Jun 03, 2004

Boeing Capital

Seattle-headquartered Boeing Capital Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of The Boeing Co., will sell its $2 billion commercial financial services business to Stamford, Conn.-based GE Commercial Finance, the financial services unit of General Electric. Services include lease and loan financing for business aircraft, machine tools, marine vessels and construction equipment.

Fidelity National Title

Title insurance industry veteran Peter Ostrander, formerly of LandAmercia Commercial Services in Seattle, has accepted a position with Fidelity National Title's new National Title Services office in Seattle. Ostrander is vice president and director of business development for the National Title Services unit. Ostrander says Fidelity National is aggressively growing the office.

Fursse & Hall Realty

Fursse

Keoni Fursse of Fursse & Hall Realty of Seattle has obtained his Certified Commercial Investment Member designation. He specializes in the sale of investment properties.

Cascade Partners

The value of small apartment buildings in the Seattle area increased 25 percent in the last two and a half years, according to a review of data by Cascade Partners. Cascade said nearly 80 percent of all multi-family listings sold so far this year were 2 to 4-unit properties. "Investors purchasing apartment properties with five or more units are required to use commercial financing or cash," says Michael Rooney, Cascade Partners president. "With banks demanding 30 to 40 percent down on larger apartment building investments, these properties have become out of the reach for the smaller, private investor." Rooney says that in 2001, the average selling price of a duplex in North Seattle was under $300,000. In the first quarter of this year, the average selling price of the same property was $380,000. Rooney expects the price to increase to nearly $400,000 by the end of 2004. Cascade Partners' specialty is helping investors buy 2 to 10-unit apartments.

Gregory Broderick Smith Real Estate

Kelly Beckley, marketing director at Gregory Broderick Smith Real Estate, announced her resignation last week. Beckley said she and Smith concluded that due to efficiencies the company has achieved, she was being underutilized. She said there are no plans to replace her. Beckley plans to take some time off before embarking on a new career path, and would like to remain in commercial real estate.

Urban Land Institute of Seattle

The Urban Land Institute of Seattle will unveil its new mission and strategy for serving the city's real estate and land-use community at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Bell Harbor International Conference Center at Pier 66 on Seattle's waterfront. Maureen L. McAvey, senior resident fellow of ULI is the keynote speaker. To register, call (800) 321-5011.

CREW Seattle

Bruce Lorig of Lorig Associates and Gary Weber of Simon Property Group will speak at CREW Seattle's 11:45 a.m. June 10 lunch at the Washington Athletic Club, 1325 Sixth Ave., Seattle. (Due to incorrect information provided to the Journal, the event location was incorrectly listed in the May 27 edition.) Cost is $29.50 for members of Commercial Real Estate Women and $45 for nonmembers; reservations are due by noon Monday and can be made by calling (206) 361-6859.

May 27, 2004

City Center Real Estate

Daniel Wick and Tim Mallon have joined the Seattle apartment brokerage firm of City Center Real Estate. Wick's background is sales, including apartment brokerage. Mallon has more than 10 years' experience in commercial real estate brokerage, and is also is a certified public accountant, specializing in tax consulting.

Equity Office Properties

Tye

Equity Office has promoted David Tye to vice president of property management for the company's Seattle region. He will continue overseeing management of the publicly traded company's 54-building, 10-million-square-foot portfolio in the Puget Sound region, and he will lead customer service operations.

Fursse & Hall Realty

Keoni Fursse has the listing to sell the Fremont West Business Center, a 36,900-square-foot building at 123 N.W. 36th St., Seattle. The two-story building is home to Pro Lab and other office tenants. The owner of the building is related to Pro Lab, which will do a short-term lease back, Fursse said. There is no list price, but Fursse thinks the range is $7.5 million. The property comes with a master-use permit to build another 25,000 square feet next door. The property could be a corporate headquarters or a retail.

Quadrant Homes

Quadrant Homes has promoted Sue Dunn to vice president and hired Holly Rainwater as safety coordinator. Dunn, who has been with Quadrant 17 years, will continue to serve as controller. She'll manage the accounting department and oversee information technology. Rainwater previously was a safety officer with the state Department of Ecology.

HouseValues

William Blair Capital Partners VII of Chicago made a $14.5 million capital investment in HouseValues, a Bellevue company that provides marketing and technology services for residential real estate agents. William Blair Capital Managing Director Bob Blank is joining the HouseValues board of directors.

John L. Scott

Tom Klein

Terry Klein

Officials of Kemper Development Co., developer of Lincoln Square in downtown Bellevue, have named John L. Scott Real Estate the exclusive sales agency for the 148-unit condo tower. Lincoln Square also includes almost 300,000 square feet of retail, a luxury hotel and an office building. Also, the husband-wife team of Tom and Terry Klein have joined John L. Scott Bainbridge Island. They previously worked at Windermere's West Sound/Poulsbo office.

Windermere Real Estate

The 2004 REAL Trends 500 report has again listed Windermere Real Estate as the largest regional residential real estate brand in the West. The residential research company ranked Windermere the third largest regional brand in the nation. Bob Tate has joined the Queen Anne office of Windermere as a sales associate. He was executive chef at Hilltop Alehouse in Seattle.