Apr 20, 2023

Westport winery on market

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When a wealthy investor opts to make a wine-centric splurge into viniculture and real estate, one tends to think of areas like Walla Walla, Napa or Sonoma. But ... Westport? Sure, why not. Colliers recently put the 21-acre Westport Winery Garden Resort on the market. It's about midway between Aberdeen and Westport, on a bluff with views of the Grays Harbor bay. Grapes aren't actually grown in that wet, blustery area, but it's a full-fledged wine making operation that was founded in 2008 by Kim and Blain Roberts. Their broker at Colliers is Arvin Vander Veen, and the asking price is just over $5.7 million. The operations side of the business brings in grapes from Eastern Washington, and today produces 5,000 cases of wine annually, and nearly 900 cases of spirits. There's also the Sea Glass Grill restaurant and a lodging component, with two houses and two apartments. (New zoning would allow 20 more units.) And there's a separate nonprofit on the property, The International Mermaid Museum, to help draw tourists. The main business bills itself as the westernmost winery in the state, and draws some 100,000 visitors per year.

Gantry secures nearly $12M for Wallingford ground lessor

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Fremont Dock Co. owns the land beneath what most call the Brooks building in Wallingford, at 3400 Stone Way N. (It's also known as Stone34.) The five-story, 121,000-square-foot building last traded in 2018 to Unico Properties and Partners Group. It's fully leased, with the Brooks store on the prominent corner. Prior to its 2014 development by Skanska USA, Fremont Dock took out a loan from State Farm Life Insurance. Now, representing the same borrower, Gantry has refinanced that note, from the same lender, to the tune of $11.7 million. Leading the effort were Gantry's Alex Saunders and Mike Wood; the latter said in a statement, “Continued performance of the office and retail components of the structure, tied to a seasoned and well capitalized sponsor for the ground lease, attracted one of our top correspondent life companies after a careful review of options across all lender types.” The note has a 10-year, fixed-rate term.”

NAIOP to tour Esterra Park

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Over in Redmond, near the future light rail station, Verde is the new 634-unit apartment project at Esterra Park. And May 25 is the date for a tour offered for NAIOP members. The apartments opened in two phases, beginning last year. Members of the development team will be on hand to discuss the carbon-neutral project, which is targeting both LEED Carbon Zero and LEED Gold certification. Verde is essentially the final step in redeveloping the 28-acre former Group Health campus. Capstone Partners led the effort, with the Verde team also including financial partner PGIM Real Estate, designer Runberg Architecture Group and builder Exxel Pacific. Details and registration: naiopwa.org.

Apr 13, 2023

New owners at Schnitzer West

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Schnitzer West recently announced that co-founder Dan Ivanoff has sold a minority stake in the company to five partners in the firm, which is based here and in Denver. They are Pam Hirsch, Greg MacDiarmid, Tyna Fisher, Zeb Keck and Doug Zabel. Ivanoff said in a statement, “By expanding the ownership team to include Pam, Greg, Tyna, Zeb and Doug, we have positioned Schnitzer West with the optimal potential to realize perpetual, sustainable success. The team is currently managing more than $2 billion of capital investment and executing approximately 3.2 million square feet of development and investment activity.” Among those is the two-building Interval on Mercer project in Lower Queen Anne; the east building is pictured.

ULI to address office anxiety

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Is it time to panic yet? The office market continues its nationwide post-pandemic slump, as tech-firm layoffs and work-from-home continue to wreak havoc in cubicle-land. Seattle's office vacancy rate is still climbing, and leasing activity is down, down, down. In recent first-quarter reports, Kidder Mathews called the market “clearly struggling and highly volatile,” while Savills declared flatly, “Elevated availability may force landlords to pull back on face rental rates and increase concessions, as they seek to avoid vacancy-driven distress.” Thus a coming April 19 event from the Northwest chapter of the Urban Land Institute will be timely, if distressing. The title tells you everything you need to know, or already feel in your bones: “Adapting to an Uncertain Office Market.” The panel discussion will be at the downtown offices of MG2 (pictured). On hand will be Case Creal of Gensler, Kevin Eng of GLY Construction, Lori Hill of Unico Properties and Rico Quirindongo from the city's Office of Planning and Community Development. Details and registration: northwest.uli.org.

Tarragon signs big tenant in Sumner

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Down in Sumner, Tarragon's ongoing SeaPORT development could total some 2.7 million square feet in seven buildings. All of the fairly new Building 5 was recently claimed by Allen Distribution, which will have 293,000 square feet with 40-foot clear heights. The developer's Dennis Rattie said in a statement, “They are an industry leader in the food and beverage space, and we're honored to support Allen Distribution's future growth and development.” The family-owned distributor is based in Pennsylvania, and Sumner represents its entry to our market. Its brokers were Billy Moultrie and Kimberly Jacobsen at Lee &Associates. Representing Tarragon were CBRE's John Gilliland and John Sullivan. Nelson was the architect, and Sierra the builder.

McLennan joins Pierce County board

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The Economic Development Board of Tacoma-Pierce County has elected a new member. That would be industrial broker Matt McLennan of Kidder Mathews, the firm recently announced. He said in a statement, “I am honored and excited to begin this new journey. I've always held our EDB in high regard and applauded their spirit in attracting businesses to our local community. I look forward to lending my expertise from the real estate perspective to further advance the mission.”

Retail planned in Kitsap

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A little north of Kitsap Mall and Highway 3, Cascadia Senior Living recently developed the 189-unit Fieldstone senior community, which offers both assisted living and memory care. Cascadia is led by Justin Younker and Doug Ellison, who are now adding a retail component nearby: Cascadia Pointe. The four-building complex will be developed immediately south of Fieldstone. Steve Ruggiero of First American Properties is the broker, and he recently announced new tenants: Starbucks, Indigo Urgent Care and Dave's Hot Chicken, which is making its debut in our state. (It'll share a building with Starbucks.) Ruggiero said in a statement, “Not only are we bringing established brand names to the greater Kitsap marketplace, we also have the ability to accommodate a badly needed hotel or campus development.” Two buildings remain unclaimed, with 2,500 and 5,000 square feet. Completion is expected in the second quarter of next year.