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February 11, 2000

Real Estate Buzz

Wright Runstad & Co. Chairman and Chief Executive OfficerJon Runstadsays Equity Office Properties Trust has decided "at least not at this time" to acquire from his company the 133,000-square-foot World Trade Center North. Turner Construction is building the office portion of the downtown Seattle development going up near the waterfront at Wall Street.

At one point EOP, the nation's largest publicly held owner and manager of office properties that has a minority, non-controlling interest in Wright Runstad, had discussed buying the building that Visio is leasing.

"We decided to keep World Trade Center North," Runstad said. "We decided that together." He added EOP still will buy World Trade Center East, the 186,000-square-foot building, which also will be home to Visio, once the software company moves in later this year.

From software to baseball: Unlike All-Star whiner Ken Griffey Jr., it appears Mariner pitcherJamie Moyer plans to be around Seattle -- at least for awhile.

The southpaw has bought a house in the 1600 block of Magnolia Boulevard. According to King County records, he paid $1.2 million for the privilege of living in my neighborhood.

So, do wealthy baseball players need financial assistance to buy property? In Moyer's case, the answer is yes. Either that, or he wants the interest write-off. The record states Washington Mutual Bank loaned him the money.

The Northwest Asian Weekly reports that Mickey D's wants to move into Seattle's International District. The fast-food behemoth is eyeing the highly visible southeast corner of Fifth Avenue and Jackson Street.

Rumors had been swirling among the Asian community about McDonald's possibly opening in the ID. The ID Improvement Association confirmed the story at a recent forum when it also announced its opposition to the burger meister's plan, which neighborhood restaurant owners fear will take trade from them.

Michael Chu, the property owner who is in negotiations with McDonald's, said the company is but one of 10 parties interested in the site. He told the Asian Weekly that it's too early to say if McDonald's will move to the property and added that another chain so many people love to hate, Starbucks, also is interested in taking the land.

Chu added that opponents' fears are unfounded because Chinatowns in other major North American cities have McDonald's, and nobody in those neighborhoods is complaining about a loss of business.

We know you're expecting us to insert some pithy comment about how loudly American fast food clashes with Asian delicacies, but instead we'd like to take this opportunity to point out another fabulous article in the Asian Weekly's Jan. 29 issue. It's about teeth and feng shui and is on page 4. Go pick up a copy today.

Ravensforge, whichSteve Mace and a handful of other Seattle real estate veterans started two years ago, now has sold more than 10,000 SkateBlocks. Cast from brass, bronze or aluminum, the small devices are akin to speed bumps that are attached to benches, planters and ledges to discourage skateboarders and online skaters.

The company has sold the disc-like objects to property owners across the United States. Ravensforge recently went international by selling 300 SkateBlocks that will be installed at the Civic Center in Mississauga near Toronto.

But wait, there's more. Ravensforge recently introduced a new product, SkateBlock Handrail Guards. They prevent skaters from sliding along handrails, thus saving the rails from chips and dents and the landlords from lawsuits. Among the new locations for the product is Benaroya Hall in Seattle.

Speaking of Benaroya, I realized again just how perfect its acoustics are during last Saturday evening's performance by the Seattle Symphony. We can thank the woman who sat behind me and to whom I must ask the following:

Was it absolutely necessary to loudly whisper, "My, he's good!" in the midst of violinist Salvatore Accardo's performance? And did you really have to unzip -- and then re-zip -- your purse, pull out a piece of candyand unwrap it 30 seconds into the virtuoso's performance? Good Lord, woman, you could have taken care of that detail during the intermission; it had ended only moments before.

Not that I'm passive-aggresive or anything.



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