Bellevue Lands W Hotel, Drivers Needed for Seniors

Hotel news: Bellevue has nabbed a W Hotel as part of its $1.2 million expansion of The Bellevue Collection. Slated to open in spring 2017, Starwood Hotels’ W Bellevue will feature 245 guestrooms (25 of those will be suites and one will be W’s Presidential-style Extreme Wow Suite), three restaurants and bars and more than 11,400-square-feet of meeting and event space. “W Bellevue is being designed with a unique narrative that represents our Eastside community,” says Kemper Freeman, chairman and ceo for Kemper Development Company, which owns and operates the mixed-use Bellevue Collection. “The hotel’s cutting-edge design brings our community’s heritage into modern times with a contemporary interpretation of the joy and wonder that we all feel in a welcoming lakeside summer house. This hotel will truly represent all that we celebrate about our community and will bring an amped up W energy to Bellevue.” W Bellevue will be located on Bellevue Way between NE 4th and NE 8th Streets, and will be connected via a sky bridge to the new expansion slated for Bellevue Square.

More Bellevue updates: The large space in Bellevue Square vacated last year by Plano, Texas-based retailer J.C. Penney has been filled, reports The Puget Sound Business Journal. An upscale, urban grocery will move into the 200,000-square-foot spot, but it’s not yet been determined if the grocer will be Whole Foods or another company. Kemper Freeman, chairman and ceo for Kemper Development Company, is “negotiating with two grocers.”

Drivers wanted: A senior services transportation program has put out the call for volunteers to drive seniors to and from doctor appointments. According to King 5 News, “program administrators say demand is increasing and they need more volunteers” and are hoping that “more young people would consider giving a 3-4 hours of their week.” To learn more about how to become a volunteer driver, visit seniorservices.org.

The highest court in Italy will rule on the Amanda Knox case this Wednesday, in which Knox and her Italian ex-boyfriend appealed their guilty verdicts in the 2007 murder of her British roommate, Meredith Kercher. The Associated Press has a full look at the case, including possible outcomes and issues that might arise, here.