Sep 22, 2022

Weidner buys into Dallas

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Local shop Weidner Apartment Homes has acquired the 396-unit Cityplace Heights in Dallas, according to the The Dallas Morning News and other sources. Terms were not announced, though a $75 million loan from Morgan Stanley was reported. Seller Sentinel Real Estate, of New York, acquired the five-story building in 2015. The deal brings Weidner's portfolio to over 58,000 units, with over 280 properties spanning a region from Alaska to Wisconsin.

New tenant at Crossroads

Barnes & Noble announced in May that it would depart its longtime home in downtown Bellevue, the former Belle Lanes bowling alley on 106th Avenue Northeast, for Crossroads . That new location will open on Wednesday, the bookseller recently announced. CEO James Daunt said in a statement, “Over the past few years, we have seen a renaissance amongst physical booksellers with growing book sales and very successful new bookstore openings. We are delighted to be able to invest in this beautiful new bookstore here in Bellevue.” Barnes & Noble also opened a new store last year at the Village at Totem Lake . The Pacific Place store closed early in the pandemic; that space is still vacant. Onni Group is planning a major redevelopment back on 106th, but hasn't announced a start date.

Timberlane announced 262 units in SLC

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Timberlane Partners , which is based here in Seattle, is also active in Salt Lake City. There, the firm recently announced, it has broken ground on the five-story, 262-unit Back 9 development. Completion is projected for 2024. The project is a little south of downtown, in the West Valley area. Timberlane's John Chaffetz said in a statement, “We're thrilled to be planting a flag here with this development that is sure to add excitement to downtown West Valley.” Timberlane's partner in the project is Rich Day Group . Beecher Walker Architects designed the project, which Jacobsen Construction will build.

Amazon

Amazon and Water.org announced a partnership to help launch the Water.org Water & Climate Fund, focused on climate-resilient water and sanitation solutions that will result in lasting access for 100 million people across Asia, Africa and Latin America. Amazon will also donate $10 million to Water.org efforts to provide 1 million people with access to clean water by 2025. The Water & Climate Fund will support climate-resilient water and sanitation projects including water reuse infrastructure, wastewater treatment plants, and water loss reduction. Water.org, founded by Gary White and Matt Damon, is an international nonprofit organization that pioneers market-driven financial solutions to the global water crisis.

ZoomInfo

Vancouver-based ZoomInfo, a global provider of go-to-market software, data and intelligence, hired Andrew Riesenfeld as senior vice president of business development. Riesenfeld will lead the sales development and sales enablement teams, and prioritize redefining ZoomInfo's go-to-market processes, playbooks, and training programs. Riesenfeld joins ZoomInfo from DocuSign, where he served as vice president of go-to-market operations and productivity. He helped scale the company from $200 million to $2.5 billion in revenue, which included the company's IPO. Prior to DocuSign, Riesenfeld helped lead two other SaaS companies – Responsys and Heighten – to acquisitions by Oracle and LinkedIn Microsoft, respectively.

Powin

Global energy storage platform provider Powin announced the acquisition of EKS Energy, a provider of advanced power electronics and energy management solutions for energy storage and renewables. This acquisition expands Powin's offering to include the EKS Power Conversion System and Power Plant Controller, enabling Powin to deliver a complete AC energy storage platform capable of advanced control functionality to support microgrid applications while interfacing with multiple generation assets. Other new products include PV inverters, DC-to-DC converters and multi-port inverters, which are used to maximize performance and profits for utility-scale solar plus energy storage projects. Powin is headquartered in Oregon.

Oregon Fruit Products

Oregon Fruit Products appointed Joe Prewett as president and chief executive officer. Prewett will assume the role effective mid-October, while current CEO Chris Sarles will help to ensure a smooth transition. Prewett has been with Tillamook County Creamery Association since 2013 as executive vice president of brand and category growth. He has been a member of the Oregon Fruit Products board for two years. Before joining Tillamook, Prewett served as vice president of marketing for Farmer Brothers Coffee, Coffee Bean International and Medical Research Institute. Prewett has a bachelor's degree from the University of Oregon and a master's in business administration from the Anderson School at UCLA. Sarles is stepping down and plans to focus on non-profit organizations that help women and children. Founded in 1935, Oregon Fruit Products offers canned, frozen and shelf-stable premium fruit. The company is the located in Salem, Oregon.

Sep 21, 2022

Barghausen Consulting Engineers

Merlino

Currie

Raya

Mahar

Barghausen Consulting Engineers Inc. has promoted four employees since the start of July. Glenna Mahar was promoted to project planner. Erin Raya was also promoted to project planner. Jeff Currie was promoted to facilities specialist/courier, and Anthony Merlino was promoted to senior project engineer. These employees work out of the firm's Kent location.

Mahar joined Barghausen in Feb. 2021. She is involved with multisite corporate programs for several clients. Her responsibilities include conducting due diligence investigations, preparing reports and applications, and working with agencies to obtain land use approvals and construction permits. Raya joined Barghausen in Oct. 2021. She provides support to several large commercial clients that includes thorough feasibility research and the production of detailed reports. Raya also works closely with the project team to obtain land use entitlements and construction permits.

Currie started his career with Barghausen in Nov. 1999 as a courier. From courier runs, to replacing light fixtures, to spraying parking spot lines, to about anything else that someone could need, he helps keep things running across the firm's offices. Merlino joined Barghausen in May 2016, serving in various roles as a part of multiple commercial and fuel development teams within the company. Merlino has heavily contributed to the rapid expansion and capabilities of one of the large commercial client programs at Barghausen since the fall of 2021. The expanded growth of this program is due to Merlino's abilities to oversee the engineering design for the entire team.

The firm also welcomed six new employees in July and August. The new hires include an assistant planner, two design engineers, a project engineer, a project coordinator and a new director of survey. These new team members will be working from a mix of offices, including one new employee in the company's Roseville, CA. office, one new employee in the Richland, WA. office, and three in the Kent office.

Gillooly

Rohila

Mapstead

Espinoza

Elizabeth Espinoza joins Barghausen as an assistant planner. She is a graduate of Texas A&M University, where she earned her master's degree in urban planning and her B.S. in urban and regional planning. Espinoza previously worked in land planning and development in south Florida, and interned for a local municipality, League City, in Houston, Texas. Espinoza was president of Texas A&M's Association of Student Planners. Peter Lau joins the firm as a design engineer. Lau is a recent graduate from the University of Washington where he received his BAS in civil engineering.

Kaleb Mapstead joined Barghausen's Richland office in July as a project engineer. Mapstead graduated from Washington State University with a B.S. in civil engineering. He previously worked with AHBL as a project engineer for the last five-and -a-half years and has experience as a business systems analyst. Noor Witwit joined the Roseville office in August as a design engineer. Witwit is a recent graduate from California State University's Sacramento campus, where she earned her B.S. in civil engineering. She has previous experience as an engineering and architectural intern with Sacramento County Department of Water Resources. She is also an instructional student assistant at Sacramento State College with their civil engineering department.

Nisha Rohila has been hired as a project coordinator. Rohila is a graduate from the University of Washington, where she got her B.A. in urban studies and her GIS certificate. Her planning background includes working for different local municipalities, where she was a development specialist for the City of Federal Way, and a permit coordinator for the City of SeaTac. Brian Gillooly re-joined Barghausen in August as the director of the survey department. Gillooly previously worked for Barghausen for sixteen years, starting as a party chief back in 2004 where he worked his way up to become a project surveyor, and now director. Gillooly is a California State University alum and has his P.L.S (Professional Land Surveyor) certifications in Washington and Oregon.

Barghausen is headquartered in Kent with branch offices in Chehalis, WA; Richland, WA; Klamath Falls, OR; Long Beach, CA; and Roseville, CA.

CAST architecture

Peralta

CAST architecture added Naomy Peralta to its team. Peralta grew up in the Dominican Republic and moved to New Jersey to obtain her Bachelor of Science degree. At Florida International University, she completed her Master of Architecture where her thesis focused on exploring both tectonic and stereotomic elements.

FFA Architecture and Interiors

Hite

Tammy Hite has joined FFA Architecture and Interiors. A 2002 graduate of the University of Oregon's Bachelor of Architecture program, Hite's experience includes designing and performing construction administration on several K-12 schools throughout Oregon and Washington. She is also a former Benson Polytechnic High School Architectural Drafting Teacher.

Since joining FFA, Hite has been working on the new Monmouth City Hall and is a member of the FFA Standards Committee.

FSi Engineers

Thabar

Nguyen

FSi Engineers promoted Alice “Ali” Thabar to the position of Sr. project coordinator. Thabar is a US Army veteran, has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, and is a Certified Project Management Professional. She has been with FSi for seven years.

FSi also welcomed Maika Nguyen to an engineering internship. Nguyen has a Bachelor's degree in International Business and is a senior at the University of Washington Bothell studying mechanical engineering. At FSi, she is focusing on using her academic knowledge in a professional environment through energy modeling and the practical application of HVAC load modeling.

Standard Insurance

Martin

Portland-based Standard Insurance (The Standard) has promoted Shannon Martin to second vice president and assistant controller. In her new role, Martin will lead accounting and finance staff in the management of accounting close activities, financial reporting, investment accounting, financial systems and accounting policy. Martin joined The Standard in 2012, leading several corporate accounting and finance teams with increasing levels of responsibility and management. Prior to The Standard, she was an auditor with Deloitte.

Martin received a Bachelor of Science in accounting and a Master of Science in financial analysis from Portland State University. In business since 1906, The Standard is the marketing name for StanCorp Financial Group, and its subsidiaries: Standard Insurance, The Standard Life Insurance Company of New York, Standard Retirement Services, StanCorp Mortgage Investors, StanCorp Investment Advisers, StanCorp Real Estate, and StanCorp Equities.

Taqtile

Taqtile, maker of Manifest, an augmented reality-enabled work instruction platform for deskless workers, announced completion of a $5 million preferred equity round. The Seattle-based company will utilize proceeds to increase sales and marketing efforts, reinforce engineering and development teams and increase its global footprint through its partnership network. Investors in this round include Mesmerise, a London-based creator of augmented reality and virtual reality immersive technologies for enterprise customers, as well as Downer Group, a publicly traded Australian industrial and defense systems integrator. Bellevue-based 5G Open Innovation Lab, and tech-focused Ascend, a Seattle venture capital fund, have also invested in Taqtile. Downer Group is both a Taqtile investor and strategic partner. Close collaboration between Downer and Taqtile has already begun and will continue to grow across major defense and infrastructure projects in Australia and New Zealand.

City of Tacoma

The city of Tacoma is now accepting Community Arts Projects funding applications from eligible organizations and groups producing publicly accessible arts programming, across all artistic disciplines, within Tacoma city limits in 2023. Applicants can apply for either $3,000 or $6,000 for their project. Applications must be submitted online by 11:59 PM on October 31, 2022. Community Arts Projects funding can be used for a variety of projects including, artistic presentations, activities, events, workshops, experiences, festivals, performances, or other projects that are accessible to the general public – either in-person and/or virtually. Funded projects must be completed between January 1 - December 31, 2023. Eligibility extends to private non-profit corporations with a 501(c) designation, organized groups of people working together towards a specific mission or purpose, for-profit businesses or educational institutions producing projects that are non-profit in nature, and tribes or Native non-profit organizations. Applicants are required to have offices or their place of business within Tacoma or, if they have no offices, a majority of their activities must take place within Tacoma city limits. Funding for Community Arts Projects is determined through a competitive application process. The number of projects funded will be based on the availability of funds and review of each application as measured against the evaluation criteria detailed in the guidelines. More details, including access to the online application form, are available at cityoftacoma.org/artsopps.