Mar 19, 2015

CHH will honor Liberty Bank

Courtesy Joshua Okrent for CHH

Left to right: Michelle Purnell-Hepburn, Derryl Durden, Merle Richlen and Jocquelyn Duncan are on Capitol Hill Housing’s Liberty Bank Advisory Board.

Capitol Hill Housing convened an advisory board to look at ways to honor Liberty Bank, the first bank west of the Mississippi River to focus on serving the African-American community.

In 2013, CHH bought a site where the bank had a branch at 24th Avenue and Union Street with plans to build a mixed-use affordable housing complex.

The board recommends naming it Liberty Bank Building and integrating the bank logo into the signage. It also recommends reusing the brick exterior, vault door and number plates from safety deposit boxes, as well as displaying historic photos in the building.

The board is Jocquelyn Duncan, Derryl Durden, Merle Richlen, Michelle Purnell-Hepburn, George Staggers and Pastor Reggie Witherspoon.

Ford wins award

Ford

Laura Ford of Colliers International was named one of the Most Powerful and Influential Women of Washington by the National Diversity Council. The council says winners have overcome barriers to make it to the top of their field. Ford has spent more than 20 years as a commercial real estate broker in Seattle and worked on some high profile leases. She represented Talon Private Capital and Prudential Real Estate Investors in a 200,000-square-foot lease to Amazon in 1800 Ninth, and Shorenstein Properties and Wright Runstad & Co. on a 300,000-square-foot lease with Zulily at 2601 Elliott.

CREW offers scholarships

Commercial Real Estate Women is offering scholarships for women pursuing a career in real estate. CREW is working with the Goldie B. Wolfe Miller Women Leaders Initiative and Prudential Real Estate Investors to provide 10 scholarships worth $5,000 as well as a paid internship, free membership at CREW and a CREW mentor. Women must be full-time students with at least a 3.0 GPA. Applications are due April 30. For more information, visit: http://www.crewnetwork.org.

Condo seminar May 7

The Seminar Group will hold an all-day event about condo development May 7 at Hilton Seattle. Topics include the state of the market; new development; new materials and technologies; and legal issues. Gregory A.V. Clark of Foster Pepper and Daniel Zimberoff of Barker Martin are co-chairs. For more information, or to register, visit: http://bit.ly/1CqOd2g

Mar 12, 2015

Leica opens in Bel Square

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Leica Camera will open an 800-square-foot store in Bellevue Square this weekend.

It will sell German cameras and gear, and have space for lectures and workshops.

Leica is offering tours and workshops this weekend.

Kidder Mathews buys San Diego firm

Vallecorsa

Carlson

Naliboff

Kidder Mathews of Seattle has acquired StepStone Real Estate Services, a San Diego-based firm that manages more than 600,000 square feet of retail, office and mixed-use properties. StepStone founders Jack Naliboff, Kathy Giraldo Carlson and Mark Vallecorsa, and four other employees will join Kidder Mathews. Kidder Mathews expanded to Southern California in January when it opened a San Diego office. It has three offices in the San Francisco Bay area, one in Portland and five in Washington.

HomeStreet starts commercial lending

HomeStreet Bank has started HomeStreet Commercial Capital, a new lending service that will provide permanent financing for projects up to $10 million, including multifamily, industrial, retail, office, mobile home parks and self-storage facilities. The 14-person team is based in Orange County, California, and led by Bill Endresen. Endresen last worked at Impac Commercial Capital, and has more than 40 years of experience in commercial real estate.

CREW event in Tacoma March 25

Commercial Real Estate Women Seattle & Sound will hold a South Sound luncheon focusing on the Tacoma Brewery District at 11:30 a.m. March 25 at Tacoma Landmark Catering & Convention Center, 47 St. Helens Ave. Ian Munce of Tacoma's Planning and Development Services Department and Milt Tremblay of University of Washington Tacoma are the panelists. For more information, or to register, visit: http://www.crewseattle.org/.