Sep 20, 2012

The Runstad Center at UW

O'Connor

The Runstad Center for Real Estate Studies in the University of Washington College of Built Environments hired Stephen O'Connor as the director. He has a doctorate in urban planning and policy development from Rutgers and a masters from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. O'Connor has been an adjunct professor at Rutgers since 1992 and runs his own national real estate consulting firm. O'Connor succeeds George Rolfe, the center's director since 2008.

1st Security Bank

Pim

Mountlake Terrace-based 1st Security Bank of Washington has opened a home lending office in Bellevue, its first stand-alone location for home lending services. The 4,000-square-foot office is at 1110 - 112th Ave. N.E. in One Twelve on Twelfth, and will eventually have 20 employees, including loan officers and support staff. The office is headed by Lisa Pim, manager and loan officer. 1st Security Bank has six locations in the area and plans to open a branch in Capitol Hill next year.

Kidder Mathews

Kidder Mathews said it was named by The Oregonian newspaper as a Top Workplace in Oregon. Kidder Mathews ranked fifth among small businesses, and also was tops in the category of Life/Work Balance. Kidder Mathews has more than 400 people in nine offices in Washington, Oregon and California.

Security Properties

Seattle-based Security Properties purchased the 207-unit Lakeside Village, a condo rental property near Chandler, Ariz., that is part of a master planned development with houses, condos and retail. This is the ninth purchase by Security Properties Multifamily Fund and the first outside the Pacific Northwest. Purchase price was $16.4 million. The seller is Rose Lakeside Corp. of Toronto. Security plans a $1.9 rehab of common areas and interiors.

Sep 13, 2012

Colliers

Abbott

Colliers International has hired veteran broker Tom Abbott as senior vice president of the Western Region Investment Services Group. He has more than 35 years of experience with major office, industrial and retail investment transactions. Colliers is building a national investment services platform led by Warren Dahlstrom, president of the Investment Services Group. Rick Putnam is managing director for the Western Region.

Coast|Sperry Van Ness

Thomson

Art Thomson, P.E., has joined Coast|Sperry Van Ness of Everett as a senior advisor specializing in leasing and sales of office and industrial properties. He was previously with Windermere Commercial in Everett and has more than 30 years of experience as an engineer and broker.

CBRE Multi-Housing Group

CBRE said Eli Hanacek, former investment management COO at Holland Partner Group, has joined CBRE's Seattle office to work on the multi-housing investment sales team. Hanacek will specialize in land sales, working with Jon Hallgrimson and Frank Bosl in Seattle, Kirk Taylor and Jim Rice in Portland, and Troy Tegeler in Newport Beach. Hanacek also worked for Simpson Housing.

Sperry Van Ness|Bluestone

Sperry Van Ness|Bluestone & Hockley, Portland-based real estate investment services firm, announced the sale of Arbour Court Apartments, a 75-unit building in Seattle. It sold for $7.4 million. Karlin Conklin of Sperry Van Ness|Bluestone & Hockley represented the buyer and Seth Heikkila of Jones Lang LaSalle represented the seller. The purchaser was an exchange buyer.

Keller Williams

Shari Jansen, CEO of the Keller Williams Greater Seattle office, recently added several new agents: Bill Drummond, Danny Greco, John Haines, Cameron Hypes, Andrea Scalici, Cathy Sims and Heidi Skinner. Three agents have joined from other brokerages: John Hemphill, Daren Patillo and Rene Wilson.

National Association of Home Builders

Two housing markets in the state are showing signs of improvement: Kennewick and Mount Vernon are listed on the National Association of Home Builders/First American Improving Markets Index due to an uptick in home prices, employment and building activity. “Having two Washington state markets on the IMI is an encouraging sign of recovery,” said 2012 BIAW president and Yakima home builder Kevin Patrick. The list is at http://www.nahb.org/imi/.

Dow Hotel Co.

The Dow Hotel Co., a Seattle-based hotel owner/investor, will manage the 174-room Lakeway Resort and Spa near Austin, Texas, and oversee a $5 million renovation this fall. A partnership of The Carlyle Group, a global investment group, and Dow acquired the hotel in July. Robert Kisker was named general manager of the hotel. Dow was founded in 1997 and has 12 U.S. hotels.

NAIOP

NAIOP is launching its Third Annual NAIOP Mentor Program next month to match young professionals and students with industry veterans to share ideas, discuss professional development and talk about real estate. Each mentee will meet with a different mentor every month based on their preferences and interests. The kickoff cocktail hour will be Oct. 10 at 5 p.m., with the location to be determined. Monthly mentor meetings start in late October and end in May. People who want to participate or offer a space for the kickoff event should contact Davis Vaughn at davisvaughn@northwesternmutual.com.