Jun 14, 2012

Riddell Williams

Letey

Seattle law firm Riddell Williams announced the election of Erin Joyce Letey as the chair of the Business Law Section of the Washington State Bar Association. Letey is a partner at Riddell Williams and is a member of the Corporate Transactions and Finance practice group where she focuses on business owners and senior executives with corporate initiatives and transactions. Riddell Williams provides a full-range of business and litigation services to regional and national clients.

Starbucks Coffee

Seattle-based Starbucks Coffee appointed Blair Taylor as chief community officer. Taylor is president and CEO of the Los Angeles Urban League, an affiliate of a leading civil rights organization. He will lead Starbucks community, government relations, diversity and global responsibility teams and serve as a member on the board of directors.

Rental Housing Association

Hinkle

Bill Hinkle is the new executive director of the Rental Housing Association of Puget Sound. Hinkle, of Cle Elum, is retiring from the state House of Representatives. He works in RHA's new office at 2414 S.W. Andover. RHA is a 4,700-member not-for-profit group for landlords and others.

Windermere

Corcoran

Mark Corcoran is the new branch manager of Windermere's Green Lake office. He was the broker at the company's Sand Point office. Previously, he managed real estate loans for a local finance company and was a business analyst for Microsoft. Windermere agents from the Wall Street office tomorrow will work in Lower Kinnear Park on Queen Anne to prepare it for an off-leash dog park. It's the agents' annual community service day project.

OfficeSpace.com

Seattle-based OfficeSpace.com yesterday started a free broker and landlord-to-tenant service in Denver. It's part of the company's city-by-city nationwide rollout of the service. OfficeSpace does not have a date for the Seattle rollout. Susie and Alex Algard acquired Officespace.com in 2010. Susie Algard, the company's CEO, said it can be frustrating for entrepreneurs to wait for landlords and brokers to call them back with information about available spaces. Providing details about a space helps business owners do their research. She said the new service will be especially helpful to small business owners because it's difficult for brokers to make small requirements profitable. The service connects tenants and brokers for free. OfficeSpace.com's website offers free viewings and listings and social media tools for sharing. The company recently started a free “tools suite” that brokers can use to make fliers and surveys, and communicate with tenants.

Cairncross & Hempelmann

Seattle law firm Cairncross & Hempelmann started a blog about the food, beverage, restaurant, hotel and retail sectors. Members of the firm write the blog that can be accessed at http://tiny.cc/5wjtfw.

Matrix Real Estate

The 34-unit Queen's Court condo conversion in Seattle sold out. The average price per square foot of the last 13 sales in the historic building at 124 Warren Ave. N. in the Uptown neighborhood was $303 square feet, according to Matrix Real Estate. The converted units were brought to the market in late 2006. When sales slowed, the holder of the secondary debt paid off the primary loan, took over the property and hired Matrix to market the remaining 14 units. Matrix re-priced the units, worked with a new stager and rebranded the property.

Eastside Mayors' Forum

The Bellevue Downtown Association's annual Eastside Mayors' Forum is at noon, June 27 at the Harbor Club in Bellevue. James Whitfield, president of Leadership Eastside, will moderate the discussion among the mayors of Bellevue, Issaquah, Kirkland, Mercer Island and Redmond. Register at http://tiny.cc/6voufw.