May 13, 2010

CB Richard Ellis

Bruce Francis was named by CB Richard Ellis to oversee its West Coast Debt & Equity Finance practice. He is based in Phoenix. Six finance professionals were named to regional leadership posts. They will work with local market leaders and mentor brokers. Francis has worked in real estate debt and equity for insurance companies, pension funds, banks, government-sponsored enterprises and Wall Street.

Grubb & Ellis

DCT Industrial, a publicly traded company, has picked Grubb & Ellis to lease seven Seattle-area industrial properties with 1.1 million square feet. Bill Condon, managing director of the Seattle office, will be joined on the leasing team by Matt McGregor and Andrew Hitchcock. The properties are 95 percent leased. They include the O'Brien Business Park, Van Doren's Landing Shaw Industries and Sea-Pac buildings, and Seattle Bike Supply, all in Kent; Algona Business Park Buildings A and B in Algona; and a building at 800 S.W. 27th St. in Renton. AMB Property also hired the Seattle office to market four industrial buildings totaling 1.3 million square feet.

OfficeSpace.com

Seattle-based OfficeSpace.com has added two features to its website: a year-to-date absorption calculator and the ability to create more defined submarket reports. OfficeSpace says it logs about 4,200 user sessions each business day.

Keller Williams Realty

Tina Duran is a new agent in Keller Williams Realty's Seattle Metro West Market Center in West Seattle. She has owned multiple properties. The office has more than 60 associates.

Facebook

The Internet marketing tool provider RealBird said its single property listing websites are now integrated with Facebook. Agents can create a Facebook page for their RealBird single property website, and invite sellers and potential buyers to “like” that property. This will inform them of price changes, open houses, photos and other updates. RealBird said its service costs $99 a year.

ULI program on infrastructure

Former Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy will talk about how communities can leverage infrastructure into other investments at the Seattle Urban Land Institute's May 25 breakfast at the Grand Hyatt, 721 Pine St. ULI said as mayor Murphy initiated a public-private partnership that leveraged more than $4.5 billion in economic development. Registration begins at 7 a.m., and the program starts at 7:30. Cost is $25-$70. Go to seattle.uli.org or call 1 (800) 321-5011 to register.

May 06, 2010

Ashforth Pacific

San Francisco's Orrick Building, which Ashforth Pacific of Portland owns and manages, won three industry citations: BOMA's Earth Award, an Urban Land Institute award and the San Francisco 24x7 Energy Challenge. The 10-story building, is part of Foundry Square. Ashforth Pacific owns and operates office and industrial properties. Its portfolio includes the Exchange Building in Seattle.

HREC

HREC, a hotel and casino real estate advisory firm, has opened an office in Bellevue that appraiser Mark Lukens will oversee. He joined HREC as a senior vice president. In addition to appraisal work, his experience includes hospitality brokerage, feasibility consulting, franchise sales, acquisitions, development and strategic planning. He previously headed Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels' Seattle office. HREC has been expanding in anticipation of an upturn in hotel transactions beginning later this year. It also launched a new hotel loan program, sourcing loans of $12 million to $35 million. The program is geared toward Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, Starwood and Intercontinental branded hotels.

CREW panel looks at stimulus

CREW Seattle & Sound's May 13 luncheon will include a panel discussion about the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. Panelists are Daniel Malarkey of the state Department of Commerce, Ann Grodnik of Seattle-Northwest Securities and David Bolin of The Freehold Group. The event begins with registration at 11:30 at the Washington Athletic Club, 1325 Sixth Ave., in Seattle. Cost is $37 to $52. Register at crewseattle.org.

UW students & NAIOP happy hour

NAIOP's Developing Leaders and University of Washington real estate students are having their first joint happy hour at 5:30 p.m. May 13 in Rooms 110 and 114 of Gould Hall at University Way Northeast and Northeast 40th Street. It's free for students and $5 for NAIOP members. Register at naiopwa.org.

Tech's impact on the real estate

Chris Pratley of Microsoft will talk about how technology could affect commercial real estate in the coming years at NAIOP's May 19 breakfast at the Westin Seattle, 1900 Fifth Ave. Registration starts at 7:15 a.m. and the program begins at 8. Tickets are $25 to $60. Register at naiopwa.org.