Nov 26, 2021

King County

SEATTLE (AP) — King County has named a new interim sheriff as the department moves under the authority of the county executive.

County Executive Dow Constantine announced that Patti Cole-Tindall, currently second in command at the sheriff's department, will be appointed interim sheriff and will start Jan. 1.

The Seattle Times reports that Cole-Tindall, 57, will be the first person of color to serve as sheriff in Washington's largest county.

King County voters authorized the switch atop the county's law enforcement department when they voted last year to make sheriff an appointed, rather than elected, position.

That change goes into effect in 2022, when the term of current Sheriff Mitzi Johanknecht, who was elected in 2017, ends.

Cole-Tindall lives in Kent and has been with the sheriff's department for about six years after a long career in public service. She has served as undersheriff, the department's No. 2, for the last year and a half, after serving as the department's chief of technical services for almost five years.

“Patti has both the experience and the temperament to be able to lead her employees forward in a productive way,” Constantine said.

Kasa comes to town

[enlarge]

Extended-stay operator Stay Alfred, of Spokane, folded during the pandemic — as did many others in that space. Among its portfolio of temporarily shuttered hotels was The Oxford, at 1920 First Ave., near Pike Place Market. This month Kasa announced that The Oxford and three other hotels in other markets were now in its portfolio. The six-story building has been owned by local investors for over two decades; its 49 apartments were flipped to hotel rooms two years ago. The ground-floor retail space is also leased to Design Within Reach. The building dates to 1909, and originally operated as a hotel until 1971. Five-year-old Kasa, a privately held startup, now operates in over 35 cities in four countries; it doesn't detail the number of rooms it manages. It's led by Roman Pedan, with headquarters in San Francisco. In a similar nearby deal, Mint House announce last month that it would flip the Atwood entirely to extended-stay units; the previous operator there was Barsala.

Seattle Housing Authority

Seattle Housing Authority announced that Dave Wellings is now director of housing operations. He's been with the authority for a dozen years, and will now oversee some 8,000 housing units — including some of the new buildings at Yesler Terrace. SHA's executive director Rod Brandon, who previously occupied that operations seat, said in a statement, “Dave has a breadth of experience at SHA, and a deep knowledge of the agency and our public housing programs, as well as a deep commitment to SHA's Race and Social Justice Initiative. I'm excited to have Dave stepping into this key leadership role.”

A bit more about Solara

[enlarge]

As the DJC first reported in mid October, the 238-unit Solara in Lake City sold to national investor MIG Real Estate for $84 million. Brokers were not then announced, but CBRE later issued a press release. Its Jon Hallgrimson, Eli Hanacek, Frank Bosl and Kyle Yamamoto represented the seller, Sares Regis Group, which like the buyer is based in California. Hanacek said in a statement, “We received significant interest in Solara due to the highly desirable large floor plans, complete with traditional one-bedroom homes and an abundance of amenity space. Buyer appetite to invest in the Seattle market recovery is at an all-time high.” Down in CBRE's San Diego office, Bill Chiles, Scott Peterson and Brian Cruz arranged the acquisition loan. As reported last month, that over $62 million package came from Forethought Life Insurance.

JLL

Taylor

Early this month, JLL announced that it was expanding its valuation services presence in our market, extending to Portland. Leading that group from our city will be Robert Taylor, who makes the move from Cushman & Wakefield. He'll work at a national level with JLL's Eric Enloe, who said in a statement, “Under Rob's leadership, JLL Valuation Advisory will be the premiere valuation presence in the Pacific Northwest. Based in Seattle, JLL's Joe Smurdon said, “We've seen incredible demand this year for valuation advisory services, and see Rob as a key addition to our team.”

Focus on the South Sound

NAIOP, like most industry groups, is about to go on holiday hiatus. But mark Jan. 31 in your calendar for the annual South Sound Economic Forecast. It'll be held that Monday, beginning at noon, at the Tacoma Convention Center. The lunch event will feature a panel of experts, who'll look at all classes of real estate, mostly in Pierce County. Details and registration: naiopwa.org.

Nov 24, 2021

GGN

Umana

Booth

Hasan

Garcia

Lindenmuth

Bowen

Nardi

Chung

Akagawa

Keegan

Seattle based landscape architecture firm GGN announced several new hires and promotions. Kristin Lindenmuth joins GGN as the new chief financial officer. In her role, Lindenmuth will focus on moving GGN's internal operations forward and ensuring business and financial decisions are in line with company values. Lindenmuth most recently served as director of finance for Jackson | Main Architecture and brings a wealth of experience in finance and business management for architecture, property management, construction, and legal firms. Ana Cristina Garcia, Lama Hasan, Luke Booth and Wolfgang Umana have been promoted to associate. Patrick Keegan has been hired as an associate. Ayami Akagawa, Benjamin Nardi and Christine Chung have been hired as designers and Jayme Bowen joins the company as an administrator.

HBB Landscape Architecture

Alderman

Nowaczyk

Walton

HBB Landscape Architecture announced the promotion of Michael Walton, ASLA, ISA and Steve Nowaczyk, ASLA, to senior associate and Jack Alderman, ASLA to associate. Walton has been practicing landscape architecture for 10 years and brings extensive knowledge of horticulture, arboriculture and irrigation design to the team. His diverse experience includes transportation projects for light rail, roadway corridors, and airports; as well as college campuses, parks, waterfronts and multi-modal trails. Walton also volunteers on the Seattle Urban Forestry Commission helping guide the city in how to manage its urban forests. Most recently Walton led the landscape design for the Downtown Redmond Link Light Rail Extension in Redmond, Bates Technical College in Tacoma, and the Cushman Trail Extension in Gig Harbor.

Nowaczyk has been practicing landscape architecture for 14 years. His background in the field spans across the private and public sectors with completed works in private development, public plazas, and transportation infrastructure. Some of Nowaczyk's most recent projects include the King County Metro RapidRide I-Line through Auburn, Kent and Renton, Malaga Waterfront Park Master Plan in Malaga, and Western State Hospital Recreation Yard & Plaza Space Expansion in Lakewood.

Alderman's expertise in design merges analog and digital mediums with 3D modeling. He is a member of the Professional Advisory Council at the University of Washington and works to connect the university to the professional community. Some of Alderman's recent projects include the Downtown Redmond Link Light Rail Extension in Redmond, East Howe Steps Plaza in the Eastlake neighborhood of Seattle, and the Greg Cuoio Park & Greenways Master Plan in Lacey.

HKP Architects

Delphia-Ramos

HKP Architects welcomed Chrystal Delphia-Ramos as a project administrator. Delphia-Ramos received her Bachelor of Science in construction management from Purdue University in 2005, with a minor in business and marketing. After graduating, she joined Alt & Witzig Engineering, working on multiple geotechnical projects including a 50,000-acre wind farm and Purdue's new recreation center. During her 20 years in the industry, she has provided all aspects of project management support for her companies, including on-site coordination and observation. Delphia-Ramos will be working with all of the members of HKP aiding in project support and management, as well as business development and marketing.