Mar 15, 2012

Bellevue Towers

Twenty-six condos at Bellevue Towers sold in the first two months of the year. The project team says this puts Bellevue Towers on track to meet its sales record of 2011, when 144 units sold for a total of more than $88.9 million. In early 2011, a group of senior lenders represented by Morgan Stanley consolidated ownership of the project that had previously cut prices. Prices were cut another 30 percent. Prices on a limited number of units recently have been reduced by as much as 40 percent from original pricing. Prices now range from the $300,000s for studios to the $600,000s for two-bedrooms. Penthouses start at $2 million. Of the total 539 condos, sales have closed on 269, and 22 sales are pending.

The Sanctuary

Half the units at The Sanctuary are sold, according to the court-appointed receiver, Resource Transition Consultants. The 12-unit project is in the former First Church of Christ, Scientist on Capitol Hill. The first closings are anticipated next week, and other sales contracts are being negotiated. The project was relaunched in January, and asking prices were cut by 45 percent. Prices range from $500,000 to $1.1 million. The original note on the conversion was sold a year ago and the new lenders, led by an affiliate of San Diego-based Pathfinder Partners, invested another $1.5 million to complete the project.

CBRE

CBRE is the top global brand in commercial real estate, according to a survey of more than 50,000 industry professionals. CBRE has been named the No. 1 brand for 11 straight years. It has 34,000 employees worldwide and more than 1,000 in the Seattle region.

Windermere Real Estate

Windermere is 40 years old. It started in Seattle with one office and eight agents, and has grown to more than 300 offices and 7,000 agents in nine states. One of the owners, OB Jacobi, said his dad, John, didn't plan for the company to grow to this size. OB Jacobi said it will continue to grow given the right opportunities. Jacobi's sister, Jill Jacobi Wood, and her husband, Geoff Wood, are president of Windermere Services and company CEO, respectively.

Paragon Real Estate Advisors

Broker Saint Newton of Paragon represented the seller, and Paul Mickley, also of Paragon, represented the buyer of the Dorn apartments in South Everett at 115 Dorn Ave. The 26-unit property sold for nearly $1.8 million. The cap rate is 6.6 percent. The new owner is WK Investments Limited Liability Co., whose members are Daniel Kretz of Snoqualmie and John Welliver of Bellevue. WK secured new financing through Dawn Jones of Investors Real Estate Capital. The seller was Dorn Investments LLC, whose manager is Ruey Huang of Bellevue. Conor Barclay and David Petersen of Paragon represented the seller of the Eleni, a Seattle mixed-use building at 401 N.E 45th St. The property sold for $1.4 million and has 12 apartments and an adjacent development site. The cap rate was just over 6 percent. Robert Jarvis was the seller, and YNC LLC was the buyer. Shi Chen is the LLC's member.

NAIOP's Real Estate Challenge

NAIOP's ninth-annual Real Estate Challenge will be at 7:30 a.m. March 28 at the Sheraton Seattle. Real estate students from the University of Washington in Seattle and Tacoma, the University of British Columbia and the University of Alberta have been studying a project site and will show their proposals. This project is Point Ruston, a mixed-use development in Pierce County where a smelter operated for many years. Register at http://tiny.cc/fhp4aw.

Real Estate Investment Forum

The 2012 Investment Forum will be at 2 p.m. March 29 in Seattle. A panel of Northwest experts will discuss market trends and investment opportunities. Robert Holmes of The Holmes Group will moderate the discussion by Martin Stever of Pacific West Land, Richard Gollis of the Concord Group, Curt Altig of Builders Capital, Chris Christensen of iCap Equity, and Tim Carlsen of Cascadia Leasing. Daniel Van Epp of Newland Communities has been invited to be on the panel. Registration and other information is at investmentforum.org.

Mar 08, 2012

Realogics Sotheby's International

Gibbs

Zinda

Realogics is restructuring and launching a new division to sell land and commercial properties. Chad Zinda is the division's new director of sales and its designated broker. Grant Gibbs is brand development director to support broker recruitment. Sam Cunningham is shifting from brokerage operations to building a new resale team. Chris Rossman will move from sales director to help lead the new division. He will be focused on special asset classes, including note sales and the sale of land and commercial properties. President and CEO Dean Jones said this helps diversify from new high-rise condos into property sales. Jones predicts it could be at least 2015 before new condos are for sale in downtown Seattle: “As the economy improves, we'll be well positioned for another cycle of apartment conversions and eventually, new construction ahead.”

Kidder Mathews, Binswanger, Synergis

Binswanger and Kidder Mathews formed an alliance with Synergis to work on manufacturing and distribution sites as well as construction services in China. It will also serve Chinese companies looking for space, investment and other real estate opportunities in the U.S. and elsewhere. Seattle-based Kidder will provide services through its West Coast offices. Philadelphia-based Binswanger will provide support throughout the balance of the Americas, Europe and Asia. Synergis, one of China's leading facility and asset management companies, will deliver services in China. Services include leasing, sales and consulting for industrial, office, retail, life science and tech properties. Binswanger also has relationships with CH2M Hill's Industrial and Advanced Technology Group, and GoIndustry-DoveBid, which provides engineering and plant and equipment/machinery services.

TeamBuilder John L. Scott

TeamBuilder JLS is marketing a bulk sale of 20 bank-owned condos in Lake Stevens for Union Bank. The list price is $3.5 million. The detached condos were built in 2008 in Chapel Ridge at 9949 Third St. N.E. Joey Ferrick of TeamBuilder JLS said his company has several offers. Units range in size from about 1,550 square feet to nearly 1,870 square feet, and each has a two-car garage. Two are occupied. The pre-tax cash-on-cash return is estimated at about 10.25 percent with pro forma based on rents of $1 a square foot.

Money Management International

The Washington State Housing and Finance Commission awarded Money Management International a grant to provide housing counseling to some homeowners facing foreclosure. Struggling homeowners can be referred to state-mandated mediation with lenders. To learn more, call 1 (866) 764-3328.

CCIM marketing session

The Washington Chapter of CCIM will present a free, two-hour marketing session for its members at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the Seattle Yacht Club. For more information, contact Kelly Beckley of BDP Design at (206) 755-1341 or kellyb@bdpdesign.net.

NAIOP South Sound meeting

Political strategies is the topic of NAIOP's South Sound breakfast meeting at 7:30 p.m. March 23 at Hotel Murano in Tacoma. Heather Burgess of Phillips Wesch Burgess will moderate a discussion with NAIOP lobbyist Greg Hanon, Brandon Housekeeper of the Association of Washington Business and Brad Boswell of Boswell Consulting. Register at http://tiny.cc/bgwf2b.