Nov 22, 2013

Peninsula College

The White House has named Peninsula College educator Brian Walsh one of 10 Champions of Change. He directs the college's corrections education efforts and has expanded technology in classrooms at Olympic and Clallam Bay correction centers. Prisoners now can see offline versions of programs such as Khan Academy and Ted Talks using a secure network server. Walsh also started a program that pairs basic education with hands-on job experience. The RAND Corp. found that inmates who participated in education programs had 43 percent lower odds of returning to prison.

State Attorney General

Attorney General Bob Ferguson named Nancy Kreier as the open government ombudsman. She was a lawyer for the state Public Disclosure Commission. Former ombudsman Tim Ford left the position recently to work for a Senate committee. The position became halftime in 2011 but this fall Ferguson said it will be full time again.

Nov 21, 2013

Frontier Communications

Frontier Communications, a provider of broadband, voice, data, FiOS and television services, named Bret Larsen general manager of the Kirkland market. Larsen will oversee field operations, sales and community relations, and is responsible for customer experience. He will report to Vicky Oxley, vice president and general manager for Western Washington. Larsen was VP of operations for Northland Communications.

Frenchy's Cafe and Crepery

Frenchy's Cafe and Crepery, at Steilacoom Boulevard and Edgewater Drive Southwest in Lakewood, recently opened. The founder and owner is Lindsey Hubbard.

Omeros Building wins NAIOP award

Photos by Benjamin Benschneider for Omeros [enlarge]

BioMed Realty Trust won the Technology/Life Sciences Development of the Year from the Washington chapter of NAIOP for the Omeros Building, a five-story, 151,000-square-foot building at 201 Elliott Ave. W. About 77,000 square feet was converted to space for research and offices. Offices, meeting rooms and common spaces wrap around labs. A public cafe is at street level. Perkins + Will was the architect and GLY Construction was the general contractor. The Benaroya Co. also won a Technology/Life Sciences Development of the Year award for the Group Health Puyallup Medical Center.

Company-wide restructuring at KBS

Robertson

Richerson

KBS Realty Advisors has shifted some top executives and hired two asset managers as part of a company-wide restructuring. Rodney Richerson, vice president of the central region, will move over to the west region. Ken Robertson will replace Richerson as central region VP. Tim Helgeson will be a senior vice president and asset manager for Southern California, Las Vegas and Salt Lake City. Brett Merz will be a senior vice president and asset manager for properties in Chicago, St. Louis and Louisville. KBS recently bought Seattle's Central Building for $34.5 million and owns 964,000 square feet of office space in Seattle, Bellevue and Bothell.

Employment up at Port of Skagit

Employment is up 27.8 percent this year at the Port of Skagit. There were 1,149 people working at the port in the third quarter, according to an employment census that showed port companies added 114 full-time this year. The port has 78 tenants, down six from this time last year.

State pays $97M for ‘community forest'

The Department of Ecology, Department of Natural Resources, Department of Fish and Wildlife, and Forterra bought more than 51,000 acres of land in the Yakima River Basin for $97 million. The land is north of Cle Elum and will be the first “community forest” in Washington, part of a five-year-old state DNR initiative that gives nearby communities a say in recreation, water quality, natural resource management, wildlife conservation and timber harvesting. Les Jacobowitz of Arent Fox LLP represented the seller, Bellingham-based American Forest Holdings.