May 28, 2020

Expeditors International

In Seattle, Expeditors International of Washington appointed Jose Ubeda to the new role of senior vice president of digital solutions. Ubeda has worked at Expeditors for over 30 years, and was senior vice president of global air operations for 10 years. His new responsibilities include the development, deployment, sales and operations of Expeditors’ suite of digital solutions, such as sensor-based logistics, the Koho online shipping platform and Tradeflow trade management software. Expeditors is a global logistics company.

F5 Networks

Seattle-based F5 Networks named Tom Fountain as executive vice president of global services and chief strategy officer. Fountain joined F5 in 2018 from the security company McAfee, where he was senior vice president of strategy and corporate development. Prior to that, he was general manager of the Content & Media business unit and vice president of corporate strategy at Juniper Networks. At F5, he will succeed Steve McMillan, who was named president and CEO of Teradata, beginning June 8. He is based in F5’s offices in San Jose, California.

ZoomInfo

Vancouver-based ZoomInfo Technologies said it will offer 44.5 million shares of common stock with an expected initial public offering price of $16-$18 per share. The company has applied to list the shares on the Nasdaq market under the symbol ZI and expects to grant the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 6.68 million shares. The proceeds will be used to redeem preferred stock units of a subsidiary, repay loans and buy outstanding interests from certain equity holders. J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley are leading the offering. ZoomInfo sells access to its database of business people and companies to sales, marketing and recruiting professionals.

Mary’s Place

Mary’s Place opened a homeless shelter for families inside an Amazon office building in downtown Seattle. Mary’s Place Family Center in The Regrade is 63,000 square feet over eight floors and includes on-site health care. It increases the group’s overall shelter capacity in King County by 40% and is expected to serve over 1,000 family members per year. The shelter was developed in partnership with Amazon and includes its own private entrances and acoustical isolation.

City of Tacoma

The city of Tacoma opened its Rental Assistance Fund through the Greater Tacoma Community Foundation. Donations can be made to increase the amount of funding available for people who need rental housing assistance because of COVID-19 impacts. The city in April launched the program with $1.2 million from the Housing Trust Fund. It provides a one-time payment of up to $1,000 directly to landlords. More information is at https://tinyurl.com/TRAFund.

Gantry secures two loans worth $25M

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Gantry recently announced a pair of financing deals in our region. Mike Wood secured a $17 million loan for the Brewery Blocks in Tacoma, the new mixed-use development by Horizon Partners Northwest. A life insurance company put up the three-year bridge loan. Wood explained, “The Brewery Blocks borrower was seeking a bridge loan to pay off their existing construction loan that was coming due.” Wood also arranged a $7.8 million loan to the unnamed owner of two 17-year-old industrial buildings at Seaway Business Park in Everett. Another life insurance company provided the 20- to 30-year loan, which is interest free for the first five years. That structure, said Wood, “allows the borrower to recoup the prepayment penalty and improve cash flow.”

Microsoft leases two new Atlanta buildings

Microsoft is leasing 523,000 square feet in two full buildings at Atlantic Yards in Atlanta. Its landlord, Hines, made the announcement earlier this week. Invesco Real Estate is also a partner in the project. T. Dallas Smith & Co. was Microsoft’s broker. Terms for the lease weren’t disclosed. Microsoft expects to occupy the buildings next summer, with about 1,500 employees. Hines’ John Heagy said in a statement, “Microsoft’s next generation of talent will be blocks away at Georgia Tech, and once they occupy Atlantic Yards, Microsoft will have unmatched access, retail and restaurant options and a working environment deliberately designed to foster creativity.” Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture designed Atlantic Yards, with Wakefield Beasley & Assoc. as architect of record. New South Construction recently topped out on the project, for which PCCP provided the construction loan.

May 27, 2020

Lund Opsahl

Etienne

Chin

Liauw

Krieger

Roberge

Seattle-based Lund Opsahl promoted Shawn Roberge to principal and hired Brian Krieger , Cindy Liauw and Eric Chin as engineers and Zoey Etienne as a CAD technician. Roberge leads multifamily projects and is the firm’s director of sustainability. His projects include Vulcan’s recently completed South Lake Union Arbor Blocks west building; the University of Washington’s Kincaid Hall renovation; and two mixed-use buildings at Othello Square. Krieger began his career six years ago in New York, working on historic steel structures, subway projects and mixed-use high- and low-rise buildings. His West Coast experience has included new one- and two-story wood framed structures, renovations and additions, primarily in the K-12 market. He is working on healthcare, public works, housing and higher education projects. Liauw is a Georgia Institute of Technology graduate and has design experience in Guam on concrete, masonry and steel structures. She is working on projects in the healthcare, multifamily, commercial and transit sectors. Chin has five years of experience on commercial, residential and government structures. He is working on higher education, commercial, tribal and healthcare projects. Etienne has 22 years of drafting experience with AEC firms in Washington, Oregon and California. She is working on multifamily, higher education, industrial, commercial and behavioral health projects. Lund Opsahl provides structural and seismic engineering services.

HNTB Corp.

Marsh

Teri Marsh returned to HNTB Corp.’s Bellevue office as project manager for rail and transit projects. Marsh will lead transit design teams and manage the firm’s on-call value engineering, risk assessment and constructability review contract for Sound Transit. She has over 10 years of experience in design, project management and construction management of light rail and streetcar projects. Most recently, she was a rail and transit project engineer in HNTB’s Los Angeles office. Prior to that, she was a project engineer at HNTB’s Bellevue office where she worked on a number of Sound Transit light rail projects. HNTB is an infrastructure firm.

Rice Fergus Miller

Dahlquist

Bremerton-based Rice Fergus Miller hired architect Kirsten Dahlquist in its community studio. Dahlquist has over 12 years of experience in commercial, educational and healthcare environments, and is on the city of Bremerton design review board. The firm provides architecture, interior design, planning and visualization services.

Dykeman Architects

Farris

Stein

Goto

Everett-based Dykeman Architects hired Shin Goto as a project architect, Kate Stein as an interior designer and Katie Farris as a project administrator. Goto has 25 years of architectural experience, having previously owned his own architecture firm. He will manage projects and support project teams. Stein will do interior design and space planning. Most recently, she worked on commercial tenant improvement projects in office, retail and early education. She holds a bachelor of fine arts in interior architecture from the University of Idaho. Farris will assist the principals, project managers and project teams with contract development, streamlining the administrative processes, construction administration and planning office events. She was a project administrator at a Seattle design firm and has a bachelor’s in criminal justice from Washington State University.

University of Washington

The University of Washington’s Construction Management department postponed its 2020 Construction Management Hall of Fame event set for June 5 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The event will now be held in 2021 at the Bell Harbor Conference Center. The inductees for 2020 include Marvin Nelson, Bill Lewis, Ernie Emmert and Teb Herb. The CM department is part of the College of Built Environments.

CSDZ

Minneapolis-based CSDZ hired Cal Beyer as vice president of workforce risk and worker wellbeing on its Minnesota team. Beyer has over 30 years of safety, insurance and risk management experience, with 24 of those years in the construction industry. Prior to joining CSDZ, he was director of risk management for Lakeside Industries in Issaquah, where he catalyzed the construction industry’s mental health and suicide prevention movement. CSDZ, a Holmes Murphy company, provides construction insurance.

APA

APA — The Engineered Wood Association announced the winners of its 2019 Safety and Health Awards, which honor companies in the structural panel and engineered wood industry. Winners from the Pacific Northwest included: Roseburg Forest Products Co. of Coquille, Oregon (Innovation in Safety Award/Jeff Wagner Process-Based Innovation category); Boise Cascade Co. of Medford, Oregon (Safety and Health Honor Roll/first place Division I); and Boise Cascade Wood Products of White City, Oregon (3-Year Safety Award/Division III and Safety Improvement Award/Division III). Tacoma-based APA represents about 175 lumber mills throughout North America.

University of Washington

Pitre

The University of Washington awarded the 2020 Charles E. Odegaard Award to Emile Pitre, longtime staff member in the school’s Office of Minority Affairs & Diversity. Pitre is a 1969 UW graduate and a Black Student Union founder. Prior to retiring in 2014, Pitre spent over three decades at the UW, serving in various roles including director of the Instructional Center and associate vice president for assessment. He continues as a senior advisor to the OMA&D vice president. The award honors individuals whose leadership in the community exemplifies former UW president Odegaard’s work on behalf of diversity.

Sustainable Restaurant Holdings

Portland-based Sustainable Restaurant Holdings filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to keep its operations afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic. Related to the restructuring plan, the company received a commitment for up to $1.9 million in debtor-in-possession financing led by the Bain Capital Double Impact fund. The financing will provide liquidity while the company seeks a buyer. Sustainable Restaurant Holdings operates Bamboo Sushi and QuickFish restaurants in the Portland area, as well as in Seattle, the Bay Area, Denver and Phoenix. The chain’s goal is to rehire furloughed workers and resume full operations as soon as health risks subside and government restrictions are lifted.

City of Tacoma

The Chinese city of Fuzhou donated 70,000 disposable medical masks and 500 disposable medical gowns to the city of Tacoma to help curb the spread of COVID-19. The masks and gowns will be distributed throughout the local community, but the city will hold some in reserve in case of a resurgence of COVID-19 in the fall and winter. Fuzhou has been Tacoma’s sister city since 1994.

Prevencio

Kirkland-based Prevencio inked a deal with Seattle Children’s Research Institute to develop a blood test that diagnoses Kawasaki disease in children. Kawasaki disease may be triggered by COVID-19 and exhibits similar symptoms. Prevencio says it uses artificial intelligence, algorithms and multi-proteomic biomarkers for cardiovascular diagnostic and prognostic tests that are significantly more accurate than standard-of-care stress tests. There currently is no diagnostic test for Kawasaki disease, according to the company.