The Redmond 2050 Comprehensive Plan evaluated Centers for growth capacity, character, and transitioning to pedestrian-oriented urban forms. The plan increases housing opportunities, keeps jobs and housing near transit, preserves manufacturing zoning, and improves equity in the built environment.
The vision and policies for Centers is found in the Community Development and Design chapter of the Comprehensive Plan. It includes discussion of transit-oriented development (TOD) focus areas, inclusive design, and sets the stage for future corridor planning projects.
Types of Centers
The regional planning framework includes three levels of growth centers that serve to guide regional growth allocations, advance local planning, inform transit service planning, and represent priority areas for transportation funding.
Growth in centers has significant benefits, including supporting multimodal transportation options, compact growth, housing choices near jobs, climate goals, and access to opportunity. As important focal points for investment and development, centers… support equitable access to affordable housing, services, health, quality transit service, and employment.
Learn more about each type of Center and what they look like in Redmond by exploring the tabs below:
Transit Oriented Development
TOD Focus Areas in Redmond 2050 are generally those areas within a 10-minute walk of Redmond's four light rail stations.
Redmond 2050 continues to focus growth in Redmond’s centers in a way that addresses needs and goals related to our major focus areas: equity and inclusion, sustainability, and resiliency.
As part of this work, we received a grant from the Washington State Department of Commerce to implement Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) near the light rails stations and how the redevelopment can further our equity and inclusion goals.
Regional growth centers are mixed-use centers designated by the Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC) that include housing, employment, retail and entertainment uses. There are two types of regional growth centers:
Metro Centers
Urban Centers
Metropolitan Growth Centers (Metro Centers) have a primary regional role – they have dense existing jobs and housing, high-quality transit service, and are planning for significant growth. They will continue to serve as major transit hubs for the region. They also provide regional services and are major civic and cultural centers.
Urban Growth Centers (Urban Centers) have an important regional role, with dense existing jobs and housing, high-quality transit service, and planning for significant growth. These centers may represent areas where major investments – such as high-capacity transit – offer new opportunities for growth.
Overlake Metro Center
The most significant changes occurred in the Overlake Neighborhood. The opening of two new light rail stations in the neighborhood provides opportunities for transit-oriented development. Environmental constraints in Downtown and Marymoor that are not a factor in Overlake, as well as the availability of many vacant and redevelopable parcels, make this neighborhood a good place to accommodate growth while minimizing negative impacts. Changes included expanding the urban center boundary, allowing taller buildings, a new incentive package, updated design guidelines, and creating an Intercultural District in Overlake Village.
In Downtown, the City focused growth potential near the new light rail station as well as updated design guidelines, community character and historic preservation policies, removing code provisions that impeded office developments, and reviewing potential updates for Town Center.
Countywide Growth Centers are established as a part of the King County Countywide Planning Policies and serve important roles as places for equitably concentrating jobs, housing, shopping, and recreational opportunities. The Marymoor Local Center is proposed as a Countywide Growth Center in the Redmond 2050 plan update. A new Countywide Industrial Center in Southeast Redmond is also part of Redmond 2050.
Countywide Growth Center
Countywide Industrial Center
Countywide Growth Centers serve important roles as places for equitably concentrating jobs, housing, shopping, and recreational opportunities. These are often smaller downtowns, high-capacity transit station areas, or neighborhood centers that are linked by transit, provide a mix of housing and services, and serve as focal points for local and county investment.
Countywide Industrial Centers serve as important local industrial areas. These areas support equitable access to living wage jobs and serve a key role in the county’s manufacturing/industrial economy.
These areas serve the region with industrial infrastructure, concentrations of industrial jobs, evidence of long- term potential, and can be accessed by transit.
Marymoor Village
The Marymoor Village center was created in 2017. Most policy revisions address new opportunities and ways to meet community priorities that emerged in the visioning process. Updates address:
A transition from a local center to a countywide growth center;
Establishing an Arts and Cultural District; and
Establishing Marymoor Village as a pilot to demonstrate how to incorporate universal design into a neighborhood and ways to create additional housing for community members with disabilities
Staff has also been working on ways to implement flexibility while advancing the goal of having a unique character for Marymoor Village. For example, there is a desire to explore options for how the City could develop design features that would recognize, celebrate, and preserve the connections to Native cultures. This could include colors, art, landscaping materials, and other features.
During the visioning phase of Redmond 2050, the community expressed a desire to protect manufacturing land and jobs. Redmond proposed a a new jobs center is SE Redmond that would protect land currently zoned for industrial and manufacturing uses by creating a Countywide Industrial Growth Center in that area.
Certification of the Countywide Industrial Center in SE Redmond is underway in 2025.
As part of the Redmond 2050 project the City is exploring potential for growth and development along major corridors. Corridors that may see changes include Willows Road, Avondale Road, Redmond Way SE, and 148th Ave NE.