6811 132nd Avenue Northeast (Kirkland, Washington)

6811 132nd Avenue Northeast
General information
Type	Bank
Location	Kirkland, Washington
Coordinates	47.666130°N 122.164560°W / 47.666130; -122.164560
Completed	1987
Owner	Retail Opportunity Investments Corporation
Technical details
Floor area	3,600 square feet (334.5 m²)

6811 132nd Avenue Northeast is a building in Kirkland, Washington, located in the northeast end of the Bridle Trails Shopping Center. It is currently the location of a Chase Bank branch.

History

Dairy Queen (1987–2017)

The building as it was occupied by Dairy Queen pre-2011, with the franchise's infamous "red roof" style many of its restaurants utilized in the 1980s.

The building was originally built as a Dairy Queen restaurant in 1987, featuring an indoor dining area, drive-thru, and unique wooden play structure accessible through the side of the building. In 1992, ownership and operation of the building were taken over by Kristine and Cameron Ott. In the summer of 2011, the restaurant underwent renovations, updating the exterior and interior dining area (which were unaltered since opening) to fit with the more modern "Grill 'n Chill" style commonly seen with other Dairy Queen locations at the time. This came with the removal of the outdoor play structure; the space in which it stood was paved with concrete and became an outdoor eating area. Between 2011 and 2014, the restaurant's branding was changed from "DQ Restaurant" into "DQ Grill 'n Chill", and an Orange Julius sign was added beneath the Dairy Queen logo on the front of the building.

The front of the building as it looked in May 2017

On October 13, 2016, PNW Bridle Trails LLC sold the Bridle Trails Shopping Center to Retail Opportunity Investments Corporation, or ROIC, for $32.2 million. The following year, ROIC refused to negotiate an extension on the restaurant's lease, according to the Otts, who had planned on operating the business "for at least another 10 years". Stuart Tanz, the president of ROIC, however, claimed the Otts did in fact have an opportunity to extend the lease, but simply chose not to. The Dairy Queen closed permanently on December 7, 2017, and the building began to be gutted and stripped of its DQ fixtures, equipment, and furniture the following week. Despite this, unknowing customers who arrived at the former restaurant in the days following were offered complementary Blizzard treats by the owners "to help with the news."

Chase Bank (2018–present)

The nearby family-owned Red Apple Market grocery store located in the shopping center, which had occupied its space since the late 1990s, closed just a few months after Dairy Queen in February 2018 due to increased rent brought on by ROIC among several other factors, including a dwindling shopper-base. The Chase Bank branch formerly stationed within the Red Apple store was soon relocated into the Dairy Queen building, and opened to the public at or around the same time as Red Apple's replacement, Grocery Outlet, on August 23, 2018. Although the building was again renovated for Chase, many components from its days as Dairy Queen remain, such as retaining the door to the former outdoor patio (which now leads to a pathway back to the front of the building), reusing the drive-thru as a drive-up ATM, and using the "Grill 'n Chill"-style rock pillar near the sidewalk as a sign for the bank, which once held the Dairy Queen logo.

Gallery

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  The Dairy Queen's front counter/registers, with a unique mirror seen above the kitchen.

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  The Dairy Queen's interior dining area, post-2011

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  Reuse of the rock "signpost" from DQ for Chase.