Wallace Properties
Specialty: Commercial real estate investment
Management: Robert Wallace, CEO; Joan Wallace, president; Felicia Tsao, vice president of property management; Kevin Wallace, general counsel and vice president of acquisitions
Founded: 1975
Headquarters: Bellevue
Current projects: Northgate mixed-use project; five new acquisitions totaling $50 million in 2005
Rendering by Baylis Architects Wallace Properties is finalizing a lease with a major retailer to anchor its Northgate mixed-use project, which will include 45,000 square feet of retail and an undetermined number of apartments.
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Office vacancy rates in downtown Bellevue have fallen from 30 percent to 8 percent in the past two years. But office rents are “still in the tank,” according to CEO Robert Wallace. He says downtown Bellevue has digested its oversupply of office space, but Seattle hasn’t.
“It’s going to be very, very difficult to launch new speculative office projects unless the rents take a significant hike and until Seattle digests its oversupply,” he says.
Despite some unfavorable market conditions, Wallace expects all three divisions of his firm to have record revenues in 2005.
Bullish on apartments
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Next year will see the firm get deeply involved in developing its Northgate mixed-use project, which is now in the design and pre-permitting phase. Wallace says the firm is now finalizing a lease agreement with a major retailer to anchor the project. The anchor will have about 35,000 square feet and small shops will take another 10,000 square feet.
Wallace says his firm will propose rental apartments as part of the project.
He’s bullish on the apartment market. He expects a limited supply and rising interest rates will lead to rising apartment prices over the next couple years.
He credits a lot of the firm’s success in 2005 to his son, and vice president of acquisitions, Kevin, who joined the firm in 2003 and has worked “to bring the old man into the 21st century.” In 2006, the 25-person, family-run firm plans to digitize all its records and hire several new brokers. President Joan Wallace will reduce her role to “spend more time with the grandkids.”