Pull up two listings in Bellevue on the same afternoon and you could be looking at two different housing markets wearing the same zip code. One is a five-bedroom new build in Spring Ridge, priced at $602,070, with a three-car garage and an open-concept main floor. The other is a story-and-a-half a few blocks off Mission Avenue, asking well under half that, with original woodwork and a layout nobody builds anymore. Both are Bellevue. Neither is an outlier. And if you're comparing them on price per square foot alone, you're missing the reason the gap exists in the first place.
As of August 2026, Bellevue's citywide median list price sits around $325,000. In Olde Towne, the historic six-block core running along Mission Avenue, the median is $207,000, about $144 a square foot, down slightly from both the prior month and the same time last year. That's a gap of roughly $118,000 inside a single city, and it isn't a data glitch. Zillow's separate measure put Bellevue's average home value at $302,154 as of July 31, 2026, close enough to confirm the citywide number is real and that Old Towne is genuinely the outlier pulling it down.
What's changed this year is that Old Towne isn't just cheaper. It's the middle of two concrete, dated events that don't show up on a portal's price chart but matter a great deal to anyone deciding whether that lower number is a bargain or a warning sign.
Two blocks off Mission Avenue, near the end of the barrels
If you're touring a home in Old Towne this month, you're touring it in the final stretch of a project that's been reshaping the district for a year. The City of Bellevue broke ground on a Mission Avenue reconstruction in August 2025, replacing an aging sewer system and adding wider sidewalks and more parking along the district's main commercial strip. The work was billed at the time as a project that would run through the fall of 2026, which means the disruption that's defined daily life on Mission Avenue for a year is now closing in on its finish line.
Tracey Colgrove, who manages Lighthouse Cafe and Coffee off Mission Avenue, told a local TV station he's optimistic about what the finished project will do for foot traffic.
"I think it will be good for the local businesses to make it more pedestrian-friendly."
He also flagged the real cost of the past year: a lot of his regulars are older, and a construction zone has meant a longer walk to the door for months at a time. That's worth knowing if you're touring a home in the district today, because you're arriving near the end of that disruption, not the middle of it. Close this fall, and there's a real chance you move in right as the wider sidewalks and new parking come online, rather than living through months of it first.
The designation that gives Old Towne a second wind
The construction is disruptive, but it isn't the only thing happening in Old Towne this year. Last month, Bellevue announced that Olde Towne had received federal Opportunity Zone designation, a status that gives private investors a tax incentive to put capital into a specific, federally recognized area. Mayor Rusty Hike framed it as a tool the city had been trying to land for a while:
"This designation fulfills a key promise of my administration and gives Bellevue another powerful tool to encourage responsible investment where it can make a real difference."
Opportunity Zone status doesn't hand an individual homeowner a tax break for buying a house. What it does is change the math for developers and investors looking at aging commercial and residential stock in a defined area, which over time tends to show up as renovation, infill, and reinvestment rather than continued drift. Pair that with a sewer system that's finally getting replaced and sidewalks being rebuilt for the pedestrian traffic Mission Avenue's shops depend on, and you have two separate signals pointing the same direction at the same time, in the same district where the median price just slipped both month over month and year over year.
That combination, cheap relative to the rest of the city, and freshly positioned as a target for reinvestment, is the actual story. Not "Old Towne is a deal" and not "avoid the construction zone." Both are true at once, and which one matters more depends on what you're buying it to do.
What $118,000 actually buys, or doesn't
| Old Towne core | New construction (Spring Ridge, Belle Lago, Spring Creek) | |
|---|---|---|
| Typical era | Largely mid-20th-century; story-and-a-half and tri-level layouts common | Built within the last several years |
| Median / typical price | $207,000 median, ~$144/sq ft (Aug. 2026) | $602,070 for a current 5-bedroom in Spring Ridge; new construction citywide spans $235K–$1.05M |
| Layout | Original floor plans, some with finished basements, some without | Open-concept ranch or two-story, three-car garages common |
| Walkability | Walk to Mission Avenue shops, Washington Park, Gilbert Park and Pool | Car-dependent, closer to the Kennedy Freeway |
| Current friction | $7M streetscape and sewer project, underway since 2025, wrapping this fall | None specific to construction, standard new-build timeline risk |
| Nearby draws | Bellevue Little Theatre, Sarpy County Historical Museum, Saturday farmers market at Washington Park | Shadow Lake Towne Center, Bellevue Berry Farm and Pumpkin Patch |
The new-construction subdivisions aren't competing with Old Towne on the same terms. They're a different product built for a different buyer, and the price difference reflects that as much as it reflects age or condition.
The gap isn't decline, it's vintage
It's tempting to read a $118,000 spread as "one side is falling apart and the other isn't." That's not what the research shows. Old Towne's housing stock is genuinely old, some of it dating back far enough that the district itself grew up around a log cabin built in 1830 and a bank building from 1856, both still standing near the First Presbyterian Church, the oldest church in Nebraska. That's the kind of neighborhood texture new subdivisions can't manufacture at any price. The Sarpy County Historical Museum sits in the same district, and Washington Park hosts a farmers market most Saturday mornings through the summer, the kind of recurring, low-key event that tells you people already live their weekends there rather than driving somewhere else for them.
What that history doesn't erase is that a lot of these homes were built before open floor plans, three-car garages, or main-floor primary suites were standard. Some have finished basements. Plenty don't, and even where they do, the layout is a 1950s or 60s answer to a question buyers ask differently today. A move-up buyer who wants the modern floor plan is going to find it in Spring Ridge or Belle Lago, not on Mission Avenue, and paying more for it isn't overpaying. It's paying for a different product.
Four things to check before you write an offer in Old Towne this fall
- Confirm whether the specific address still sits inside an active work zone. The project has run for a year and is scheduled to wrap this fall, so timing varies block to block. Ask your agent which segment of Mission Avenue is finished and which is still torn up.
- Ask directly whether the basement is finished, unfinished, or nonexistent. Old Towne's older stock varies more than a single search filter can capture, and it's a detail worth confirming before you fall for the woodwork.
- Don't assume Opportunity Zone status changes your personal tax picture. It's built to incentivize outside investment and development, not owner-occupant purchases. If taxes factor into your decision, that's a conversation for your accountant, not a line item to assume.
- Budget for age-appropriate inspection findings. A home from the 1950s or earlier is going to surface different issues than a five-year-old build in Spring Creek. That's not a reason to avoid it. It's a reason to go in with realistic expectations for what an inspector is likely to find.
Who actually wins at each price point
A relocating or military family who values walking to Mission Avenue's shops and doesn't mind an older floor plan is looking at real value in Old Towne right now, especially with the sewer and sidewalk work set to finish by fall and the neighborhood positioned for renewed investment. A move-up buyer chasing a modern kitchen, a bigger garage, and a lot that isn't shaped by a century-old street grid is better served by Spring Ridge, Belle Lago, or Spring Creek, even at nearly triple the price. Neither buyer is wrong. They're just not shopping the same market, even though the listing site tells them they are.
If you're trying to figure out which side of that split actually fits your plans, that's exactly the kind of question worth talking through before you start touring. Robin Philips has spent years working both sides of the Omaha and Council Bluffs market, and can walk you through what a specific Old Towne address or new-construction lot actually means for your budget and your timeline. Let's Connect.
FAQ
Is Old Towne Bellevue currently affected by construction? Yes, though it's in its final phase. The City of Bellevue began a reconstruction project on Mission Avenue in August 2025, replacing the sewer system and adding wider sidewalks and parking. The work was scheduled to run through the fall of 2026, so anyone touring the district now is near the end of the disruption rather than the start of it.
Does Opportunity Zone status mean I'll get a tax break for buying a house in Old Towne? Not directly. The designation is built to give private investors and developers an incentive to put capital into the area. Individual owner-occupant buyers should talk to a tax professional rather than assume a personal benefit.
Do all the older homes in Old Towne lack basements? No. The housing stock varies. Some homes have finished basements, others don't, and the mix of story-and-a-half and tri-level layouts means it's worth confirming on a home-by-home basis rather than assuming based on the neighborhood's age.
