WA-Kemper Development Company has completed its acquisition of the stalled $360-million Lincoln Square development, one of the largest mixed-use developments under construction in the nation. When the 1.4-million-sf project is complete, the Bellevue, WA-based developer will control more than three million sf of office and retail space in three neighboring developments in the heart of Downtown.

Kemper acquired Lincoln Square from a group of investors led by Lend Lease Real Estate Investments’ Value Enhancement Fund IV. The purchase price was not disclosed. The project includes a 380,000-sf, multi-story retail podium with a 27-story office tower at one end and a 40-story hotel and condo tower at the other, all over a 2,142-slip underground parking garage that is nearly complete. The project got under way in 2000 and was halted in mid-2002 because of the economic downturn, leaving a hole in the heart of the city.

The project site is located at the corner of NE 8th Street and Bellevue Way. Across Bellevue Way is Kemper’s 1.3-million-sf Bellevue Square mall. Across NE 8th Street is Bellevue Place, Kemper’s 500,000-sf office and retail development that wraps around the Hyatt Regency Bellevue.