Dec 02, 2005

Peterson Sullivan

Peterson Sullivan added four new staff accountants: Ryan Choate, Bryan Hill, Courtney Janicki and Archana Sinha. Choate, Hill and Janicki are staff accountants assigned to the general practice group. Sinha is a staff accountant assigned to the audit department. The Seattle firm provides accounting, auditing, tax services and business valuation.

Country Insurance & Financial Services

Len Corneto of Lynden and Tina Vlachos of Vancouver have been named agents for Country Insurance & Financial Services. Corneto's office is in Bellingham and Vlachos' office is in Vancouver. Country provides a range of insurance and financial services.

Williams, Kastner & Gibbs

At the recent annual meeting of DRI-The Voice of the Defense Bar in Chicago, Kimberly D. Baker, a member of the Seattle law firm Williams, Kastner & Gibbs, was named a national director of the 22,000-member organization. DRI is the nation's largest organization of defense trial lawyers. Baker concentrates on the defense of business and insurance interests in products liability, professional liability and employment disputes.

Dec 01, 2005

Banner Bank

Banner Bank's Bellevue Corporate and Real Estate Loan Center hired Yana Rogers as assistant vice president/small business administration loan officer.

Seattle Diving & Salvage

Seattle Diving & Salvage named Eric Aguirre interim operations manager, responsible for all diving and vessel operations. He has been with SDS since 2003. The company provides commercial diving services in domestic and international markets as Seattle Diving & Salvage and Aquatic Weed Control. Other services include contract commercial diving and salvage; vessel inspection; underwater construction; pollution and emergency response; inland water body maintenance; and aquatic noxious weed control.

Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle

The Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle announced the results of its election of 2006 directors representing Montana, Oregon and Washington. William V. Humphreys, president and CEO of Citizens Bank in Corvallis, Ore., will join the board representing Oregon. The following directors were re-elected to the board: Harold B. Gilkey, chairman and CEO of Sterling Financial Corp. in Spokane; Donald V. Rhodes, chairman of Heritage Bank in Olympia; James H. Strosahl, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Glacier Bank in Kalispell, Mont.

Allstate

Joseph Nguyen, an Allstate insurance agent, recently earned the Personal Financial Representative title. Spencer King also earned the title.

Channel 9

The Channel 9 Store opened a retail location at KCTS Television, 401 Mercer St. Hours of operation will be Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The store will not be open holidays or weekends.

Herbert J. Sims & Co.

Herbert J. Sims & Co. closed $96.7 million in financing for Horizon House, a not-for-profit retirement community in Seattle. Connecticut-based Sims is an investment bank focused on the senior living industry. Horizon House will use the proceeds for a $74 million expansion and renovation of its First Hill campus and refunding bonds. The financing includes a $40 million short-term construction loan and $56.7 million in tax-exempt, long-term, variable rate bonds issued by the Washington State Housing Finance Commission. The construction loan is provided by Key Bank, with participation by Bank of America and Union Bank of California. The variable rate bonds are secured by a letter-of-credit from Bank of America, with participation from Key Bank and Union Bank of California. Horizon House's expansion includes a 19-story apartment tower.

Seattle Equities

Seattle Equities, a private equity company that focuses on acquiring companies throughout the United States, acquired Mortgage Brokers Services of SeaTac. The mortgage banking company originates $10 million a month in residential mortgage loans throughout Washington. Seattle Equities Managing Director Scott E. Shapiro said his company plans to use MBSI as a platform for other real estate finance acquisitions. Seattle Equities will expand MBSI beyond Washington and add new products.

GreenWorks Realty

GreenWorks Realty of Seattle is the new listing agent for 13 townhomes that Martha Rose Construction is building at Rainier Vista in the Columbia City neighborhood. The townhomes are designed to take "green" living to a new level. Each home will be certified at the 4-Star level, and earn the EnergyStar designation. The homes will be pre-wired for photo-voltaic panels available as an upgrade, and have passive solar atriums. The Seattle Housing Authority got a $35 million HOPE VI grant to redevelop Rainier Vista, a 481-unit, World War II-era garden community. The current revitalization plan calls for a mixed-income community of 1,010 housing units.

Urban Sustainability Forum

Mike Houck, director of Portland State University's Urban GreenSpace Institute, is the speaker at the year's last Urban Sustainability Forum. He'll speak at 5:30 p.m. Monday at Seattle City Hall, 600 Fourth Ave., about Portland and Vancouver's efforts to create a livable metro region by protecting parks and trails. City officials say Houck's speech will help frame a 2006 initiative called "Open Space Seattle 2100: Designing Seattle's Green Network for the Next Century," which will include a charrette on Feb. 3-4. For information about Monday's free event and the Urban Sustainability Forum see the What's Hot? section at http://www.seattle.gov/dpd.

Emerging Trends

The Urban Land Institute's Emerging Trends program starts at 7:30 a.m. Dec. 8 at the Westin Bellevue, 600 Bellevue Way N.E. Greg Johnson of Wright Runstad & Co. will lead a panel discussion on investment trends, capital markets, multifamily, retail, office, industrial and hotels. Speakers are Peter F. Korpacz of PricewaterhouseCoopers, Matthew Gardner of Gardner Johnson and Leslie Williams of Williams Marketing. After the program, Kemper Freeman Jr., developer of Lincoln Square, will give a tour of the project. Cost is $40 to $65. The registration deadline is Dec. 5. Telephone registration is required; call (800) 321-5011.