BELLVUE, WA—Major Northwest real estate executive Kemper Freeman has green-lighted a $1.2-billion mixed-use expansion to the popular Bellevue Collection shopping destination.

Kemper Development Company said today plans to add 2 million square feet of retail, office, hotel, residential, dining and entertainment space to The Bellevue, bolstering the “live, work, play” concept of its Bellevue Square, Bellevue Place and Lincoln Square properties. Located in the wealthy Seattle suburb of Bellevue, the super-regional shopping destination is the centerpiece of this growing community, drawing more than 22 million shoppers annually from a six-state region and Canada.

The Bellevue Collection retailers consistently outperform other regional shopping centers with retail sales at $853 per square foot — double the International Council of Shopping Center's industry average. In addition, many have cited The Bellevue Collection as a catalyst for the city's growth. Now home to such innovative corporations as Microsoft, Expedia and T-Mobile, Bellevue and the Eastside region boast an impressive average household income of $120,000. Noting the area's growing concentration of affluent shoppers, Kemper Development Company Chairman and CEO, Kemper Freeman, says that consumer demand for aspirational and luxury brands has skyrocketed in recent years. “With the influx of high net worth individuals and the area's booming tech market, luxury retailers have been circling the Pacific Northwest region in search of high profile locations for some time,” says Freeman, the third generation to head the company that bears his name. “With nearly 95,000 square feet of new, high profile, street front and additional interior space, our expansion will give luxury retailers the presence they have been looking for, and the sophisticated Northwest consumers the shopping experience they crave.”