Editor’s note: Brian Lutz, author of The Sledghammer – Version 2.0 blog, has agreed to share his research on the Totem Lake Mall with Kirkland Views. Brian has written this three-part article for us chronicling the mall’s past, present and possible future. 

The Future of Totem Lake Mall

Amid the ongoing decline of the Totem Lake Mall, the property was purchased by Developers Diversified Realty (DDR) in 2004 with an eye on redeveloping the property. An initial proposal for redevelopment was presented by DDR to the Kirkland City council in May of 2005, followed by a draft conceptual master plan presented to the Design Review board in September of that year (you can find a PDF of this plan here).

An updated version of the proposal was submitted to the DRB that November (link) and in January of 2006 a development agreement was approved by the Kirkland City Council. Since that time, the City has been awaiting submittal of a design review application for phase 1 of the redevelopment project and no further information is available. The City of Kirkland has a webpage that shows the current status of this, but aside from changing dates, there have been no updates to this page since January of 2006.

Under the original redevelopment proposal, the enclosed portion of the lower mall and the upper mall would be demolished and replaced. In an effort to improve the accessibility of the property and eliminate the separation between the two halves of the property, a new street was to be added through the middle of the former enclosed mall space, similar to the design of Redmond Town Center. In the lower mall portion of the property, the enclosed mall space was to be replaced by a number of smaller retail stores and 284 residential units. On the upper mall site plans called for several larger retail tenants, a six story office building and parking garage, and a movie theater.

Earlier this year, an updated site plan for the mall was posted on DDR’s webpage, reflecting a number of rather significant changes to the earlier site plan. The closures of the CompUSA and Rite Aid stores left that part of the mall vacant and unlikely to be reoccupied, so those structures would also be facing the wrecking ball under this plan, however the existing structures in the Northwest corner would still remain. In the upper mall, the changes are even more drastic. The office building and movie theater planned earlier have disappeared completely in this version, and the upper area is to be anchored by a 156,000 square foot major retailer (closer examination of the space shows details that strongly suggest that this might be a Target store) with multi-level parking above the store, and an 80,000 square foot multi-story anchor on the other side. In addition to these, this plan calls for a 45,000 square foot health club, and a number of smaller stores to fill in the rest of the space. The current Wells Fargo branch from the current mall would be relocated to a new structure in the parking lot of the lower mall, and the existing gas station and Shucks Auto Supply would both be replaced by new restaurants. Additional details on these two site plans can be found at this post on my Blog, which was made when this new site plan appeared on DDR’s webpage. Since that time, there have been a number of additional changes made to the plan.

Back in July, yet another potential site plan for the mall was posted on DDR’s webpage. For this version, most of the property seems to have remained untouched from the prior version, although the health club has disappeared (although more recent rumors have suggested that the Parkplace location of 24 Hour Fitness may be looking to make a move to here when that site gets redeveloped) and the smaller of the two major retail spaces in the upper mall has changed into a 3 story structure with two 20,000 square foot spaces on the ground level and two stores of 40,000 square feet each above. The residential parking garages also seem to have received modification, adding room for a number of additional small retail spaces at the ground level. As with earlier versions, the Car Toys, Ross and Famous Footwear stores will remain as they are currently under this plan. Further analysis of this site plan and comparison to earlier versions can be found here.

Assuming that the Totem Lake redevelopment does actually take place at some undetermined point in the near future, I would be interested to know what people would like to see here. With many of the major malls in the area rapidly moving upscale, it seems to me that there is a void being left behind for a neighborhood center like Totem Lake to fill, although it is clear that in the mall’s current form it is not going to be able to fill that void. I have to admit that being from Redmond, I may not know as much about the Totem Lake, Juanita and Kingsgate neighborhoods as I probably should. Would the neighborhoods be best served by a one-stop place for people to do their weekly shopping? Would a community center concept like the one that has worked so well at Crossroads work here as well? Do people here want a fashion-filled shopping center in their neighborhood to save the trip up to Alderwood or down to Southcenter? Is there something completely different that would work best for these neighborhoods?

With all this in mind, what exactly does the future hold for the Totem Lake Mall? At this point, it is far from certain. So far, not a shovel has been lifted on the redevelopment of the property, and it has proven surprisingly difficult to find much information on when it will be, or what will actually be here when everything is said and done. Aside from a few two year old documents filed with the City of Kirkland and the two potential site plans that have been posted on DDR’s website, information has been virtually nonexistent. The latest information that I have on the project comes from a recent City Council meeting where it was stated that DDR is waiting to find more anchor tenants before they begin construction of the redeveloped property. In the meantime, it seems that the Totem Lake Mall as it currently stands is going nowhere, both literally and figuratively. In contrast to the ongoing controversy that has accompanied the proposed redevelopment of Parkplace in downtown Kirkland, thus far the Totem Lake redevelopment plan has been largely uncontroversial, presumably because it doesn’t really do anyone much good to have a big empty mall sitting in the middle of their neighborhood.

The Totem Lake Mall in its current state is a far cry from what it once was back when it opened in 1973. In spite of the decline of the property that is in evidence today, I have been surprised by how many good memories people who grew up in Kirkland during the Seventies and Eighties have of the mall in better times, back when it functioned as the heart of its neighborhood. With the right mix of tenants and the right design, it is entirely possible that once again, Kirkland’s children can grow up with fond memories of the times spent at Totem Lake. When exactly that time will come still remains to be seen.

See: The Colorful Past and Unwritten Future of Kirkland’s Totem Lake Mall – Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

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