Dec 24, 2020

Shakeup at Unico

Kuhrau

Sylvester

Jonas Sylvester, president of Unico Properties, will depart the firm at year's end. The company recently announced the departure; Sylvester had been with the firm for 17 years. No reason was stated for the exit. Succeeding him will be Quentin Kuhrau, who previously served in that capacity. (He'll also remain CEO and chairman of the board.) Kuhrau said in a statement, “While we are saddened to lose Jonas as a co-worker, we wish him all the best and are excited for him as he embarks upon his next chapter. Given the small world of real estate, we look forward to our paths intersecting again in the future.” Among other company moves, Bruce Snyder, Brian Pearce and Dan Lowen will assume new portfolios and responsibilities.

Columbia Pacific lends over $52M for distressed retail deal

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The bankruptcy sale was down in Los Angeles, in the Koreatown neighborhood. But, local firm Columbia Pacific Advisors recently announced, it was able to provide a $52.5 million bridge loan for new owner Jake Sharp Capital to close the deal. The five-year-old, three-story, 80,046-square-foot complex is anchored by Gaju Market, and is about 88% leased. Columbia Pacific's Will Nelson said in a statement, “The Koreatown submarket has held up during the pandemic, quality retail remains in high demand, and we are confident the infusion of capital will further stabilize the asset. “450 South Western Avenue is an open-air retail center with ample parking, and we believe it is well positioned to navigate the obstacles of the pandemic and excel as the country begins to recover.” CBRE said the deal closed at $57.5 million, which was 10% over the asking price; its Michael Shustak, Derrick Moore, Chris Caras and Phillip Sample represented the seller. The property, with a large structured parking garage, is also known as California Marketplace.

M&T Realty arranges $8M refi in LQA

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M&T Realty Capital Corporation said that it recently secured an over $8.4 million loan for the owners and original developers of the seven-year-old, 45-unit H2O Apartments in Lower Queen Anne. Jim Schneider and Wim Roach secured the funding, which came from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. MTRCC says the new loan features a non-recourse, sub-3% interest rate, fixed and amortizing for 35 years. It replaced an old loan with a hefty prepayment penalty. But the firm says it structured a premium interest rate that enabled a large enough credit to pay the prepayment penalty outside of the mortgage and still materially lower the interest rate. Schneider explained, “It is more typical to see a discount interest rate, which is where a client pays some amount of money to lower their new rate. In this case, MTRCC did just the opposite — it offered a premium rate.” The six-story project was completed circa 2013 by developer/designer NK Architects and a financial partner. Compass Construction was the general contractor.

Grady to lead CBB

Grady

Brokerage Coldwell Banker Bain recently announced that longtime senior executive Mike Grady will step up to become president and CEO. He previously served as president and COO for the past 26 years. Company owner and chairman Bill Riss said in a statement, “For nearly three decades, Mike and I have led with a servant-leadership approach, which has allowed us to successfully grow the company into one of the most highly regarded real estate brands in the region.” Last year the firm did $6 billion in deals, mostly on the residential side. But CBB also provides services in property management, commercial real estate and real estate investment. In related moves, John Deely becomes executive VP of operations, Tasha Pasco rises to executive VP of sales and leadership development, and Laurie Way becomes a principal managing broker in three Seattle offices.

Changes at CCIM

Richardson

CCIM Washington State Chapter has announced its new leadership positions for the new year. Kelly Richardson of Rowley Properties will become the chapter's new president in 2021. She said in a statement, “The value CCIM brings to our industry and commercial real estate practitioners has never been more important. Our newly elected board of directors are devoted to providing our members with the best possible resources available to help them advance their real estate careers.” Those new board members are: Larry Eu of Great Earth Realty, Matt McLennan of Kidder Mathews and Leigh Wang of Bank of America. Outgoing president Gary Hunter of Westlake Associates will also continue to serve on the board.

Innovyze

Innovyze announced a new Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform, Info360.com, which enables water and wastewater utilities to monitor, analyze, and optimize their operations using the cloud. The new platform is being released with Info360 Insight, the first of multiple solutions to be developed for real-time water lifecycle management. Innovyze has developed software for the water industry for over 35 years, serving clients including utilities, ENR design firms, consultancies and refining plants around the world.

Gurobi

Gurobi Optimization and o9 Solutions announced that they are partnering to deliver mathematical optimization software solutions to enterprises across a broad range of industries including manufacturing, retail, and logistics. o9 will offer the Gurobi Optimizer as a component of its AI-powered platform, giving companies the capability to leverage this technology to help solve their business problems. Founded in 2008, Gurobi is a market leader in mathematical optimization software and has operations across the USA, Europe, and Asia.

Lattice Semiconductor

Oregon-based Lattice Semiconductor announced its new Community Sourced Development Board webpage to highlight open source hardware development boards and reference designs developed by innovators in the open source community that use Lattice's low power network. To see the list of community sourced boards, or to submit a new open source project to be considered for posting to the Lattice Community Sourced webpage, see latticesemi.com/en/Solutions/Solutions/SolutionsDetails01/CommunitySourced.