Apr 10, 2025

Selig buildings into Kidder Mathews' hands

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As the Martin Selig Real Estate delinquent loan saga slowly and painfully unfolds, Kidder Mathews recently announced that it's managing a seven-building portfolio on behalf of a receiver. The properties are clustered in Belltown and Lower Queen Anne, and span about 1 million square feet. They range from Class A to Class B; some are recent construction, while others date to the 1970s. Kidder didn't disclose their vacancy rates. Its Erin French said of the group, “We see tremendous potential in this portfolio and a clear path to enhancing its long-term success. Our focus is to optimize operations, enrich the tenant experience, and foster vibrant environments at each property.” Among the portfolio is the so-called Darth Vader Building, aka Fourth & Blanchard. Separately, Cushman & Wakefield is seeking to sell several Selig parking lots and older office buildings in the Uptown area. Jordan Selig also recently announced her departure from the family business; there, The Seattle Times reported last month, 86 staff members were laid off. As of last year, Selig had about three dozen properties (offices and parking lots), with three separate loan packages totaling over $750 million.

Gantry

Thatcher

Doug Thatcher is now a senior director at Gantry, that firm announced this week. The industry veteran makes the move from Northwest Commercial Mortgage. Of his new colleague, Mike Wood said in a press release, “Doug is a respected peer and top professional in the Seattle Region's commercial real estate community, and we are extremely pleased he has chosen to join us.” Thatcher added, “The firm's independent culture is a familiar structure, and Gantry's extensive roster of life company correspondents, banks, credit unions, CMBS lenders, debt funds and private capital sources will dramatically expand my access to an array of vetted commercial real estate debt and equity sources when serving my clients.”

CBRE lands first tenant at 330 Yale

Photo by Mark Griffith Photography [enlarge]

Once dubbed Cascadian, the 330 Yale life-science building opened its doors in South Lake Union back in the summer of 2021. No tenants had pre-signed any lease deals for the speculative project, with its 211,555 square feet. That didn't deter LPC West and Invesco from then paying over $164 million for the new and empty building. Three years later, still empty, it was surrendered to the lender, KKR. But now there's a ray of sunshine to the gloomy story. CBRE has signed the UW Medicine's Institute for Protein Design (IPD) to take 31,837 square feet, with its Paul Carr, Marcus Yamamoto and Katie Smith representing KKR. The latter's Sam Gillespie said in a statement, “In this competitive Seattle life science market, we couldn't be more pleased that a leader such as the IPD has chosen to expand into 330 Yale.” The IPD program is led by the UW's David Baker, who recently received a Nobel Prize. He added, “With support from the UW Regents, we're excited to build a new center of excellence for translational science at 330 Yale.” IPD will take the third floor, and has eyes on the second floor for future expansion; KKR is currently preparing other turnkey lab suites to be ready this fall. LPC West continues to manage the building.

Kidder Mathews

Castro

Edward Castro is now general counsel at Kidder Mathews, that firm recently announced. He makes the move from Cushman & Wakefield, and brings three decades of experience to his new role. He said in a statement, “One of the things that drew me to Kidder Mathews is its ability to scale while preserving the agile, entrepreneurial spirit that sets it apart. It's rare to find a firm of this size that still empowers professionals to move quickly and serve clients without the red tape that can slow down larger organizations.”

Lease Crutcher Lewis

Nielsen

Seattle general contractor Lease Crutcher Lewis (Lewis) has promoted Joe Nielsen to director of operations overseeing Lewis' education market sector in Washington. Since joining Lewis 15 years ago, Nielsen has played a major role in delivering progressive design-build projects at the University of Washington, including the Hans Rosling Center for Population Health, Health Sciences Education Building, Haring Center renovation, and Innovation Hall for UW Bothell and Cascadia College. His leadership also extends to Lewis' ongoing work at Washington State University's Schweitzer Engineering Hall and at Northshore School District's Kenmore and Maywood Hills elementary schools. He is currently leading preconstruction for Lake Washington School District projects, including Lewis' upcoming work at Emerson K-12 in late 2025. As a progressive design-build delivery leader, Nielsen is committed to building integrated teams that behave as a single entity to work toward client priorities.

Pacific Office Automatio

Pacific Office Automation (POA) announced a strategic expansion of its executive leadership team under the direction of its newly appointed CEO, Adam Pritchett. As part of POA's commitment to growth, the company has promoted the following employees to vice president roles: Nick Duyn, regional vice president, Oregon market; TJ Wiesenberger, vice president, Colorado and Texas markets; Eric Pitassi, vice president, California and Nevada markets; and Sonny O'Grady, vice president, Utah and Idaho markets. Additionally, Christie Wakefield, formerly POA's director of marketing, has been promoted to vice president of marketing, bringing her expertise in marketing strategy and brand development to POA's executive team. Founded in 1976, Pacific Office Automation is a privately held office technology company headquartered in Beaverton, Oregon, and has more than 1,450 employees across 11 states.

Apr 09, 2025

HKS Interiors

Shwery

Brett Shwery has joined HKS as the global practice director for Commercial Interiors. He will lead the strategy, growth and vision of the firm's global Commercial Interiors practice.

Based in HKS's Los Angeles office, Shwery is a board member of IIDA Southern California and has received national and international awards for design, service, and industry contributions.

Quantum Consulting Engineers

Michaud

Quantum Consulting Engineers has promoted Travis Michaud to the role of associate. Michaud has been with Quantum for five years after spending his early career with firms in Pennsylvania and his native New Hampshire.

He has been the project manager for a myriad of structure types from residential and commercial new design, renovations, and tenant improvements to climbing walls, structural design of steel-framed industrial buildings, and concrete post-tensioned slab design foundations.

With a degree in Civil Engineering from the University of New Hampshire, Michaud holds Professional Engineering licenses in six states and is a member of the Structural Engineers Association of Washington and Structural Engineers of New Hampshire.

RMC Architects

Gearhart

Louise Gearhart has joined RMC Architects as a marketing manager. Gearhart graduated from Western Washington University in 2011 earning a Bachelor of Arts in Human Services with an Organizational & Community focus.

Gearhart brings strong communications, project management, and community outreach skills to the firm. She also has experience with marketing, including event planning, branding, and social media content creation.

Fujifilm Sonosite

Fujifilm Sonosite promoted Dennis Giacomino to the newly created role of chief commercial officer. Giacomino is a company veteran, serving in progressively senior roles in the sales and customer experience function since joining the company in 2009. In his new role, he will assume responsibility for the company's global commercial business leading sales, sales enablement, and market development of Fujifilm Sonosite products globally. Giacomino will be based at the firm's headquarters in Bothell. Fujifilm Sonosite provides bedside and point-of-care ultrasound and ultra-high frequency micro-ultrasound technology. The company is represented by a global distribution network in over 100 countries.

Alpenglow Biosciences

Seattle-based Alpenglow Biosciences named Blandine Merino and Mike Rice to its advisory board. Merino has over 20 years of experience driving product development, business operations, and strategy at companies like Guardant Health, Freenome, and Agilent. She specializes in NGS, digital pathology, and AI-powered cancer detection. At Guardant Health, she led cross-functional teams to expand the use of NGS testing in clinical trials, partnering with over 50 biopharma companies to advance cancer drug development. As VP of business development at Freenome, she developed and executed a strategy that accelerated the launch of a multi-analyte, machine-learning-powered early cancer detection test. She established co-development programs with academic medical centers and biopharma partners and led initiatives for licensing and global expansion. Merino is also the founder of Bio2Market, a consulting firm supporting life sciences and AI-driven companies. She holds an M.S. in Molecular Biology from the University of Paris-Saclay and an M.S. in Engineering from ISA Graduate School in Bioengineering. Rice is a veteran life science tools executive with more than 17 years of public company leadership experience. As former chairman and CEO of BioLife Solutions he led the transformation of the company from a small operation with fewer than 10 employees into a critical supplier of proprietary cell processing reagents with over 500 employees. Alpenglow is a venture-backed company focused on accelerating drug development and improving clinical diagnostics with AI-enabled 3D spatial imaging technology.