Apr 26, 2001

Perkins Coie

The law firm of Perkins Coie, which has 14 offices around the world including Seattle, Bellevue, Olympia and Spokane, has been authorized to open a law office in Beijing. Perkins Coie's managing partner, Robert Giles, received the certificate from the Ministry of Justice of the People's Republic of China in Beijing on April 12. Perkins Coie is one of 11 global law firms, including five from the United States, receiving licenses this year. The managing partner for the firm's Beijing office will be Jon Eichelberger, a partner in the firm's China practice group who is relocating from the firm's Hong Kong office.

Flexcar

Flexcar, a Seattle-based company that offers shared access to vehicles, has acquired its Portland counterpart, CarSharing Portland. Flexcar is the first car-sharing company to expand to a second city. The Portland acquisition is the first in a series of expansions planned nationwide for the company. The acquisition brings the total number of cars to 65, with more than 1,800 members in Portland and Seattle. The expanded Flexcar service will give members access to vehicles in both cities.

University Village

Burrito Loco, a local, family-operated Mexican restaurant, recently opened in Seattle's University Village shopping center. It is the restaurant's second location. Owners Anabel Sahagun and Maria Meza opened the new store, positioned between The Confectionery and Andrew's Hallmark in the southwest corner of the shopping center, on April 21

Affordable housing champs honored

Bank portfolio manager Darcy Johnson uses every chance she gets to help others find affordable housing in a market that's increasingly short of just that. She's credited with leading the creation of 190 Eastside affordable rental units, and she founded St. Andrew's Housing Group to push for more on the Eastside.

The Housing Development Consortium of Seattle-King County honored Johnson's efforts, and those of residential broker Sam Pace, at its awards event this week. The non-profit consortium named Johnson and Pace as recipients of the first-ever Pedestal Award for significant contributions to the cause of affordable housing.

"Their dedication to housing is extraordinary," said consortium Executive Director Carla Okigwe.

Johnson, of Mercer Island, works as a senior portfolio manager in Bank of America's private banking division.

"She is occasionally able to incorporate her passion for housing into her work as a senior portfolio manager," the consortium said. "She builds bond portfolios for individuals and, in some cases, is able to purchase bonds that help create more housing."

She also "can be relied upon to gain the ears of local politicians to ensure they are aware of the need for more affordable housing in suburban communities," according to a statement from the consortium of 28 affordable housing providers.

Recently she played a role in preserving Ellsworth House, Mercer Island's only subsidized housing.

Pace works as a broker for Executive Real Estate in Bellevue. He served as president of the Washington Association of Realtors and is a housing specialist with the Seattle King-County Association of Realtors. The consortium said he "was influential in developing King County's Growth Management goals for affordable housing, and then urged the cities to meet their goals."

He is currently working with legislators to restore cuts to the state Housing Trust Fund, which provides subsidies to develop housing for very low-income populations

"A home is where a job goes at night," Pace said, "but we've only been creating one new home for every four new jobs (in King County). That imbalance not only threatens the long-term health and vitality of our community, it's already creating painful and destructive consequences, particularly for the most economically vulnerable members of our community, many of whom are families with young children."

The consortium's 28 non-profit housing developers created 1,966 units of low- and moderate-income housing in the past two years. Since 1988, the members developed almost 12,000 units, the consortium said.

Prudential Northwest scores high

Prudential Northwest Realty of Seattle notched quite a year last year. The residential agency says it scored number four out of almost 1,600 Prudential agencies in the country in number of homes sold and closed-sales dollar volume.

Apr 25, 2001

SMPS

The Seattle Chapter of the Society for Marketing Professional Services announced the appointment of Jan Flesher as president for the 2001-2002 year. Flesher served as chapter president during 1999 and 2000 and currently serves on the board of directors as past president. Flesher has been instrumental in building an alliance with the Vancouver, B.C., chapter of the Canadian Society for Marketing Professional Services and has also shepherded the ongoing marketing and principals roundtables, including establishing a new Seattle-based marketers roundtable. Flesher is the president of Flesher Database Consulting, an A/E service provider for structuring and improving management and marketing databases.

Interface Engineering

Interface Engineering, Inc. announced that Adam Farnham has joined the Kirkland office. Farnham is a certified fire and explosion investigator and a certified safety professional. As senior fire protection engineer, he will apply his 12 years of experience to code consulting, fire forensics, fire protection and loss prevention services for private and public sector clients throughout the West Coast. Farnham is qualified in the areas of code interpretation and compliance while possessing experience with fire cause and origin determinations, hazard analysis, human factors and safety related investigations.

MulvannyG2

MulvannyG2 Architecture recently hired Mike Rayburn as a senior project manager at its Bellevue office. Rayburn will be responsible for managing projects from design through completion, including maintaining communications with the entire project team. He has more than 20 years of architectural experience, including eight years as the owner of a small architectural firm.

MulvannyG2's Bellevue office has also hired Amanda Milburn as an administrative assistant and Maxine Nagel as an accounting assistant. Milburn will provide administrative support to MulvannyG2's warehouse planning team. Nagel previously worked for Ducky's Office Furniture in Seattle as an accountant, and prior to that was in public accounting for 15 years.

DCI

DCI Engineers announced that Richard Hemmen has been promoted to principal. Current projects include multi-story assisted living residences in Seattle and Portland, Calvary Church Newport Mesa in Costa Mesa, Calif., and Sunset Christian Church in Rocklin, Calif. He is also managing seismic repair and upgrade projects for the city of Seattle and private owners in response to the recent Nisqually earthquake.

DCI has also made several additions to the firm’s Bellevue office. Phillip Van Heyningen recently joined the structural staff as a project manager, bringing with him more than 13 years of design and project engineering experience in concrete, steel, masonry and wood. He is currently managing the Hilton Inn at the Center in Seattle, the Kirkland Technology Center and the Kamber Technology Center in Bellevue.

Athena Y. Kalogiros, project engineer, comes to DCI Engineers after working at University of Washington as a research assistant with the state DOT. She is working on the Allenmore Medical Plaza in Tacoma, a seismic retrofit at the Renton Water Treatment Facility, and power plant upgrades in Arizona, Indiana and Alberta. Kurt E. Zimmers, project engineer, has experience as a structural engineer designing with wood, concrete, steel and masonry. He is working on cellular equipment sites and earthquake remediation projects. Davis Yao has joined the staff as project manager in DCI’s Civil Division. Yao has more than nine years’ experience in civil and environmental engineering for private and public sector projects. He is currently responsible for the civil design and management of Hilton Inn at the Center, the Middle Fork Business Park, and the Fifth & Jackson Office Building.

CCP

Brad Shinn, formerly with Susan Black and Associates Landscape Architects, has formed Consensus Consulting Partnership to provide public involvement and community outreach services to engineers, architects, planners and landscape architects for their public projects. The firm's focus is on providing innovative consensus practices tailored to community-based planning projects. CCP has public affairs expertise and resources to support public education, outreach and communications programs such as environmental awareness; water and stormwater quality improvement programs; resource conservation and waste reduction campaigns; community support for capital improvement projects; and transportation planning

Oles Morrison Rinker & Baker

Jacob

Seattle law firm Oles Morrison Rinker & Baker announced that Jany Jacob joined the firm as an associate. Jacob's practice is concentrated in environmental and land use law for the construction industry. She also practices in the area of labor and employment law.

Lane Powell Spears Lubersky

Harris

Timothy Harris joined the law firm of Lane Powell Spears Lubersky in the Seattle office as an associate. Harris concentrates in land use. Prior to joining the firm, he served as senior attorney with the Pacific Legal Foundation, a national public interest law firm.

Stoel Rives

Fredericksen

Scott Fredericksen has been named managing partner of the Seattle law office of Stoel Rives. Fredericksen will manage the firm's 80-lawyer Seattle office and work on continuing to grow the firm's presence in the Seattle legal marketplace.

U.S. Attorney's Office

Francis Diskin, currently chief assistant U.S. attorney in the Seattle office's criminal division, has been named interim U.S. attorney for the Western Washington district. Diskin replaces Katrina Pflaumer. Diskin has been with the U.S. Attorney's Office since 1976. He was lead prosecutor in the trial of Ahmed Ressam, convicted earlier this month in Los Angeles of terrorism and explosives charges.

Loudeye

Loudeye Technologies, a provider of services and infrastructure for the delivery of digital content, announced the appointment of Steve Plinio to vice president, strategic alliances, and John Shaw to vice president, corporate communications. Plinio has 12 years experience in music industry law, transactions and business development. Shaw brings 20 years experience as a corporate communications professional to his newly created position. Loudeye has offices in Seattle, New York and London.

Microvision

Microvision, a Bothell-based developer of retinal scanning display technology, has formed an advisory board of display technology experts chaired by Dr. Aris Silzars, a leading authority on display technology. The advisory group will consult with Microvision on future developments and applications of its retinal scanning display technology