Jan 29, 2021

City of Tacoma

Selected along with five other participating municipalities across the country, the city of Tacoma has partnered with the National League of Cities (NLC) to facilitate job creation and economic opportunities for Tacoma residents. The city of Tacoma's participation in NLC's Cities of Opportunity initiative, led by Mayor Victoria Woodards, will focus on the Tacoma Anchor Institution Network, a collaborative of the largest place-based employers in Tacoma such as hospital systems, universities, colleges, and governmental and non-profit partners. The Tacoma Anchor Institution Network is among the strategies listed in the city's Tacoma 2025 strategic plan, and focuses on building a stronger, more resilient economy and workforce in Tacoma.

Traction Guest

Traction Guest, a provider of enterprise visitor management systems and employee safety tools, announced Maris Berzins has been appointed vice president of engineering. Berzins is a veteran software engineering and product management executive. At Traction Guest, Berzins will drive the ongoing development of the company's workforce security platform. Prior to joining Traction Guest, Berzins led engineering for Starbucks' loyalty and mobile ordering commerce platform. At global enterprise software company Agilysys Berzins served as the VP of product engineering. Previous roles include a decade-long tenure at Microsoft, where Berzins oversaw the delivery of multiple software products and web services to millions of Microsoft customers around the globe. Most recently, he was the vice president of engineering for Nav.

Jan 28, 2021

Northwest Kidney Centers

Brockenbrough

Stepp

Bylund

Northwest Kidney Centers added a new member to its board of trustees and a new member to its foundation board. In addition, community volunteer Catherine Bylund announced her retirement from the foundation board after five years of service. The foundation board raises funds and helps build connections in the community. Russ Stepp, current chair of Northwest Kidney Centers Foundation Board, has also joined the board of trustees. Stepp, retired CEO of R.W. Beck, was elected to the foundation board in 2015 and began a two-year term as its chair in July 2020. He will serve concurrently on both boards. The foundation board's newest member, Dr. Andy Brockenbrough, is a clinical nephrologist at UW Medicine's Valley Nephrology Clinic, and medical director of Northwest Kidney Centers' Kent dialysis clinic. Northwest Kidney Centers is a regional, not-for-profit, community-based provider of kidney dialysis, public health education and research into the causes and treatments of chronic kidney disease.

Sendle

Sendle, a national shipper designed for small business, announced a partnership with Kidizen, a kids' fashion marketplace, that will help Kidizen sellers simplify and streamline their shipping operations. Kidizen gives parents and resellers a way to buy and sell gently worn kids clothing, and to help reduce the environmental impact of fashion waste. This announcement builds on Sendle's existing eCommerce marketplace integrations with Etsy, WooCommerce, Shopify and eBay. Sendle is a 100% carbon neutral shipping carrier. The company was founded in Australia in 2014 by James Chin Moody, and is headquartered in Seattle and Sydney, Australia.

Department of Health

The Washington State Department of Health has appointed Dan Laster as director of the COVID-19 Vaccine Action Command and Coordination System Center to create public-private partnerships. In this role, Laster will tap into the capabilities and resources of the private sector to support vaccination efforts across the state. For the past 10 years, Laster has been chief operating officer and chief legal officer for PATH, a global health non-profit organization. On Jan. 18, Gov. Jay Inslee announced that Microsoft, Starbucks, Kaiser Permanente, SeaMar and SEIU 1199 will partner with the state to support the vaccine distribution efforts. Visit http://www.covidvaccine.wa.org for the latest information.

Kidder Mathews

McDowell

Levine

Kidder Mathews recently announced two new hires. Veteran Craig Levine will join the Bellevue office as an executive vice president, to specialize in office tenant advisory and sales. He makes the move from Washington Partners, also in Bellevue. KM COO Brian Hatcher said in a statement, “I have worked with Craig over the years, as have other brokers in our Bellevue office. We are glad to have him as part of our team.” Second, Richard McDowell joins the firm as senior vice president; his portfolio will be building engineering and sustainability. He makes the move from CBRE. The head of KM's property management services, Keith Kaiser, said, “Rich's deep technical expertise and business experience further enhance Kidder Mathews' ability to serve our clients across multiple markets.”

Sabey

Sasser

Data centers, carrier hotels and server farms are a big business, one that's getting even larger due to the pandemic-driven surge in online commerce. Accordingly, Sabey Data Centers announced the recent promotion of its John Sasser to chief technology officer; he's been with the firm for 18 years, most recently as senior VP of operations. His new charge is data center operations, new data center delivery, sustainability and information security. That Sabey company is led by Robert Rockwood, who said in a statement, “John's promotion to CTO recognizes his 18 years of exceptional service and limitless potential. John has distinguished himself as a creative thinker, a disciplined planner, and an inspiring leader.” Sabey has data centers in Seattle, Quincy and Columbia (both near the Columbia River), Virginia, Manhattan and beyond.

More details on Haggen sales

The DJC reported last week on the $15.5 million sale of a Haggen-leased grocery store in Stanwood. Merlone Geier Partners of San Francisco was the seller, and Apollo Net Lease Capital of greater San Diego was the buyer. Now the brokers have announced themselves and detailed a eight-store portfolio sale. Three stores are in Bellingham; others are in Ferndale, Mount Vernon, Marysville and Burlington. Terms weren't announced, for the overall deal, which spans about 436,000 square feet. The seller's brokers were Matt Berres of Eastdil Secured, working with Newmark's Paul Sleeth, Billy Sleeth and Patrick Allen. All the leases are triple-net, with long terms, the brokers said.

JLL secures $30M for SKB industrial project

As the DJC first reported last month, Portland investor ScanlanKemperBard paid $24 million for the old 7-acre Northwestern Industries glass manufacturing plant in Interbay. SKB's plan is to renovate the three buildings and repurpose them as a multitenant industrial campus. Now JLL Capital Markets has announced that it secured $30.35 million for the acquisition and, apparently, some of the renovation work. The firm's Tom Wilson and Zach Kersten sourced the floating-rate bridge loan what JLL calls a national debt fund. (Public records indicate Bridge Investment Group of Salt Lake City, Utah.) Kersten said in a statement, “We look forward to watching SKB transform this project into a best-in-class facility in a very attractive submarket for tenants.”

CBRE

Berde

CBRE announced that veteran mortgage banker Josh Berde has joined the its capital markets team. He makes the move from KeyBank. In his new role as senior VP, he'll specialize in the Freddie Mac small balance loan program. CBRE's John R. Miller said in a statement, “Josh's addition will help us improve upon the robust platform we've built in the small business loan space over the past five plus years. His extensive experience originating debt in the middle market and institutional space makes him an ideal fit.” Berde has done over $2.5 billion in deals over the past 20-odd years.