Oct 24, 2013

Schafer joins WSCC board

Schafer

Craig Schafer was appointed by Gov. Jay Inslee to the Washington State Convention Center board of directors. His term ends July 30, 2016. Schafer is replacing board member Christopher Sullivan, who resigned earlier this year. Schafer owns Hotel Andra in downtown Seattle and a Red Lion Hotel in Portland. He has owned several hotels in Seattle and founded Colliers International's hotel realty brokerage.

HREC hires new VP

Hospitality Real Estate Counselors, which has an office in Seattle, hired Mark Mitroka as a senior vice president in its Orange County office. Mitroka has more than 25 years of experience in real estate and finance, most recently as president of Sojourn Advisors, a real estate consulting firm for high net-worth people and companies. HREC says it is the nation's largest lodging and gaming real estate advisory firm, with 14 U.S. offices.

TeamBuilder joins Keller Williams

Bill Hurme and his TeamBuilder home sales group have joined Keller Williams Realty. The TeamBuilder group will work out of Keller Williams' Kirkland office. TeamBuilder has 43 brokers that sold more than 500 homes worth more than $200 million last year. Hurme worked for John L. Scott Real Estate for 17 years before founding TeamBuilder. Keller Williams says it is the largest real estate franchise operation in the U.S., with 700 offices and more than 80,000 employees in the U.S. and Canada.

State honors Mike Lowry

Lowry

The Washington State Housing Finance Commission has given former Gov. Mike Lowry a lifetime achievement award for his work to help farmworkers buy houses. In 2003, he launched Washington Agricultural Family Assistance to find land, organize volunteers and secure funding. WAFA has built 73 homes in eastern Washington, including Moses Lake, Quincy, Ephrata and Royal City. Lowry also is co-chair of the National Alliance to End Homelessness and was on the board of Sharehouse, which provides furniture to formerly homeless people. The commission also gave 2013 Friend of Housing awards to Christina Pegg of Longview Housing Authority, Leah Greenwood for her work on the merger of Affordable Community Environments and Reach Community Development, Sue Cary for her work with Capitol Hill Housing and other housing organizations, Opportunity Council of Bellingham and Helen Stevenson for her work on affordable housing in eastern Washington.

Oct 17, 2013

Mohr Partners

Garces

Marcelo Garces has joined the Bellevue office of Mohr Partners, an exclusive tenant-only global real estate advisory firm. Garces will lead a national team of advisors in the data center and technical facilities practice groups. His prior expertise includes design, construction and operations of data centers for corporate users.

Compass Housing Alliance

Compass Housing Alliance's board of directors selected Janet Pope to be the nonprofit's new executive director. Pope has worked as executive director of Seattle Musical Theatre and director of HomeStep, a transitional housing organization. She is taking over for Rick Friedhoff, who retired in October 2012 after 16 years as executive director. Compass provides low-income housing and services for homeless and low-income people in the region. Compass manages 681 units of permanent and transitional housing, and 220 emergency shelter beds.

First Citizen nominations due

Nominations for the 76th annual Seattle King County Realtors' First Citizen award are due Oct. 21. Letters should be sent by Oct. 21 to First Citizen Selection Committee, c/o Seattle King County Realtors, 12410 S.E. 32nd St., Suite 100, Bellevue, or by email to Val Towler, vtowler@nwrealtor.com. Former NBA player, coach and children's advocate Lenny Wilkens was given the award earlier this year.