Sep 04, 2003

Bascom Group

Brian Wirtz, former vice president of acquisitions for Essex Property Trust and AvalonBay Communities, joined The Bascom Group LLC to form a new apartment redevelopment company, Bascom Northwest Ventures LLC. Wirtz will head San Francisco-based Bascom’s apartment push into the Bay Area, Portland and Seattle from a new office in San Francisco. Bascom plans to acquire $300 million worth of 100-plus-unit apartment complexes that need repositioning in these areas over the next three years. Wirtz met Bascom founders David Kim, Jerry Fink and Derek Chen through the University of Wisconsin’s Real Estate and Urban Land Economics program, which they all attended. After leaving Essex in January 2000, Wirtz founded Redevelopment Associates LLC, which bought and redeveloped apartment communities in California and Oregon. That firm's equity investors included Bay Area office developer William Wilson III, an Equity Office Properties Trust board member. Peter Wilson, formerly of Redevelopment Associates, joined Bascom with Wirtz. Fink said the Bay Area and Northwest apartment markets appear to be bottoming out.

ProLogis

Tom Grossi was named to oversee operations of ProLogis's 1.5 million square feet of Puget Sound-area distribution warehouses. His title is property representative. Grossi came from Pinnacle Realty Management and has 10 years of commercial real estate experience. He holds a bachelor's degree in business administration from Washington State University. Denver-based, publicly traded ProLogis operates more than 1,700 properties in 70 markets in North America, Europe and Asia.

NAIOP topic: housing senior boomers

Bill Morton, president of Second Half Strategies LLC, will discuss housing senior baby boomers and "the three waves of the Avalanche of Aging" at the next NAIOP breakfast meeting. The gathering will be Wednesday, Sept. 17, starting at 7:30 a.m. at the Bellevue Club southeast of downtown Bellevue. The National Association of Industrial and Office Properties says Morton will paint the landscape for tomorrow’s housing future. The three waves of the avalanche are: skyrocketing longevity, plummeting fertility and the aging boomer onslaught. Morton will talk about how developers can determine what aged boomers' needs will be. For information, call Gina Buzzelle at (206) 382-9121 or register online at https://ssl2.adhost.com/melbycameronhull/registration_form_breakfast.htm.

Workshop looks at bad real estate deals

Law Seminars International will tackle what really happens when a real estate deal goes bad as the subject of a seminar scheduled for Sept. 18 at the Renaissance Hotel in Seattle. The event is one of the organization's Real Estate Remedies Workshops for continuing legal education. The workshop will cover rights when a deal sours and methods for surviving a default. Presenting lawyers include Ellen Conedera Dial, John Petrie, Evan Loeffler, Bill McInerny and John Gose. For information, call (206) 621-1938.

Aug 28, 2003

Affordable housing conference Sept. 8-10

The Washington State Housing Finance Commission's 10th annual "Housing Washington" conference on affordable housing is scheduled for Sept. 8-10 at the Spokane Center in Spokane. Speakers include Fannie Mae Foundation CEO Stacey Stewart, Minneapolis Mayor Raymond Thomas Rybak, Temple University sociology professor Anne Shlay and "green guru" Steve Loken of Loken Builders. Issues this year include predatory lending, "creating a real national housing policy," uniting people and place, housing density, green building, housing for aging Americans, innovative multifamily design concepts, the benefits of community land trusts, the latest ideas in tribal housing, preserving heritage with affordable housing and home ownership. For information, go to www.wshfc.org/conf.

Pierce County Street of Dreams

The Pierce County Street of Dreams begins tomorrow and runs through Sept. 28. The five featured homes are in Panorama Heights in Bonney Lake. They range in price from $500,000 to $750,000. Tickets are $12 each and include free donuts from Krispy Kreme Puyallup. For information, call the Master Builders Association of Pierce County at (253) 272-2112 or go to www.StreetOfDreamsPierce.com.

Realtors state conference Oct. 2-3

The Washington Association of Realtors will hold its 70th annual education conference and trade show on Oct. 2 and 3 in Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue. The association calls the event Ed.Con 2003, and also "an education fiesta." Jim Remley will present a three-and-a-half-hour seminar on the "Secrets of the Rich Realtor." Other presenters will include gardening guru Ciscoe Morris, Oliver Frascona on ethics, Gary Gilbertson and Terri Murphy. For information go to www.warealtor.com or call (800) 748-7053.

Puget Sound Properties

Fouts

Industrial broker Gordon Fouts moved from Colliers International to the Bellevue office of Puget Sound Properties, where he's a vice president. Fouts has more than 25 years of experience in office and industrial sales and leasing in this market.

John L. Scott

Brewer

Five residential sales agents joined the Belltown office of John L. Scott Real Estate: Monika Reed, Jessica Gaskill, Gloria Lee and Paulette Rhyne. The Issaquah office added Cory Brewer, Stefani Campbell and Michelle Smith. Sue Findley, Les Findley and Vicki Ruscigno started in the Des Moines office.

Windermere

Grover

Stacy Grover has worked for almost 10 years as an administrative staffer for Windermere Real Estate. Now she's taking a shot at selling houses as a new sales associate in Windermere's Wall Street office in Seattle's Belltown area.