Jun 28, 2018

Blu Dot furniture shop on Pine

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Colman Automotive Building at 401 E. Pine St.

Minneapolis-based Blu Dot, which makes and sells modern home furnishings, is opening a new store in Pike-Pine corridor, with July 2 set for the official opening. Blu Dot is taking 5,800 square feet in the 1916 Colman Automotive Building at 401 E. Pine St., which Hunters Capital acquired for $3.85 million in 2012 and renovated with Mallet Construction. Area 51 previously occupied the space. Blu Dot says the new store will have a 60-foot site-specific collage. Standard Architecture designed Blu Dot's interiors. Blu Dot was founded in 1997 and has 11 stores in Chicago, Austin, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Australia and Mexico. Other tenants in the office/retail building include Inform Interiors and CareZone. Jill Cronauer and Kirsten Harrison of Hunters handle the leasing. Plans for a restaurant with roof deck appear to be on hold, though permits are in place.

PHG lunch to feature Dr. Sanjay Gupta

Gupta

Plymouth Housing Group will hold its 15th annual Key to Hope Luncheon on Friday, Sept. 28 at The Westin Hotel. The keynote speaker will be Dr. Sanjay Gupta, the neurosurgeon and Emmy-winning CNN reporter, on “Building a Foundation for Growth.” PHG's portfolio includes about 14 properties with 1,000 affordable units, and it's planning new projects on 12th Avenue near Yesler Terrace, in the Rainier Valley, and at Madison and Boylston (in a partnership with Bellwether Housing). Details and registration for the luncheon: plymouthhousing.org.

Magnuson Park preschool gets $100K

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Building 9 at Magnuson Park

The Denise Louie Education Center announced a $100,000 gift from Sheng Yen Lu Foundation, and says it has now raised $4.3 million for its capital campaign to open a preschool in the historic Building 9 at Magnuson Park. The space, now being renovated by Rafn, will serve low income refugee and immigrant children and families. Louie (1955-1977) was a board member of InterIm Community Development Association and an activist in the ID. Building 9 will also have a health care clinic and 148 units of affordable housing managed by Mercy Housing Northwest. Tonkin Architecture planned the renovation. Work is expected to finish next year.

Sotheby's expands Asian focus

Cascade Sotheby's International Realty hired Michael Zhang as a broker in the Portland office to specialize in Asian buyers. His team will include his wife, Vivian Chen. Sotheby's recently launched what it calls its Asia Desk, with partner Juwai.com, a Chinese real estate website.

PeopleReady

Kristy Willis on July 31 will join blue collar staffing firm PeopleReady as senior vice president and chief sales officer. Willis has 26 years of executive leadership experience and is senior vice president of Adecco's Western Division in California. Tacoma-based PeopleReady, a TrueBlue company, was founded nearly 30 years ago as Labor Ready.

Lasher Holzapfel

Seattle law firm Lasher Holzapfel Sperry & Ebberson hired Mark Morgan as an associate in the commercial litigation group. Morgan also practices in creditors' rights and bankruptcy, employment and labor, and real estate law. He was a clerk for Judge James R. Verellen on the Washington State Court of Appeals.

LabConnect

LabConnect, a Seattle-based provider of central laboratory and support services, promoted Barry Simms to COO, Trenton Harris to executive vice president and Elizabeth Koury to vice president of scientific affairs. Simms began his career over 18 years ago as a clinical research associate. Harris has over 20 years of clinical trials experience, including a stint as a senior executive in drug development for Covance. Koury joined LabConnect in 2012 following more than 15 years of research on neuroscience, oncology and immunology.

Madrona Venture Group

Venture capital firm Madrona Venture Group named Micah Baldwin executive director of its innovation center, which will open later this summer. Baldwin comes from Amazon, where he was senior business development and product manager for AWS Connections, a program that helps startup companies. The innovation center will be below Madrona's office in downtown Seattle, with space for founders and teams to collaborate.