Puget Sound Energy is sticking with Bellevue. The utility has renewed its lease at The Summit office complex near downtown, keeping its corporate headquarters on the Eastside and maintaining hundreds of local jobs. At a moment when big companies are rethinking how much space they really need, the decision reads as a vote of confidence in Bellevue’s office scene and a stabilizing force for nearby businesses that depend on weekday foot traffic.
According to CoStar News, Puget Sound Energy signed the renewal at The Summit I, the same tower it moved into back in 2002 when it shifted its headquarters to Bellevue. CoStar reported that the deal is part of a wave of high-profile renewals arriving just as national office demand shows early, tentative signs of recovery.
Lease size and market context
Newmark Research reports that the renewal covers roughly 238,898 square feet at Summit I, placing it among the largest Eastside renewals recorded in late 2025. In its market report, Newmark found that major tenants across the region were opting to renew rather than relocate at the end of 2025, a pattern that helped compress sublease availability and kept vacancy rates in the broader Puget Sound office market from drifting higher.
On its corporate site, Puget Sound Energy notes that it serves roughly 1.1 million electric customers and more than 900,000 natural-gas customers in 10 counties, and it lists its corporate offices in Bellevue. The renewed lease keeps that major employer close to downtown and extends a long-running corporate presence on the Eastside.
Why it matters for Bellevue
For downtown Bellevue, the deal is a practical, if somewhat quiet, win. Keeping a large headquarters tenant in place helps sustain daily traffic for restaurants and retailers, supports transit ridership and underpins a range of service-sector jobs. Newmark notes that early renewals by large occupiers have played a role in stabilizing vacancy and shrinking sublease availability across the region.
Corporate real estate strategies still vary widely by company, but Puget Sound Energy’s decision to remain at The Summit clears a significant question mark for the Eastside and could nudge other anchor tenants to extend existing leases instead of packing up. Market watchers will be keeping an eye on whether more sizable renewals line up in 2026 as the Puget Sound office sector looks for clearer signs of a sustained recovery.
