Apr 10, 2003

WestCoast Hospitality names new CEO

Arthur Coffey rose from chief financial officer to president and chief executive officer of the Spokane-based hotel company WestCoast Hospitality Corp. Coffey replaced Donald Barbieri, who retired. Coffey's titles also included executive vice president of WestCoast Hospitality Corp. and president of WestCoast Hotels. He was EVP and CFO since 1998. The 22-year WestCoast veteran was vice president and chief operating officer from 1990 to 1998.

Peter Hausback replaced Coffey as vice president and CFO. Hausback, a CPA, has been corporate controller and principal accounting officer since he joined WestCoast in September 2002 from a year as CFO at BriteSmile Inc. Before BriteSmile, Hausback worked for nine years for Il Fornaio (America) Co. and Price Waterhouse in San Francisco before that.

Housing Partnership workshop

The Housing Partnership will hold a workshop about the regional trend toward smaller house lot sizes on Tuesday, May 13. The event will run from 8 a.m. to noon in the Council Chambers of the Kirkland City Hall. The partnership is a non-profit that serves suburban Puget Sound-area builders, planners and cities and focuses on affordable housing issues. "The shrinking of lots sizes that we have been expecting for a while has become a reality," the event's announcement says. "Come learn how to make it work for you." For information, call Michael Luis at (425) 453-5123.

L.J. Melody

Wallace Properties of Bellevue received a $10.5 million permanent loan arranged by the Seattle office of the commercial mortgage broker L.J. Melody & Co. on Wallace's 55,000-square-foot Bellevue North Shopping Center. The main tenants of the center, built in 1979 and 1985, are Sturtevant Sports, Storables and Bartells. Nationwide Life Insurance funded the loan. Michal Makar and Greg Wellington of L.J. Melody arranged the note.

HomeSight

The state Department of Financial Institutions issued a mortgage broker's license to HomeSight, making the Seattle-based affordable housing developer one of the few non-profits nationally to hold the distinction. The license allows HomeSight to originate mortgages and help home buyers obtain mortgages. HomeSight executive director Dorothy Lengyel said it makes HomeSight "a full-service source for affordable housing in Central Puget Sound, and potentially throughout the state. We will now build homes, sell homes, loan money for purchasing homes, and even educate new home buyers." Last month, HomeSight received $1.7 million from the City of Seattle's home buyer assistance loan portfolio, which Lengyel said could lead to U.S. Department of Treasury certification as a Community Development Financial Institution. That would allow HomeSight to receive federal home ownership funding and take over some of the city of Seattle's loan servicing activities.

NAIOP's educational seminar

NAIOP will hold its 2003 Educational Seminar Course on Wednesday, April 30, at the Bell Harbor International Conference Center on the downtown Seattle waterfront. The National Association of Industrial and Office Properties event runs from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sessions include an owners and users forum, a professional service forum, an economic forecast by Jim Hebert, and a workshop on negotiating skills by Barry Elms. For information, call (206) 382-9121.

Colliers International

Colliers International formed a microelectronics division in Seattle and named broker Stephen Rothrock as managing partner for that division. Rothrock has led a team of Colliers brokers that in the past several years put together various large sales of microchip plants and other tech building deals in Washington, Oregon, Arizona and elsewhere.

Apr 07, 2003

Columbia Ventures

Vancouver-based Columbia Ventures Corp. announced its subsidiaries have purchased 12,200-kilometer fiber optic submarine cable system connecting North America with Europe. Formerly known as 360atlantic, the assets were sold as part of a reorganization plan involving 360networks. CVC has renamed the system Hibernia Atlantic. The system has immediate capacity of up to 160 gigabits per second on each path, and can be upgraded to handle a protected capacity of 1.9 terabits per second, or more than 10 times the current capacity. Patrick Coughlan, formerly with 360networks, has been appointed managing director. CVC has also acquired terrestrial fiber-based telecommunication capacity from 360networks which can be used to connect customers across North America.

Apr 03, 2003

MBK Real Estate

Stefan Markowitz was promoted to president of MBK Real Estate Ltd., the Southern California-based parent company of MBK Homes and Portland, Ore.-based MBK Northwest.

Markowitz replaces Mike Voss, who left to pursue other interests. Markowitz was the head of Southern California-based MBK Homes and holds responsibility for that and MBK Northwest, which Mason Frank remains president of in Portland.

MBK Northwest redeveloped two strip shopping centers near Southcenter into the 600,000-square-foot Parkway Plaza in the late 1990s and now is redeveloping the larger Lakewood Mall in Tacoma.

Markowitz led MBK Homes since its formation in 1997 to producing 300 houses per year in Southern California. Mitsui & Co. Ltd. in Japan, the world’s third largest corporation, owns MBK Real Estate.

Frank said Markowitz's promotion may lead to a blending of the housing and retail divisions to produce mixed-use projects that bring housing and retail together, "particularly in the Pacific Northwest, where density is a key issue in both retail and new home development."

Justen, Smith, Stagen next up at NAIOP

The next stop for William Justen and Greg Smith to talk up their long-range proposal for high-density redevelopment around Pioneer Square is the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties' April 10 breakfast meeting. The two developers, along with Starbucks Center owner Frank Stagen, will speak about "A New Vision for South Downtown Seattle." The vision, drawn up by an ad hoc committee of south downtown property owners, Pioneer Square community leaders and others, calls for adding thousands of new housing units, offices, retail, at least one hotel, 23 acres of parks and more during the next two decades. The event will run from 7:30 to 9 a.m. at the Red Lion Hotel on Fifth Avenue in downtown Seattle. For information, call (206) 382-9121 or go to www.naiop.org.

Sound Transit to stop at CREW

Sound Transit's transit-oriented development manager, Scott Kirkpatrick, will speak at the next monthly lunch meeting of Commercial Real Estate Women. Sound Transit general counsel Jan Keiser will also talk at the April 10 event, which starts at noon at the Washington Athletic Club in downtown Seattle. For information, call (206) 361-6859.

Yates, Wood & MacDonald

Rick Peder joined the commercial brokerage office of Yates, Wood & MacDonald in South Lake Union. Peder brokers office sales and leases in Seattle and on the Eastside. He previously worked for two years in Cushman & Wakefield's Bellevue office. His deals there included representing the buyer of the 140th Development Building in Bellevue.

Cain and Scott

Tim Mallon joined the Seattle apartment brokerage firm of Cain and Scott as an apartment investment sales agent. Mallon, a CPA, has more than 10 years of commercial real estate brokerage experience in Seattle, and a background in tax consulting and tax return preparation.

Windermere

Rainelle French became a sales associate in Windermere Real Estate's Mercer Island office, returning to Windermere after working the past couple of years as a marketing specialist with John L. Scott in Redmond. French worked from 1988 to 2000 as an associate with the Windermere Everett-South office. Another returnee, Kimber Parker, rejoined Windermere's Queen Anne office after five years as a sales manager with the Mayan Palace in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Parker previously worked in the Queen Anne office for five years.

Stewart Title

Stewart Title assembled a new national and commercial escrow team in Seattle consisting of Vicki Dorfman, Milly Dick, Vanessa Morgan and Sherri Obrastoff. Dorfman moved from Stewart's Glendale, Calif., office. Dick and Obrastoff joined the company from a local office of another title firm.