Sep 21, 2023

JLL secures $61M for industrial quartet

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EverWest Real Estate Investors paid over $15 million last year for an industrial property on the Duwamish Waterway, aka the Lonestar Building. (Pictured, it's the blue building just left of the junction of First Avenue South and East Marginal Way South.) It's part of a four-building portfolio that recently benefited from an over $61.3 million refinancing package arranged by JLL. Its team, based in Denver, included Eric Tupler, Kristian Lichtenfels, Brian Dawson, Kaden Eichmeier and Jillian Mariutti. The lender, per county records, was GIM Commercial Mortgage Loan Fund LP, an entity of J.P. Morgan Asset Management. JLL says the portfolio is over 98% leased. The other three buildings are in Denver, Long Island (New York) and Nashville. EverWest, also based in Denver, is a regular in our market, and its Tom Karbowski said in a statement, “Big thanks to the teams at J.P. Morgan Asset Management and JLL for all of their help in getting this financing completed in a challenging financing environment.”

Kidder Mathews

Alexander

Clemson

Kidder Mathews recently announced two key moves at its valuation advisory group. First, industry veteran Randall Clemson has been promoted to oversee the group at a national level, with the new title of executive VP. He'll continue to work in the Phoenix office. Second, here in Seattle, Justin Alexander has joined the valuation group as a senior VP; he makes the move from Partner Valuation Advisors. Clemson said in a statement, “We are very excited to have Justin join the Kidder Mathews Seattle team. He grew up in the Pacific Northwest, and has many deep relationships in the commercial real estate industry. Kidder Mathews VAS is rapidly expanding due to its market-leading platform and the highest splits in the industry.”

Meet Alison Beddard!

Beddard

NAIOP has a periodic series of events, dubbed Dealmakers, open to its student members and developing leaders program members. The next such gathering will be on Sept. 26 to hear from Cushman & Wakefield's Alison Beddard, a widely respected industry figure. She relocated here from C&W's Salt Lake City office two years ago. The event will be held at DLR Group's downtown offices, near the waterfront, beginning at 4 p.m. Details and registration: naiopwa.org.

Another housing effort from Amazon

By now you're familiar with Amazon's $2 billion national Housing Equity Fund, which launched two years ago. It's helped support or preserve hundreds and hundreds of affordable units in our region, and some 5,300 units nationwide. Those have been rentals. Now there's a new pilot program, in partnership with the nonprofit National Housing Trust, to invest $40 million toward increasing homeownership. The fund's Senthil Sankaran said in a statement, “This new initiative will allow us to explore ways to help more moderate-income households realize their dreams of homeownership and, in turn, help build wealth that can pass on to the next generation.” In our region, the pilot program will work with African Community Housing & Development and Homestead Community Land Trust and Habitat for Humanity Seattle-King Counties & Kittitas. The latter will use an unspecified amount of fund money to help 50 families make down payments this year. And Habitat is also planning 240 new homes for the sales market, also supported by the pilot program. Other details should emerge from the other two local partners on a project by project basis.

Lee adds to south Puget Sound team

Lee & Associates announced the recent hiring of two new brokers, to be based in its Tacoma office. Those are Zachary Ota and Michael Ota, who will be vice presidents. They make the move from CBRE. Lee's Jim Bowles said in a statement, “Zachary and Michael are valuable additions to our Tacoma team, which includes 13 seasoned and market leading commercial brokers. The Otas expertise will bolster our service offering in the South Sound commercial market.”

Sep 14, 2023

Tour Washington 1000 with ULI

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As part of the larger Seattle Convention Center expansion, aka Summit, Lease Crutcher Lewis has topped out on the Washington 1000 office tower next door to the north. Work began in the spring of last year, on a building site above the Summit garage, on a separate triangular block. Developer Hudson Pacific Properties hopes to open the 16-story, 546,000-square-foot project in the first quarter of next year. But come Oct. 6, whether you're a member of the Urban Land Institute or not, you can take a hard hat tour of the LMN-designed building. The walk will begin at 3:30 p.m., departing from the nearby Hill7. Details and registration: northwest.uli.org.

SKB signs new tenant in Interbay

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Three years ago, ScanlanKemperBard of Portland paid $24 million for the 7-acre Northwestern Industries glass manufacturing plant in Interbay. (The latter company consolidated operations in Arizona.) The following year, renovations began on the three old buildings now branded as the Commodore Interbay Industry Center. CBRE represents the space, and its Bryan Hester and Andrew Stark recently signed a new tenant, the climbing gym Vertical World. That gym has been a longtime fixture in Interbay, and it isn't moving. Rather, its new 42,337 square feet, with a 15-year lease, will be a satellite operation at 2501 W. Commodore Way; that's but a few steps west from the current gym. Jo Ann Williams of SKB said in a statement, “We are absolutely thrilled to welcome Vertical World to Commodore, especially because this expansion will allow them to provide their specialized youth programs to a greater number of kids in Seattle.” SKB's entire complex spans about 213,066 square feet. The renovation was done by Venture General Contracting and Mildren Design Group, which is based in Oregon.

LPC West elevates Aigner

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Lincoln Property Company and its LPC West arm recently announced a trio of promotions. Here in Seattle, Alex Aigner becomes senior VP. He'll help oversee projects all over our state, working with Patrick Gilligan, who said in a statement, “All three of them embody Lincoln's high standards of trust, partnership, grit and innovation established by our founders and embraced by our colleagues across the United States and Europe.” Those three also include Trever Nicoll (covering Idaho, Montana and Utah) and Kasey Silva, working in Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Utah and our state. LPC's most notable current project in our market is the U District Station Building (pictured), now rising atop U District Station itself.

NAIOP takes wing

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Aerospace could be called a niche within the office and industrial markets, one example of which is Alaska Airlines' fairly new 128,000-square-foot SeaTac office building dubbed The Hub, which opened during the pandemic. (That, pictured, was designed by NBBJ and built by Howard S. Wright, a Balfour Beatty company.) And aerospace is to be the subject of NAIOP's breakfast gathering next Wednesday the 20th. A panel will chat on stage while you eat, talking about current flight-adjacent trends in real estate. Those four experts are architect Todd Buchanan Sr. of HOK, Ben Brookman of Alaska Airlines, Kelly Hennig of Stoke Space — which, based in Kent, makes reusable rockets! — and Keri Stephens from the Port of Seattle. The event begins at 8 a.m. at the Hyatt at Olive 8. Details and registration: naiopwa.org.

Columbia Pacific revamps Omaha units

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Over in Omaha, Nebraska, Columbia Pacific Advisors did a previously unreported March deal to acquire a troubled 408-unit apartment complex from the early 1970s. It's now been rebranded as Highpoint, and renovations are underway. Under prior ownership, local media amply covered the poor living conditions — including black mold — and code violations that led to the city condemning the 24-acre property in December. The vacant property then went into foreclosure, and Columbia Pacific acquired it for an undisclosed price. In a recent press release, Columbia Pacific cited “past mismanagement and sub-par housing conditions.” Its Billy Meyer says, “We knew restoring this complex would be a challenge. However, with support from the Mayor's office, city officials and our business partners, we are delighted to have turned Highpoint Apartments into one of Omaha's most attractive and desirable residential locations.” Local firm the Lund Company is now overseeing the phased renovations and pre-leasing the apartments. Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert said in a statement, “It's always preferable to rehabilitate properties rather than abandon or demolish them. Highpoint is an example of saving a previously unsafe property and providing new housing options for renters.”