Feb 18, 2021

JLL

Sigl

JLL announced that Kelley Sigl has joined the firm, where she'll be a senior VP with a focus on tenant representation. She makes the move from Kinzer Partners. JLL's Chris Hughes said in a statement, “We're excited to have Kelley join our team here in Bellevue. We're confident that her deep understanding of tenant representation and customer relationship management will be beneficial for all of the exciting current and future projects we have in store for the Eastside.” Said Sigl, “I'm committed to identifying unique, outside-the-box solutions to help companies align their space needs with their organization's goals, and effectively bring their vision to life.”

BoA provided $100M for CPA

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Climate Pledge Arena, with its landmarked Paul Thiry roof, recently topped out; and the new green signage has been installed via helicopter on the iconic roof. Separate from those announcements by contractor Mortenson and owner/developer Oak View Group, Bank of America recently disclosed its nearly $100 million contribution to the privately funded, roughly $1 billion project. That came via BoA's Community Development Banking arm and Federal Historic Tax Credits. The bank said that, on a national level, its CDB arm last year provided nearly $5.9 billion in loans, tax credit equity investments and other real estate development solutions. That compares to about $4.9 billion in 2019. Notably, as part of 2020's total, BoA says that it provided over $359 million to help fund more than 640 units of affordable housing in Seattle. (Individual projects weren't named.) Meanwhile, the over 17,000-seat, carbon-neutral CPA is expected to open late this year.

CBRE says we're No. 5!

Miller

In an inaugural report, CBRE issued what it calls the U.S. Development Opportunity Index. That national analysis ranks cities in categories including multifamily, offices, retail and industrial. Seattle scored in the top ten for all those. Then, in the blended Opportunity index, CBRE placed Seattle at the No. 5 position. The top four were, in descending order, Atlanta, Dallas, Phoenix and Orlando. (Portland was No. 26, so there.) CBRE's John R. Miller said in a statement, “Seattle's desirable lifestyle, highly educated workforce and continued job growth, particularly in the technology, e-commerce and life sciences sectors, are driving employers to need more capacity for their product and employees. Even in the most recent downturn, developers continue to bet on these strong fundamentals and are finding above-average returns in our market as a result.”

Feb 11, 2021

Unico completes Austin office project

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Unico Properties announced the recent completion of the five-story, 165,000-square-foot Bouldin Creek office building, which draws its name from that neighborhood in Austin, Texas. The project was a collaboration with landowners Manifold Real Estate and OakPoint Real Estate, which acquired the corner site three years ago. The project was designed by Texas firm Michael Hsu Office of Architecture with Studio8 Architects. White Construction broke ground in March 2019, and Nudge Design was the landscape architect. Bouldin Creek is targeting LEED Gold certification, and features a large amount of WiFi-served outdoor space; it also overlooks 2 acres of green space abutting the actual Bouldin Creek. Green features include a bike room with showers, and electric car stations in the mostly structured parking on the first two levels. Office floor plates average around 50,000 square feet, and CBRE is leasing the space. Unico's Sarajane Goodfellow says of the project, “Bouldin Creek embodies the kind of development the Austin market is responding to right now: ideal location, access to green space and a high-quality design that puts the health of employees first.” The lead commercial tenant is Proud Mary, an Australian cafe chain, with its second U.S. location. Local artists also created murals for the project, which replaced some old restaurant and commercial buildings.

Gaming co. relocates to Kirkland

Maverick Gaming announced it will move from Nevada to a new headquarters building in Kirkland. The site, at 12530 N.E. 144th St., is in the Kingsgate neighborhood, east of Interstate 405, and north of Totem Lake. The building is now home to Caribbean Cardroom, in a 1978 former retail building that's been owned by a local family for decades. Maverick CEO Eric Persson said in a statement, “I grew up in Hoquiam and am humbled and excited to be locating Maverick Gaming's headquarters in my home state.” The company, named for Persson's son, says about 50 jobs will be associated with the new HQ. The larger company has about 2,000 unionized employees in our state. It says it contributes $13 million annually in local tax revenues. Kirkland Mayor Penny Sweet said in a statement, “As we all work together to build a pathway through the impacts of the pandemic, we welcome Maverick Gaming to Kirkland as a partner in supporting family-wage jobs in our state's regulated gaming industry.”

Flex offices respond to pandemic

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In the Chophouse Row complex on Capitol Hill, developer Liz Dunn has announced the recent addition of private, furnished office suites managed by her related shared office company The Cloud Room, which has operated there for about five years. The private suites aren't co-working spaces per se (which Cloud Room also offers), but are available to tenant-members on a similarly flexible, month-to-month basis. Cloud Room says they feature abundant natural light, operable windows, live greenery, segregated HVAC systems and easy stair access — i.e., no claustrophobic elevators required. Dunn said in a statement, “With the uncertainty around the long-term impact of the pandemic, small- to medium-sized organizations are increasingly looking for flexible leasing options while maintaining a connection with the community. It's part of my personality to double-down when the going seems tough, and changes in the tenant mix in the building allowed us to make an extremely well-timed pivot to bring some of the office space at Chophouse Row under the Cloud Room brand and management.” Suites can be configured for as few as four office workers all the way up to 60. Perks include a private in-house bar, deck and access to bars and restaurants within the complex.

KM to manage VW cloud building in Redmond

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As the DJC first reported in December, Volkswagen Automotive Cloud will be the sole tenant in the former REI store at Redmond Town Center — which Nicola Wealth purchased that month for a bit over $32.5 million. Nicola, of Vancouver, B.C., never announced the tenant, and neither did Kidder Mathews when announcing this month that it'll manage the building at 7500 166th Ave. N.E., aka the former Studio 7500 furniture store, for the new owner. Mike Grainger will lead that KM team. Gensler is designing the renovation of the two-story 35,000-square-foot office building, which was developed circa 1998. The general contractor is Swinerton Builders. The location and overall value of Redmond Town Center will receive a huge boost when Downtown Redmond Station opens across the street in 2024. KM says it now manages almost 1.5 million square feet for Nicola in this state, California and Arizona.