May 24, 2012

Orion Commercial Partners

Butler

Clements

Investment brokers Scott Clements and David Butler, formerly of Grubb & Ellis, joined Orion Commercial Partners in Seattle. Grubb was acquired earlier this year and became Newmark Grubb Knight Frank. Clements and Butler said several brokerages tried to recruit them, and they chose Orion because of its entrepreneurial character. They join Dan Foster and Matthew Hinrichs, who founded Orion two years ago.

New IREM publication

A new publication from the Institute of Real Estate Management looks at the future of real estate. Christopher Lee wrote “Transformational Leadership in the New Age of Real Estate.” Here are some of the predictions: 30 percent of the regional and local real estate companies that were around two years ago will be gone by 2020; real estate companies will generate more revenue from selling knowledge and access to customer bases; abundant capital will keep cap rates low through 2017; and a global eBay-like real estate company will be formed. Information is at http://www.irembooks.org.

Bellevue Towers

Bellevue Towers closed its 300th condo sale, putting it 12 sales away from receiving Fannie Mae approval, which would allow people to make lower down payments. To boost sales and get Fannie Mae approval, the project is lowering prices on some units in June. Sample prices range from $364,000 for a 1,049-square-foot unit to $1.02 million for a 2,144-square-foot unit. Prices have fallen as much as 41 percent. The two-tower complex has 539 units.

Bellwether Housing

The Seattle affordable housing provider Bellwether cut its energy use at one of its properties, Mercer Court on Capitol Hill, by 40 percent and has joined the Seattle 2030 District, a public-private group that wants to create a high-performance building district downtown. Bellwether used the free online Energy Star Portfolio Manager to measure energy use in its 29 buildings, and found utility costs at the 24-unit Mercer Court were high. The Enterprise Green Retrofit Program and Ecotope helped with an energy audit and other changes that cut annual energy and water costs by $10,000.

Housing issues briefing June 5

The 18th annual Housing Issues Briefing for state Legislature candidates and regional policy makers will be at 11:30 a.m. June 5 at the Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue. Realtor associations from the four-county region are putting on the event. Economist John W. Mitchell is the keynote speaker. Other speakers are land use attorney Molly Lawrence of Van Ness Feldman Gordon Derr, Kreg Kendall of Windermere's Bellevue Commons office, Auburn Mayor Pete Lewis and public relations consultant Randy Bannecker. Register by calling 1 (800) 540-3277 or emailing dcrowell@nwrealtor.com.

DSA annual meeting

The Downtown Seattle Association's annual meeting will be at 4 p.m. June 12 at the 5th Avenue Theatre. It will focus on downtown development projects. Register at downtownseattle.org.

May 17, 2012

Seattle Mortgage

Mark Palmer joined Seattle Mortgage as a vice president. Palmer previously worked at Integra Pacific Mortgage. He will direct single-family mortgage sales. Seattle Mortgage is a subsidiary of Seattle Bank.

Real Estate Investment Services

Carol Steed is a new property manager assistant in Real Estate Investment Services in the Tacoma office.

Matrix Real Estate

Matrix sold the last 14 units at the Fairview in Mukilteo. Seamark Properties hired Matrix because sales had stalled. They repriced the remaining units and updated the look of model homes and marketing materials with an emphasis on selling the larger, higher-price penthouses. When there was little interest in the largest penthouse, Matrix started advertising that the unit would be shown by appointment only and found a buyer.

Realogics Sotheby's

Brokers at Olive 8 say that 18 of the 229 condos sold from March 1 through the end of April. More than three-quarters of the units in the downtown Seattle hotel/condo project are sold, says Julie McAvoy of Realogics Sotheby's International Realty, which is marketing the project. Realogics also reports that brokers have closed sales on half of the six units in the Lakeside, a luxury housing project at 508 Lakeside Ave. S. in Leschi. Units range in size from 740 to nearly 1,960 square feet. Prices on remaining units start at nearly $1.1 million. GP Realty developed the project. It was designed to attract downsizing baby boomers, but some buyers are younger people who want to upgrade during a down market.

NAIOP looks at new energy codes

NAIOP will have a roundtable discussion about state and city energy codes at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday at DCI Engineers office at 818 Stewart St. Just as developers, architects and engineers are getting to used to the 2009 code, the industry is preparing for the 2012 state code that goes into effect in July of 2013. Panelists are Duane Jonlin of the Seattle Department of Planning and Development, Tony Toppenberg of Turner Construction, Eric VanderMey of Rushing Co. and Medgar Marceau of Morrison Hershfield. Register at http://www.naiopwa.org.