The Beautiful View from Bellevue

Bellevue is a highly popular suburb of Seattle that is quickly growing and seeming to almost match in scale. Located just across Lake Washington from Seattle on the east side, Bellevue has been garnering interest as it spreads. Bellevue is becoming known as a boomburb, or an edge city to Seattle. A boomburb is a suburb that has morphed into a highly concentrated center of business and shopping districts outside of a large city. Bellevue is the second largest city center in Washington, and has been rated as the number one place to launch a business in 2008 by CNNMoney’s list. It was also placed 4th on the “best place to live in the United States.” Bellevue is a glowing, growing hub that is experiencing success on all fronts. Many people prefer Bellevue to Seattle, as Bellevue is newer, and even slightly more metropolitan. It is more business oriented, and people looking to begin a business should look no further than this city. Bellevue is French for “beautiful view,” and for good reason. The majority of the city has views over the ocean, and Seattle can be seen rising over the water. Bellevue also boasts a huge residential district as well as the business, shopping and downtown centers. Bellevue has a huge range of living opportunities, ranging from the some of the most upscale, luxurious homes in the whole state, to the highly affordable family homes and condos. There is a large amount of waterfront and waterview homes, all facing west over the water to enjoy some truly stunning sunset views. Whether you want a condo in the middle of downtown Bellingham or a luxury home in the middle of a beautiful residential community, Bellevue has it all. Bellevue College and City University are both located in Bellevue, and both are known for their excellence. Bellevue College in particular, and they just recently turned into a four year institution and changed their name from Bellevue Community College. Serving approximately 35,000 students a year, this college is now the second largest institution for high education in the state. The Bellevue Arts and Crafts Fair has been a tradition since 1947, and is held in July. There is also the Bellevue Sculpture Exhibition that draws thousands of spectators to appreciate art done by artists around the world, and Strawberry Festival is a classic. Bellevue Square is visited by people all throughout the state, and has some of the most excellent shopping available. Beyond that, there are also three more major shopping hubs: Factoria Mall, Crossroads Mall and Overlake Shopping District. Interstate 90 and State Route 520 both go directly through Bellevue, making transportation easy and simple. It is a short jaunt over to downtown Seattle, and there is easy access to almost anywhere in the surrounding area. Bellevue is also known for its incredible public transportation and steps that the city takes to insure that it is green. Because Bellevue is newer, there are stricter and more efficient green laws in place making Bellevue an excellent place to live sustainably.