Cruising Meydenbauer Bay and Groat Point – Southeast Medina and Western Bellevue

Page numbers on the map refer to Lake Washington 130 Homes.  This area covers pages 81 to 90.

Bellevue and its Meydenbauer Bay and Medina’s Groat Point are north of Mercer Island.  From MI and into the Bay you will enjoy wonderful views of Bellevue’s modern skyline.  The Eastside’s most prestigious yacht club, Meydenbauer Bay Yacht Club, is at the eastern end of the bay.  The Medina-Bellevue border is at the north-west corner of Meydenbauer Bay.

Meydenbauer Bay and Groat Point are known for spectacular views and some of the prime properties on Lake Washington.  The Bay offers relatively protected waters and is a popular place for water skiers and boaters who like to idle or slowly cruise and enjoy the vistas.  In the afternoon the sun glistens off Mount Rainier to the south and the Bellevue glass high-rise buildings to the immediate east.

Some of this area’s most notable mansions include the spectacular former Groat Point home of Bruce McCaw and his neighbors, J. Lennox Scott and Richard DiCerchio. In Meydenbauer Bay NBA SuperSonics stars Detlef Schrempf and Jack Sikma used to live side-by-side.  (The previous 5/21/11 post has more information on these and other homes.)

Meydenbauer Bay is named after Bellevue’s first settler-developer, William Meydenbauer.  Meydenbauer was German born and came to Seattle in the mid 1800s.  In 1869 he rowed across Lake Washington, laid claim to 40 acres and built a cabin here.  One of the McGilvra family members of Madison Park (page 18) built the first house in this area on Groat Point (page 88) in the 1800s.

“Bellevue” is French for “beautiful view.”  The city was incorporated in 1953 when there were approximately 10,000 residents.  The 2009 population is approximately 120,000 and it is projected to grow to 150,000 by 2050.  It is The Eastside’s business center and has an estimated daytime population of 180,000.  In 2008 CNNMoney named Bellevue number 42 in the “Best Places to Live” in the U.S. and number one in the state of Washington.  Most of the high rise office and residential buildings in downtown Bellevue were constructed during the past 15 years.  Many more are planned.

(This is the eighth chapter [go to next chapter] of our “Lake Washington Cruising” article. The chapters are being posted in reverse order.  When all chapters are posted they will be in order in this blog with the first chapter at the top.  I will be posting approximately two chapters per month.  You can read and print an abbreviated pdf version of the entire article.)