Sep 15, 2005

Clise Properties

Ed Luera, formerly of the Benaroya Co., is Seattle-based Clise Properties' new vice president of leasing and marketing. The announcement comes amid rumors that Benaroya is selling its two downtown Seattle office properties: the 885,000-sqaure-foot Metropolitan Park and the 310,600-square-foot Park Place. Benaroya officials declined to comment. Luera was director of leasing and marketing for Benaroya, and was leasing manager for Harbor Properties. He has a bachelor's degree from Harvard and a master's degree in public administration from Columbia.

Grubb & Ellis

Charlie Hampton III has rejoined Grubb & Ellis as a vice president. He started his commercial real estate career as director of research at Grubb & Ellis' Seattle office. Most recently, he worked at Pacific Real Estate Partners. Hampton has worked on leasing more than 500,000 square feet of office space.

L.J. Melody & Co.

L.J. Melody & Co. arranged $70 million in financing for The Commons, a Federal Way mall. Terms include a three-year interest only loan. The 19-year-old mall has a net rentable area of 760,000 square feet. At buildout, it will total 800,000 square feet. Borders Books and Music, and Layne Bryant/Catherine's are scheduled to open next spring along with a renovated food court. At the time of the financing, The Commons was 84 percent leased. Wayne Paulus andRick Gillett, both of L.J. Melody's San Diego office, worked with Michal Maker of the Seattle office. GE Capital provided the financing on behalf of Steadfast Properties. L.J. Melody is the real estate investment banking division of CB Richard Ellis.

Investment Realty Advisors

Ted Gibbons, president of Investment Realty Advisors of Bellevue, facilitated the sale of 10.6 acres that a Lowe's Home Center in Portland occupies. Levitz SL Portland-Johnson LLC sold to the Tansley Trust of England for $15.4 million. The in-going cap rate is 5.65 percent and will average 7.5 percent over the 25-year lease term. Gibbons said it was part of a larger effort to help Tansley build a large, diversified real estate portfolio.

Pinnacle

Seattle-based Pinnacle has named Robert Oley corporate compliance director, responsible for overseeing government regulations and for creating new policy and procedures. His office will be Las Vegas. He previously worked with Southwest Housing in Dallas. Pinnacle manages more than 125,000 multifamily units and 9 million square feet of commercial space nationwide.

Meriwether Partners

An investor group led by Seattle-based Meriwether Partners bought the 242,000-square-foot Capitol City Business Center in Salem, Ore., from State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., for $11.5 million. Marc Renard and Tom Usher of Cushman & Wakefield represented the seller. The property, formerly State Farm's Salem Operations Center, is the largest contiguous block of single-story office space in the Northwest, according to Meriwether Principal Robert Briscoe. State Farm is leasing back 130,000 square feet on a short-term basis. Curt Arthur of Mountain West Coldwell Banker Commercial has been hired to lease the center, and the Portland office of GVA Kidder Mathews will manage it.

Enumclaw Housing Task Force

The Enumclaw Housing Task Force received the Washington State Housing Commission's Friend of Housing Award. The 6-year-old task force helped put together $2.1 million to buy 16 housing units, which will be converted into transitional and low-income units.

NAIOP

King County Executive Ron Sims and his Republican challenger, County Councilman David Irons, will debate at NAIOP's 7:30 a.m. Sept. 21 breakfast at the Bellevue Club, 11200 S.E. Sixth St. It's $30 for members of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties and $45 for others. Register at naiopwa.org.

ULI, Bellevue Downtown Assoc.

The Urban Land Institute and Bellevue Downtown Association will host a panel discussion at 7:30 a.m. Sept. 27 about marketing green buildings at BDA's breakfast meeting at Meydenbauer Center, 11100 N.E. Sixth St. Speakers are Douglas Howe of Touchstone Corp., Dan Ivanoff of Schnitzer Northwest and Tom Paladino of Paladino & Co. It's $35 for association members and $40 for others. To register, click on the Events section of bellevuedowntown.org.

Pierce County Community Services

Pierce County will award affordable housing grants of $578,000 this fall and is holding a two-hour open house about the program at 10 a.m. Sept. 28 at the Community Services Department, 3602 Pacific Ave., Tacoma. Funding is available to nonprofits, government entities and for-profit developers.