Sep 30, 2021

Columbia Pacific loans $66M for Indiana apartment deal

Columbia Pacific Advisors Bridge Lending announced its recent provision of a $66 million bridge loan to an Indiana firm that purchased a 739-unit garden apartment complex in South Bend. H&A Properties was the buyer for the Prosper Apartments, which spans 47 acres with 28 buildings and various amenities. Columbia Pacific's Will Nelson said in a statement, “An opportunity like this is rare in today's highly-competitive housing market, as quality rental properties with significant upsides are in short supply. The Prosper Apartments is a unique value proposition to anyone in the South Bend area.” H&A will use the funds to upgrade the property, and its Avromi Klor said, “We have had our eye on this property for some time, and we are fortunate to partner with the Columbia Pacific Advisors team.” The complex is 99% leased.

Another eatery at Village at Totem Lake

CenterCal Properties is almost done with its years-long mixed-use makeover of the old mall now known as the Village at Totem Lake. Another restaurant has been added to the roster: hanoon, an Arabic-themed eatery that spells its name with a lower-case H. The word can be translated as tenderness, compassion or kindness. The restaurant will seat 120 patrons. Owners Racha and Wassef Haroun said in a statement, “We couldn't imagine a better fit than the Village. Its very diverse guest base, high density and all day activity is ideal; hanoon offers the best of what we've learned.” The restaurateurs have over a decade of experience with their Mama Group of restaurants. Construction will begin soon on their latest venture, with completion anticipated by late this year or early next.

Visit Seattle

Saling

The hospitality sector is a key part of Seattle's commercial real estate market. Especially during these pandemic times, Visit Seattle's role is crucial to promoting business and leisure travel and filling the Washington State Convention Center and its addition, aka the Summit building, which is now nearing completion. To that end, the organization has promoted its Kelly Saling to chief sales officer, overseeing the same portfolio of convention sales and services. CEO Tom Norwalk said in a statement, “This overdue recognition reflects not only the critical role Kelly has in recovery of our meetings and convention business, but also her immense contributions to our entire organization these past 19 months.” Saling has been with Visit Seattle for over a decade. Looking ahead, with Summit due to open next year, she said, “I remain committed to spearhead the comeback of face-to-face meetings in Seattle.” She also becomes a senior VP with the organization.

Newmark leasing part of The Prato District

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Segale Properties has long owned about 500 acres — not all of it buildable — between the Green River and Interstate 5, south of Westfield Southcenter. Earlier this year it was rebranded as The Prato District, which is expected to include apartments, offices, retail, industrial buildings and other phased development. For the initial 250 acres of development, approved by the city of Tukwila, Ryan Cos. has ground leased about 38 acres for the Prato District Technology Center. Now Newmark has announced that it will broker that space, with Taylor Hoff, Thad Mallory, and Blake Bentz leading the effort. Ryan's Marc Gearhart said in a statement, “The Newmark team's expertise and market awareness should position the site as the premier build-to-suit land opportunity for proximity-driven R&D, office and industrial manufacturing requirements, with building deliveries in 12 to 18 months.” The tech center represents the first phase of development; Ryan will serve as its own architect and contractor. The development will go in a bend of the Green River, roughly opposite Seattle Tractor Parts & Equipment (the latter is at 18801 Southcenter Pkwy.). With its advisor Heartland, Segale envisions the next phase of development could be a 450-unit apartment development on about 9 acres to the north. That, too, would be a ground lease.

King County Housing Authority

Norman

King County Housing Authority has announced the planned December retirement of its longtime executive director, Stephen Norman. After 25 years at KCHA, and some 45 years in affordable housing, he said, “It has been a joy and a privilege to work with the team here at KCHA. They truly care. This is an organization filled with enormously capable and dedicated individuals.” KCHA says that, during Norman's tenure, its capacity has doubled.That now includes over 12,000 units that serve some 23,000 households and over 55,000 individuals — some formerly homeless, plus many families with children. KCHA made news early this year as a beneficiary of Amazon's $2 billion national Housing Equity Fund, which supported the acquisition of three older garden apartment complexes on the Eastside. The agency expects to house over 1,000 additional homeless households over the next year. KCHA will conduct a national search for a new director.

RSVP joins ERA

Residential broker RSVP Real Estate, of Bellevue, has announced it's now affiliated with ERA Real Estate, which is itself part of the publicly traded Realogy Holdings. RSVP is a family-run shop with about 400 agents in our region, and is led by Steve Kloetsch and son Andy Kloetsch. (The late Quentin Kloetsch ran RSVP Construction in Eastern Washington.) The firm's new moniker will be RSVP Real Estate ERA Powered. Steve Kloetsch said in a statement, “We are proud of being a family-owned firm and consider our agents part of the family. By joining ERA, our family now extends across the country and around the world, which is a powerful benefit.”

Leafly Holdings

Krishnaswamy

Seattle-base Leafly Holdings, a cannabis discovery marketplace, hired Suresh Krishnaswamy as its new chief financial officer. Krishnaswamy brings more than 25 years of experience in leading finance and technology roles for global organizations, and is joining Leafly following the announcement that the company will go public through a business combination with Merida Merger. Most recently, Krishnaswamy served as an advisor for NextLevel Business Consulting, where he developed vision and strategy for large companies in financial services and technology. Prior to joining NextLevel, he held roles including CFO of Drift, a renewable energy marketplace, and worked with major investment banks including Credit Suisse, Bank of America, Credit Agricole and Barclays.

Downtown Seattle Association

Rolf

The Downtown Seattle Association has named Kylie Rolf as its new vice president of advocacy and economic development effective Oct. 18. Rolf joins DSA from Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan's office where she has worked since 2017 as director of legislative affairs and major initiatives. She has also held positions with Sound View Strategies, a Seattle-based public affairs firm, as Sen. Maria Cantwell's King County outreach director, and with Seattle For Everyone, a pro-housing coalition of which DSA is a member. Her background includes policy work on housing in Seattle-King County, campaign field organizing, fundraising, community and small-business outreach and labor union experience. Rolf was selected through a DSA board-led process with a focus on identifying diverse candidates as part of DSA's commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. Established in 1958, the Downtown Seattle Association is a nonprofit membership organization whose mission is to create a healthy, vibrant downtown.

Snoqualmie Tribe

King County Executive Dow Constantine announced the Snoqualmie Tribe Vaccine Partnership as the winner of the 11th annual Executive's Award for Community Resilience for their collaborative effort to deliver tens of thousands of COVID-19 vaccine doses to residents of east King County. The award is given each fall in recognition of outstanding efforts made by community organizations to prepare for and respond to emergencies, to promote safer communities and strengthen King County as a whole. The partnership was formed when the cities of Sammamish and Issaquah, Eastside Fire and Rescue, and the Snoqualmie Tribe joined efforts to ensure equitable distribution of critical COVID-19 vaccine. From April to mid-June, the Snoqualmie Tribe Vaccine Partnership delivered more than 15,000 doses of vaccine at a drive-through vaccination site at Lake Sammamish State Park. Eastside Fire and Rescue personnel also delivered nearly 6,800 vaccines at the Snoqualmie Tribal Casino and close to 1,000 doses through mobile vaccination teams and pop-up clinics, focusing on vulnerable and historically marginalized populations.