The Old Bellevue Block Losing Its Shops Is the One Main Street's New Rules Can't Touch

From the 103rd Avenue NE corner, the 10200 block of Main Street has been closing one storefront at a time. Glassybaby's glass votives left 10230 Main Street this summer. Veritables, the home furnishings and gift shop at 10220, closed on October 15 after 18 years. Matcha Magic at 10246 is down to its last few days, with a final day of November 1.

All three sit on a single redevelopment site. That site also happens to be the one stretch of Main Street outside the design rules Bellevue adopted this year to protect the street's small-shop character. The goodbyes are real. What happens to the rest of Main Street depends on rules being written right now, and the next step was scheduled for review this week.

One Block, One Project

Vander Hoek Corporation's North of Main is an eight-story residential building planned for Main Street and 103rd Avenue NE. Plans call for 176 market-rate apartments, 10,363 square feet of ground-floor commercial space and 154 parking stalls on about 0.71 acres. Every existing building on the site will be removed, Downtown Bellevue Network reported.

Here is where each business on or near the site stands as of late October 2026:

Earlier coverage of the project also named Araya's Place and Lavender Spa as businesses on the site.

Matcha Magic's departure stands out because Main Street is where the brand started. It opened in May 2022 in the former Jujubeet space and has since grown to cafes in Redmond, Capitol Hill, South Lake Union, New Orleans and Tempe. Its operator, Bellevue-based Conscious Hospitality Group, told Downtown Bellevue Network it is looking for a new Bellevue location. Veritables owner Marie Harris announced the closing on Instagram and wrote, "This is not the last chapter," according to the same outlet.

The block is emptying, but no construction date has been set. Vander Hoek's project page describes North of Main as "currently permitting" and gives no start date.

Why the New Rules Stop at This Block

On February 10, 2026, the Bellevue City Council adopted an interim control covering the Downtown-Old Bellevue district along Main Street from 100th Avenue to Bellevue Way. The city's ordinance explains the reasoning. The last historic-resource survey of Old Bellevue was finished in 1993 and updated in 1997. It found eight Main Street properties with historic or cultural value, and four of them have since been redeveloped or substantially altered. The city concluded that its existing rules were not enough to protect the district's identity.

For new redevelopment facing Main Street, the control requires:

• A public entrance on the first floor
• Doors and solid vertical façade elements no more than 30 feet apart
• Façades that line up with the buildings next door
• A cornice

When a building in the control area is more than 50 years old and is going to be demolished or have its façade significantly altered, a report is required before work begins. It documents the address, construction year, historic and recent uses, design and materials, and photographs of the building. To encourage preservation, the control awards 100 amenity bonus points for every $1,000 in documented construction cost spent preserving or protecting historic façades or other historic design features.

The first version drew feedback about compliance costs and unclear design requirements. In July the council amended the rules and extended them through February 2027, per the city's council roundup.

North of Main is exempt. Its application was vested under the earlier zoning, so the interim rules don't apply to it. The rules also don't require property owners to keep existing tenants. That combination explains the 10200 block. The closures there were already in motion before the city changed course, and the block that people are watching most closely is the one the new rules were never going to reach.

The Bellevue Way End Is Changing Too

At the west end of the district, the southeast corner of Bellevue Way SE and Main Street is heading toward demolition. Shri Krishna Bhavan, the South Indian restaurant at 13 Bellevue Way SE, has closed, and so has the 7-Eleven next door at 100 Bellevue Way SE. SRM Development's project at 12 Bellevue Way SE is a seven-story building with 376 market-rate apartments and ground-floor retail. The city approved its plans in July 2025. As of late August 2026, the developer was aiming to start construction late in the fourth quarter of this year, Downtown Bellevue Network reported.

Runberg Architecture Group designed the building as a gateway into downtown from the south. Its corner takes its shape from the fire lookout towers on Cascade foothills trails, and its glass-wrapped top floor looks over Meydenbauer Park toward Lake Washington. Bellevue Animal Hospital has already moved off the site. It relocated in 2025 to 1188 106th Ave NE, Suite 100B.

With North of Main at 103rd and SRM's project at Bellevue Way, the redevelopment now covers both ends of the walk most people take along Main Street.

What's Still Open, and What's Arriving

Between those two sites, Main Street is still busy. Gin & The Banker, the fine designer jewelry store run by La Ree founder Rachael Nov, lists its storefront at 10028 Main Street with daily hours. In March, Downtown Bellevue Network reported that construction had started on an expansion into a neighboring unit. No completion date has been given.

Bis on Main at 10213 Main Street is one of 16 Bellevue restaurants taking part in Seattle Restaurant Week, which runs through October 31 with menus priced from $20 to $65.

At 10145 Main Street, the former Adrian's Restaurant & Tequila Bar space has a new tenant lined up. Bar da Vila, a Brazilian restaurant, still shows "Coming Soon" on its site and has not announced an opening date.

Glassybaby stayed in Bellevue rather than leaving the city. Its new store at Design Market, across 116th Avenue NE from Overlake Hospital, is larger than the Main Street shop it occupied since October 2009.

Where the Permanent Version Gets Written

The interim control is temporary by design. The longer-term rules will come from Downtown Livability 2.0, a citywide update to the downtown land use code adopted in 2017. One of its stated goals is to "promote historic development patterns on Main St. in Old Bellevue." The first public draft was posted October 13. Main Street had already come up in March, when the council's housing code adoption included direction on upper-level stepbacks for Old Bellevue's Main Street.

Here is the timeline posted on the city's Downtown Livability 2.0 page:

1. May 5, 2026: City Council initiated the code amendment.
2. May 27, 2026: Planning Commission check-in.
3. June 15 and 17, 2026: In-person and virtual information sessions.
4. October 28, 2026: Planning Commission study session, scheduled as the commission's first review of the draft.
5. February 2027: The interim Main Street control is set to expire.

The city hasn't posted a final adoption date. The October 28 study session was set as the start of the commission's review, not its conclusion. The city invites written comments and spoken comments at Planning Commission meetings, and staff have offered to meet with community members who have questions about the draft.

That leaves a short list of dates. Seattle Restaurant Week ends October 31, Matcha Magic serves its last drinks on Main Street November 1, and SRM's target for starting construction at Bellevue Way falls before the end of the year. The rules for every Main Street storefront that isn't already vested will be shaped by the draft now in front of the Planning Commission.

This post is general information about Bellevue's Main Street rules, not legal advice. Property owners should confirm how the rules apply to them with the city or their own advisors.

If you own property near Main Street, or are deciding when to sell while the district changes, Craig Northwest Homes can walk you through what nearby redevelopment means for your timing. Get a free home consultation and we'll go over the details with you.