Jul 25, 2019

Physicians Insurance

Carlson

In Seattle, Physicians Insurance appointed Dr. David Carlson as board chair and Dr. Jordana Gaumond as a board member. Carlson is chief physician officer and senior vice president of provider enterprises at MultiCare Health System. Gaumond is a board-certified general surgeon at The Oregon Clinic in Portland, where she has practiced since 2015 and serves on its board. Physicians Insurance provides medical liability insurance and other services to over 8,500 members in Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming and Alaska.

Columbia Bank

Singer

Tacoma-based Columbia Bank hired Jeff Singer as senior vice president and regional manager for the Eugene, Oregon, market. For the past 23 years, Singer held multiple positions at Umpqua Bank, most recently as senior commercial relationship manager. He takes over for Denise Ghazal, who will retire in early 2020. Columbia Bank has branches throughout Washington, Oregon and Idaho.

SDOT

Estey

Mike Estey of the Seattle Department of Transportation won the 2019 Parking Professional of the Year award from the International Parking & Mobility Institute. Estey manages parking programs for SDOT's Transit and Mobility Division. He helped expand the city's on-street paid parking program, implement a parking guidance system, and develop food truck permitting and business shuttle programs.

Porch

Seattle-based Porch acquired San Diego-Based HireAHelper.com, a moving services company. Terms of the deal were not announced. Porch is an online home improvement network connecting homeowners with qualified professionals. HireAHelper connects people with independent moving companies.

Calmwater Capital to open Seattle office

Jordan

Previously known as Karlin Real Estate Lending, direct lender Calmwater Capital has opened a Seattle office led by Eric Jordan, who moves up from Calmwater's main office in Los Angeles.

Jordan said in a statement, “The Pacific Northwest is an active and growing market. We have already completed deals up here, and opening an office in Seattle will give us an on-the-ground presence to go after and service bridge loan financing for sponsors and projects in the Pacific Northwest.”

Calmwater specializes in senior and mezzanine financing. It began circa 2005 as a $1.7 billion family office to manage the wealth of the Michelson family. Gary Karlin Michelson is an orthopedic spinal surgeon who invented several spinal surgery devices. According to The New York Times, he sold most of those patents to Medronic in 2005 for $1.35 billion. Karlin Real Estate is a related investor.

Prologis to buy IPT

Logistics giant Prologis will acquire smaller competitor Industrial Property Trust, the two companies announced this month. The almost $4 billion cash deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter or early in 2020. IPT says its 37.5-million-square-foot operating portfolio comprises 236 properties, most in Prologis markets that include Southern California, the Bay Area, and the Pacific Northwest. Prologis has around 786 million square feet in its international portfolio. In the Puget Sound area, as of last fall, Prologis had around 150 buildings with some 20 million square feet.

JLL taps Hughes to lead Bellevue office

Hughes

Jones Lang LaSalle recently completed its $2 billion acquisition of Holliday Fenoglio Fowler (HFF), which has resulted in many recent personnel moves among the two companies. Now JLL has announced that Chris Hughes will lead the combined Bellevue office.

JLL's Joe Smurdon said in a statement, “We see a huge opportunity for the Eastside and we want to be a part of it.” Hughes added, “The Eastside market is still evolving, but its momentum over the past few years isn't showing any signs of slowing. Office vacancy in the Bellevue CBD is at 3.9 percent and demand isn't slowing down. People are already taking spaces, and in some cases entire buildings, that won't be available until 2023.”

NAIOP confronts constraints

Enter Sept. 18 in your Google and Apple calendars, because that's the NAIOP breakfast date for unpacking the results of the first Puget Sound CRED report. The theme? “Will 2020 be the Year of Constraints?” On hand to discuss will be Jake Berg from Berntson Porter & Co., Ed McGovern from Security Properties, and Travis Hale from Panattoni. Other experts will likely be added to the panel before the 7 a.m. gathering at the Four Seasons (99 Union St.). Details and registration: naiopwa.org.