May 25, 2000

Lane Powell Spears Lubersky

Michael Fleming has joined the Seattle office of the law firm of Lane Powell Spears Lubersky as a partner. Fleming concentrates his practice in complex dispute resolution, corporate finance and real estate.

Cushman & Wakefield

Ronetta Lewis has become an associate broker in Cushman & Wakefield's Seattle office. Lewis, who recently moved from Chicago, will work in high-tech office leasing in downtown Seattle, teamed with broker Garth Olsen.

Lewis worked as a corporate lawyer in Chicago at Duckworth & Shumann before she went through Cushman & Wakefield's career development program and became an office broker in downtown Chicago.

Intervest-Mortgage Investment Co.

Lee I. Graeve has become vice president and income property loan officer in the Bellevue office of Portland-based Intervest-Mortgage Investment Co. Graeve most recently worked as vice president and commercial real estate loan officer for National Mortgage Co.

His 24 years in banking also include lending for Pacific First Bank and BA Mortgage in San Francisco.

He holds a B.S. in business administration is from Creighton University in Omaha, Neb.

Seneca Real Estate Group

J. Christopher Kirk has joined Seneca Real Estate Group of Seattle as a project manager.

Kirk most recently worked as principal and co-founder of Kirk & Schreiner Inc. He has a total of 14 years of experience in project management, including work on the Eagles Auditorium renovation. Before those 14 years, he practiced architecture for 13 years. He holds a bachelor's degree in architecture from the University of Arizona and a master's degree in real estate from M.I.T.

Kirk's first project with Seneca is a facility master plan for Children's Hospital.

Trendwest Resorts

Tim O'Neil has been promoted to chief financial officer for Trendwest Resorts, a Redmond-based provider of vacation ownership programs.

Previously vice president of finance, O'Neil replaces Gary Florence, who is returning to Trendwest's majority shareholder, Jeld-Wen, as vice president of financial services. Before Trendwest, O'Neil worked for 10 years at Bank One Corp.

Northwest Suites

Amazon.com and the Seattle Seahawks selected Redmond-based Northwest Suites as their provider of extended-stay corporate housing.

Northwest Suites president Brenda Hadley described the two customers as "national-level contracts whose housing needs may extend beyond the Pacific Northwest."

Northwest, which began in 1989, provides temporary housing for corporations and other organizations. Other customers include Microsoft and Washington Mutual.

Redmond Ridge

Meadow Ridge Homes, which is a part of the Bellevue-based Murray Franklyn Family of Cos., became the first house builder other than Quadrant Corp. to start building in Quadrant's large Redmond Ridge subdivision.

Redmond Ridge will total about 1,500 residential units in a mix of single-family homes, condos, townhouses and apartments.

The 1,000-acre project employs the "new urbanism" style of placing garages in back of the houses, adequate porches and sidewalks out front, narrower, tree-lined streets and ample open space, including a 10-acre soccer park.

Quadrant executive Barbara Chilcote is Redmond Ridge's general manager. Redmond Ridge will include a 1.2 million-square-foot business park and a new elementary school. Quadrant recently landed in controversy over removing huge amounts of dirt from the school site.

Meadow Ridge Homes started building and pre-selling 31 homes. The units will come in five floor plans of between 2,377 and 2,855 square feet. Meadow Ridge is set completion for October.

Other builders that have committed to constructing portions of the housing are Carino, Centex, CamWest and Simpson Housing, according to Quadrant.

May 23, 2000

Willows Lodge

James Simkins has been appointed general manager of the Willows Lodge, an 88-room boutique hotel opening in Woodinville in September. Simkins has more than 20 years of experience in management with Westin Hotels and Resorts, where he worked at five properties worldwide. Willow Lodge is being developed by Phillip Sherburne and Tony Puma and will be operated by MTM Management, with Simkins as a partner in the development.