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July 16, 1999

Real Estate Buzz

By MARC STILES
Journal Real Estate editor

It's been said that waiting is the hardest part. These days, office developers in downtown Bellevue know this better than anyone. Again this week, the rumor mill has cranked up, and how could it not with 471,000 square feet of office space under construction and another 1.3 million feet or so waiting in the wings?

The latest chatter is that big deals are pending for space in Three Bellevue Center, Civica Office Commons and Lincoln Square.

"That's huge news if that's the case," said Kidder, Mathews & Segner broker Brian Hatcher. He noted that typically tenants want space and they want it now, not 18 months from now when a building's done. "They really want it very quickly."

Here's what developers' representatives have to say about these allegedly pending deals:

Tim O'Keefe, a Colliers International broker marketing Three Bellevue, said the rumors are premature. He'll talk when there's something to announce.

Geoff Boguch, another Colliers broker who's leading the marketing of Lincoln Square, asked: "What's your definition of 'pending?"' He said like many rumors, there is some truth to the talk but like the Three Bellevue chatter, it's too early. "Are we talking to some large users? Yes, we are," Boguch said. He added they're "very good, serious" discussions but nothing's been signed.

A spokesperson for Schnitzer Northwest, developer of Civica Office Commons, said there's nothing to announce on the lease front. But crews have begun tearing down the old Wells Fargo building to make way for the project.

There are two solid deals to report. One is at Smith Tower and the other is for the downtown Seattle space now occupied by the soon-to-be closed Lerner New York store, 1515 Third Ave.

Samis officials have signed up The Exercise Co., to operate a 6,000-square-foot gym in the basement of the newly renovated and expanded Smith Tower. It's where the Princeton Club was located.

Two of the gym owners, Kyle Scholz and Eric Olson, worked up the street at the Vault but struck out on their own in February to open Kyle and Eric's Personal Training Studio next door to Smith Tower. They will have a third partner, Dave Carroll, who now works for Stairmaster.

"We're actually going to be working the floor as owners," said Scholz, who noted that's a rarity. The trio, which plans to limit membership to 500, has a 10-year lease. A Nov. 1 opening is planned.

Aaron Brothers Art and Framing is taking the 6,500-square foot Lerner space after the clothing store closes at the end of the month. Randy Boss of Seattle Pacific Realty brokered the deal. He said the California-based company specializes in high-end framing and art supplies. It has about 90 stores and is expanding to the Northwest.

Six stores are planned for Washington this year, according to Boss. Federal Way will have the company's first store and outlets will open in the South Hill neighborhood of Puyallup, downtown Seattle, North Seattle, Lynnwood and Redmond Town Center. The plan is to open another five or six stores in Washington next year.

Small office buildings in the 30,000-square-foot range have been sprouting up in the extremely tight Eastside suburban market, and now comes word that developers are eyeing the site of Denny's Restaurant in Kirkland at 10510 N.E. Northup Way. But don't think that the restaurant is on its way out. It has an option to renew so Denny's is in control, according to Terry Moss, president of Commercial Realty Group and an owner of the parcel in question.

Will Denny's stay? Company officials at headquarters in South Carolina didn't have an answer Thursday so we can only speculate and ask: What's a middle-class joint like Denny's doing in a tony neighborhood like Kirkland? It seems so very implausible to imagine one venture capitalist saying to the other, "Meet me at Denny's and we'll sew up the deal over a couple of Grand Slams."

Lest anyone get snooty here, evidence suggests that people in Kirkland love the joint. One source tells us that the place is often packed.

The real estate community lost a pioneer earlier this month when Burien resident Janice Ireland Enyeart died. Enyeart blazed a professional trail when she went to work for the late Henry Broderick's real estate company. Enyeart's daughter, state Supreme Court Justice Faith Ireland, told The Seattle Times that her mom worked outside the home long before that was common. It was even rarer for women to be in the real estate business in the 1950s when she entered the field.



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