Major Projects

Highlands Redevelopment

As part of a strategy to redevelop the Highlands, a Highlands Business Team was formed in December of 1997. The goal was to brainstorm ways to mirror the revitalization efforts that were successful in downtown Renton. One of the group's short-term goals was to develop a vision and "master plan" for the Highlands area. As a result of this initial effort, a 140-acre study area in the Renton Highlands was identified for redevelopment.

The Highlands has seen tremendous residential growth and the redevelopment area is a gateway entrance to the Highlands community. With the increased growth has come an increased demand from citizens to have additional goods and services locally. The proposed Highlands redevelopment effort will create a more viable business district, improve and upgrade neighborhood infrastructure, and diversify our employment and business tax base.

Currently in the design phase, this project consists of creating an urban design master plan for the 140-acre study area in the Renton Highlands. The Highlands Sub-Area Urban Design Plan addresses the following City business goals:

• Encourage and support economic development;
  
  
• Encourage and support neighborhood revitalization; and
  
  
• Promote the City's image in the community and region.

The goal of the Highlands Redevelopment project is to redevelop one of Renton's older commercial and residential areas into an urban village featuring innovative design, compact urban development, transit orientation, pedestrian scale and a community focal point. The plan is to integrate the commercial shopping areas on both sides of Sunset Boulevard within the study area into a cohesive community retail shopping center and to integrate the surrounding housing areas into the plan. The outcome is to have an urban village feel that incorporates a high level of pedestrian activity into the design. This includes focusing on pedestrian amenities and integrating the residential areas with the commercial development.

Currently the City is working with property owners and the development community to make this plan a reality. The City anticipates that the redevelopment of the study area will occur over a ten-year time frame, with the commercial redevelopment leading the effort.