Jan 19, 2012

Keller Williams' Urban Abode Group

Bob Boyd and Ginny Matthews joined Urban Abode Group, which is part of the Keller Williams Greater Seattle office, as partners. Boyd, who was with Windermere, is working in Keller Williams' luxury home division. Jennifer Daniels joined the group as director of concierge services from Keller Williams in California. Urban Abode Group closed 42 transactions totaling more than $18 million in residential sales last year.

Bellevue Towers

Bellevue Towers was the Seattle region's best-selling urban condo project last year. Sales of 144 condos closed. Prices averaged $433 a square foot, according to officials with the project. Of the 539 condos in the two-tower complex, 263 have sold. Remaining units include studios and one-bedrooms priced from the $300,000s, two-bedrooms priced from the $600,000s, and penthouses priced from $2 million. Original prices have been reduced an average of 30 percent with a limited number of new units reduced by as much as 40 percent. Realty Trust is marketing and selling the condos.

CBRE Capital Markets

Jim Rice and Nick Santangelo of the Portland office of CBRE Capital Markets arranged a $155.3 million refinancing through a Freddie Mac program on behalf of the Holland Partner Group and Invesco. The borrower used a seven-year fixed rate term with two years of interest only, followed by a 30-year amortization to finance nine Seattle-area properties totaling 2,184 units.

NorthMarq Capital

Bob Spiro of NorthMarq's Bellevue office arranged a takeout first mortgage of $10.5 million for Birch Hills, a 146-unit, off-campus student housing property in Pullman. Freddie Mac financing was based on a seven-year term and a 30-year amortization schedule.

Washington Association of Realtors

Faye Nelson of Kennewick is the new president of the Washington Association of Realtors, which has more than 15,000 members. Nelson is with Re/Max First Advantage.

Jan 12, 2012

Jones Lang LaSalle

Patricia K. Raicht is Jones Lang LaSalle's new vice president and director of research for Seattle and Portland. She'll be based in Portland. She was with Grubb & Ellis where she directed market research, and handled business development and marketing.

CBRE

CBRE and its clients won five Toby awards from the local chapter of the Building Owners and Managers Association. The winning buildings are Woodlands Technology Campus in Bothell, 2201 Westlake, Dexter Horton, Roosevelt Commons and Alley 24. BOMA evaluates entries based on tenant retention, energy management and community involvement.

Enso and Matrix Real Estate

Five years after construction began, all 134 condos in Vulcan Real Estate's Enso in South Lake Union have been sold. Matrix Real Estate of Seattle took over the sales campaign in 2009 as the housing market was spiraling downward. Matrix's Leslie Williams said the team re-priced the units. Before starting sales to the general public, they worked with presale buyers to show them that the developer wasn't going to unload remaining units at auction. Enso is part of 2201 Westlake, which includes office and retail.

Spokane Housing Ventures

Julie Van Wormer of ALSC Architects was elected to the board of directors for Spokane Housing Ventures, a private, nonprofit that provides affordable housing in Spokane and Lincoln counties. SHV owns and operates 17 communities with 630 units, and has nearly 200 new units in development.

Seminar on foreign trade zones

Manufacturers and distributors in King County can defer and possibly eliminate customs duties through the Port of Seattle's foreign trade zone program. How to use this and other federal programs will be covered at three-hour seminar Jan. 19 at ShoWare Center in Kent, starting at 7:30 a.m. The seminar lasts three hours. The benefits can be applied to existing buildings and greenfield sites in the county. Register through NAIOP at http://tiny.cc/unuwc.

NAIOP's South Sound forecast

NAIOP will give its annual South Sound Economic Forecast at 11:30 a.m. Jan. 24 at the Tacoma Convention Center. Lynn Michaelis of Strategic Economic Analysis and Arun Raha, Washington state's chief economist, are the speakers. Register at http://tiny.cc/g0m9n.

Succession planning for family landowners

Washington State University Extension is offering the daylong succession planning workshop called Ties to the Land at 9 a.m. Feb. 4 in the Olympic National Forest Headquarters at 1835 Black Lake Blvd. S.W. in Olympia. The workshop covers the legal and economic aspects of transferring a farm, forest or ranch from one generation to the next. Enrollment is limited to 30 families. For information, contact Andy Perleberg at (509) 667-6540 or andyp@wsu.edu.