November 2, 2000

NAIOP honors projects, players

Schnitzer Northwest of Bellevue was named developer of the year, and Seattle-based Martin Smith Inc.'s early work on the downtown Seattle IDX Tower was honored as the real estate deal of the year last week at the sixth annual awards of the Washington chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties.

Opus Center at Union Station was recently named NAIOP's central business district office development of the year.

Developer H. Jon Runstad, CEO and co-founder of Seattle-based Wright Runstad & Co., was inducted into NAIOP's Commercial Real Estate Hall of Fame. Wright Runstad has developed about 15 million square feet of office space on the West Coast, including Seattle landmarks such as Washington Mutual Tower, the World Trade Center and Amazon.com headquarters.

Runstad

Ivanoff

Judges praised Schnitzer Northwest as an "innovator" with a "unique approach" that "sets it apart from traditional, institutional development companies." The company, formed in 1997 by managing partner Dan Ivanoff and Portland-based Schnitzer Investment Corp., has developed and leased about 2 million square feet of Eastside Class A office space and about 200 apartments in Everett.

Bellevue-based Opus Northwest was the other finalist for developer of the year.

The 40-story IDX Tower took Martin Smith five years to pull together and involved the largest transfer of development rights in Seattle's history. In June, Martin Smith sold the site and plans for the 850,000-square-foot building to Hines for $35 million, or $800 a square foot, which NAIOP identified as the most expensive price per square foot for an office building in the city. Hines began construction this fall.

Amazon.com's lease at Opus Center at Union Station was a nominee for deal of the year.

Martin Smith garnered a second NAIOP award, winning industrial development of the year for Valley Centre Corporate Park, a 58-acre site that was transformed from a series of polluted sewage treatment lagoons to a five-building, 1.2 million-square-foot warehouse complex in Auburn. Other finalists were the Benaroya Business Park in Auburn, developed by The Benaroya Co., and Emerald Corporate Park, developed by Opus Northwest.

The award for central business district (CBD) office development of the year went to Opus for Opus Center at Union Station, next to Seattle's International District. Wright Runstad & Co.'s Key Center in downtown Bellevue was a finalist.

Non-CBD office development of the year was awarded to Koehler McFayden & Co. for 410 Elliott West on the north end of the downtown Seattle waterfront.

Bentall's Four and Five Newport, the final build-out of the Newport Corporate Center in Bellevue's Factoria area, was a finalist for this award. The other finalist was Lakeridge Square, developed by Metzler North America.

Quadrant Corp.'s Capital One West Coast headquarters received the high-tech/flex project of the year award. The 144,000-square-foot building is the western U.S. processing center for Capital One, a large credit card issuer.

Schnitzer North Creek in Bothell, a 1.5 million-square-foot suburban office park, was a finalist.

Triad Development's Pier 70 was named redevelopment/renovation of the year.

A finalist for this category, the Downtown Seattle YMCA, built by GLY Construction, was given a special recognition award, NAIOP's first such award.

Martin Smith's Pier 56 in downtown Seattle and Schnitzer's Rosen Building in South Lake Union were also finalists for the redevelopment award.

Vince Lyons, senior urban design planner with Seattle's Department of Design, Construction and Land Use, was named public official of the year. NAIOP praised Lyons for his "consensus-building style," noting his 30 years of professional experience. As a planner, he has overseen more than 50 projects, including Century Square and the expansion of the Washington State Convention and Trade Center.

The awards were handed out at NAIOP's "Night of the Stars" banquet at the Westin Hotel in downtown Seattle.

The jurors were Gerry Gerron of Mulvanny G2 Architects, Charlie Hafenbrack of Sellen Construction, Joe Blattner of Tarragon Development, Marc Nemirow of The Benaroya Co., Maude Scott, editor-in-chief of the Daily Journal of Commerce, and Eric Overton of Sparling Inc.