John Robertson figures every great city needs a locally owned brew pub.

Seattle has its share. So does Redmond. Even Woodinville is in on the game.

But not Bellevue.

“This is a beer wasteland over here,” Robertson said.

Rock Bottom Brewery is the only place in town with serious beer kettles, but the venue is part of a national chain based out of Colorado.

Robertson, who owns the commercial real-estate firm Robertson Capital, is out to change that. He’s spent over a year making plans for a new brew pub that Bellevue can call its own.

Those plans hit the fast track on August 12, when Robertson signed a letter of intent for a six-year lease on a 12,000 square-foot space at the Evergreen Center, located off 130th Ave. NE near the Bel-Red corridor.

The goal now is to obtain a liquor license and launch the conceptual Bellevue Brewing Company, or BBC as Robertson calls it, by January.

The business would produce four signature beers: an IPA, a Pale Ale, a thick beer along the lines of a stout or porter, and something on the lighter side, either a lager or pilsner.

There would also be seasonal beers: a Belgian for spring, Hefeweizen for summer, Scotch ale for fall, and a barley wine for winter.

Guest taps could also be in the mix.

Robertson has a particular brewer in mind that he wants to pry away from one of the state’s more prominent beer makers. He won’t reveal who it is, except to say that the person already founded one Washington brewery and now works for another.

“It would shake up the industry in this state, at least a little bit,” he said.

Robertson said food at the BBC will consist of the peanuts and pretzels variety for at least the first nine months while he works on plans for a kitchen and menu.

All the edibles and beer would be FDA-certified organic, he said.

The overall aim for the BBC is to copy the success of other Northwest beer-making newbies, like Oregon-based Double Mountain Brewery in Hood River and 10 Barrels Brewing Company in Bend.

“That’s kind of the freshman class of brewers we want to belong to,” he said.

Robertson didn’t land the showiest of places for his new venture. The space is tucked away in a light-industrial neighborhood, with a bland brick facade clearly stuck in the ’60s.

But not everything in Bellevue has to be polished granite or glass-and-steel structures, Robertson said.

“Basically it’s a blank canvas,” he said. “We’re going to turn the architects loose and see what they can do.”

One clear upside of the location is its proximity to a proposed light-rail station near the crossing of 130th Ave. NE and NE 15th Place – roughly one block away.

Robertson also likes the fact that his site lies between two major employment centers – downtown Bellevue and the Redmond Microsoft campus.

There is also plenty of parking, with 247 spaces at Evergreen Center.

Robertson has enlisted designer Jonathan Rader, who did design work for Starbucks and M.O.D. Pizza, to help him with logos and branding for the BBC.

The overall hope is that an artisan brewery will add a new level of character to an Eastside city that many people – especially outsiders – regard as sterile.

“It should have a positive, put-a-heart-in-the-city kind of effect,” Robertson said. “I want it to be a place where people can let their hair down and have some fun.”

Robertson himself is a beer fanatic with a love for making memories. He toured the country visiting frat houses in a classic boxy Bronco after graduating from college.

His hope is that the BBC will make Bellevue a bit more memorable.

“You can’t have a memorable city without a brewery,” he said.