May 16, 2024

Walker & Dunlop finds $39M for Kirkland refi

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The fairly new 135-unit Bloom, in Kirkland's Rose Hill neighborhood, was developed by Merit Homes. The two-building low-rise complex opened in late 2022. Now that it's up and running, Walker & Dunlop has arranged a $39 million refinancing package, with the money provided by an arm of Bridge Investment Group. (Both firms are based in New York.) W&D's Mark Plenge and Grant Robertson secured the financing, which the firm calls a “maximum-progress, full-term, interest-only, non-recourse debt loan with a flexible prepayment structure.” The new money retired the prior construction loan from Bank of the West. Bloom was designed by Encore Architects, with Pelletier + Schaar as the architect of record. Merit acted as its own builder.

Newmark

Farra

Newmark recently announced that its Charlie Farra has been promoted to executive VP and market leader for Seattle and Bellevue. The 15-year industry veteran has mostly focused on tenant representation. Newmark's Jon Mackey said in a statement, “His proven ability to lead, navigate various market conditions and deliver results for his clients sets him up well to excel in this role.” Said Farra, “We have great momentum to capitalize on in the Puget Sound market and beyond, and I look forward to furthering the connectivity between the West Coast markets while continuing to serve my clients.”

Tarragon

Warren

Satterwhite

Johnson

Janssen

Conrad

The Tarragon executive team has seen a raft of new promotions, the firm recently announced. Nick Conrad rises to development accountant. Noelan Brewington-Janssen becomes development manager. Pete Johnson is now site operations manager. Grahm Satterwhite rise to the rank of senior development manager. And Seth Warren becomes a development accounting supervisor. Tarragon president Dennis Rattie said in a statement, “These promotions reflect Tarragon's commitment to recognizing and promoting talent within our organization.”

Peek inside the Ocean Pavilion

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Come June 12, our local chapter of the Urban Land Institute will conduct a tour of the new LMN-designed Ocean Pavilion, which is nearing final form on the Seattle waterfront. Crews from Turner Construction are in the late stages of work on the 50,000-square-foot aquarium expansion project. It's to feature a 360,000-gallon coral reef ecosystem with about 3,500 tropical fish, invertebrates, sharks and rays. Walk past today, and you can see the translucent tank glowing from within. Next to it, the Overlook Walk is also nearly ready to open this summer. The Seattle Aquarium hasn't yet set an official opening date for the duo. Registration and info: northwest.uli.org.

JPMorgan Chase expands in Seattle

JPMorgan Chase announced the recent hiring of veteran real estate banker Kris Kesterke. He makes the move from US Bank, and his new title is executive director for the Pacific Northwest. JPMorgan's Alex Mast said in a statement, “As a respected leader in the real estate community, I'm thrilled that Kris is joining our strong team; and together, we will continue to bring our industry and local expertise to the Pacific Northwest.”

May 09, 2024

Gantry does $14M refi deal

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Gantry announced its recent refinancing of two apartment buildings, separately owned, for a combined $14.5 million. The larger loan, worth $10 million, went to the 70-unit, 10-year-old Perch on Capitol Hill, which is owned by Laird Norton. And some $4.5 million was supplied to the fairly new 762-unit Trailside (pictured), near University Village, which is owned by Phoenix Property Co. Both loans, from unnamed life insurance companies, are permanent, fixed-rate instruments. Gantry's Colin Ceithaml and Mike Wood secured the funding; the latter said in a statement, “Our production teams continue to identify viable loan options for high quality multifamily assets like the Perch and Trailside apartments, despite a challenging market climate for commercial real estate finance.”

NAIOP eyes office conversions

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Everyone's talking about converting empty old office buildings to apartments, but there are precious few examples. So perhaps more case studies will arise from a coming NAIOP breakfast confab on that topic. Speakers will include attorney Ian Morrison from McCullough Hill, Chris Angus from Unico Properties (which has a conversion project underway in Tacoma), Geoff Wentlandt from the city of Seattle and Jordan Selig of Martin Selig Real Estate (whose Third & Lenora, pictured, is adding another 216 units from the offices once claimed by WeWork). The event takes place at 8 a.m. May 15 at the Four Seasons Seattle. Details and registration at naiopwa.org.

Kidder Mathews

At Kidder Mathews, that firm recently announced that its Matt Murrayhas earned his SIOR designation. With the firm since 2018, and based in the Bellevue office, he said in a statement, “I'm honored to join SIOR and be part of its rich history and the values it represents. I'm committed to bringing my best to the table and collaborating with fellow members to drive our industry forward.”

Berkadia finds $18M for Pierce Co. units

Working from Berkadia's office in Irvine, Calif., Vince Punzi and Lowell Takahashi recently arranged an $18 million refinancing deal for the 80-unit, two-year-old Peak at Sunrise, which is part of the larger Sunrise development from Corliss Management Group, near Puyallup. The Freddie Mac funding came via a partnership with DSC Capital. Punzi said in a statement, “We successfully structured the property in lease-up and secured a five-year fixed loan. This allowed us to lock in the interest rate before the 50-basis point run-up in the treasury.”