Dec 18, 2014

Point Ruston gets Mio Sushi

Courtesy Point Ruston LLC [enlarge]

A Japanese restaurant chain called Mio Sushi, which has locations in Oregon and Washington, will open at Point Ruston, the new neighborhood along the Tacoma-Ruston waterfront.

This is the second restaurant Point Ruston has landed. WildFin American Grill and Mio Sushi will open next spring, when the Century Building is completed, housing a nine-screen theater, 44 condos and 95 apartments.

Construction began in September on a grocery store and 1,300 underground parking spaces.

These projects are part of Point Ruston's second phase, which also includes a 180-room Silver Cloud Inn, more retail and restaurants.

Point Ruston LLC, a subsidiary of MC Construction Consultants, is developing the 97-acre site, which could eventually house up to 3,000 people with 2 million square feet of space for shopping, entertainment and recreation.

Change at Capitol Hill Champion

Cathy Hillenbrand, founder and chair of Capitol Hill Champion's Steering Committee, is stepping down. She has been with the committee for more than seven years and helped Capitol Hill Champion, a joint project of Capitol Hill Community Council and Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce, advocate for the neighborhood in planning the Capitol Hill light rail station. New co-chairs of the steering committee are Brie Gyncild and Tim Farrell. Hillenbrand will continue to serve as vice chair of Capitol Hill Housing's board.

AT&T shows new store design

AT&T holds a grand opening today for its new interactive store at Lincoln Square in Bellevue. AT&T representatives say in a release that the design is intended to “offer an immersive product experience and engaging merchandising displays.” The store will be split into three zones: connected experience, community and explore. AT&T says it spent more than two years researching how to create a more interactive design. AT&T has more than 40 retail stores in Washington and employs more than 4,400 people across the state.

Dec 11, 2014

Coast Equity pays $25.5M for BluWater

Everett-based Coast Equity Partners paid $25.5 million for BluWater, a 152-unit apartment complex at 11311 19th Ave. S.E. in Everett. The seller was Grosvenor Americas. Kidder Mathews represented Grosvenor in the deal. The complex has seven two- and three-story buildings and was constructed in 1991. Grosvenor bought it in 2007 and upgraded the clubhouse, gym and units. Coast Equity is actively buying apartments, manufactured housing parks, medical buildings, office buildings and retail valued between $5 million and $25 million. Grosvenor Americas has 2,400 apartments in the U.S. and Canada, mostly on the West Coast.

Tarragon hires marketing boss

Ashleigh Kilcup is the new director of marketing for Tarragon. Kilcup has more than eight years of experience in real estate, and last worked at Apex Facility Resources as director of strategy and sales. She also worked at CBRE and Cushman & Wakefield. Tarragon recently opened an apartment complex in South Lake Union, and is building another apartment complex on Capitol Hill and an industrial project in Sumner.

NAIOP tells ‘Tales from the Vault'

Some big players from local design and construction firms will share their stories in “Tales from the Vault,” the Washington chapter of NAIOP's December breakfast meeting, starting at 7:30 a.m. Dec. 17 at Sheraton Seattle Hotel. They will talk about some of the biggest projects over the last 40 years: how they were built, the risks, teamwork and technology. David Allen of McKinstry will moderate the panel, which includes Rick Redman, chairman emeritus at Sellen Construction; Bill Lewis, chairman at Lease Crutcher Lewis; Jon Magnusson, senior principal at Magnusson Klemencic Associates; and Jud Marquardt, founding partner at LMN Architects. For more information and to register, visit: http://bit.ly/1sd5kBA

Pinnacle promotes Hill to VP

Pinnacle promoted Stewart Hill to vice president of client services. Hill will be in charge of new business opportunities within the company's western division and manage relationships with institutional clients. Hill will continue his work as partner relations director, where he provides support for an affordable housing portfolio of more than 100 properties with 19,000 units across the U.S. Hill has been with Pinnacle since 2008, first as a partner relations director for Cascade Affordable Housing. Pinnacle manages 135,000 housing units and 2 million square feet of commercial property.