Jul 31, 2020

Petriage

Joseph Coury is the new CEO of Bellevue pet health technology company Petriage. Coury replaces Petriage co-founder Allon Freiman, who has become chief strategy officer. Coury was CEO of Omni Practice Group in Kenmore, a provider of veterinary, dental and medical-related business, real estate and consulting services. Prior to that, he was senior vice president of the Veterinary Division at California Bank of Commerce. Petriage also promoted Wendy Hennig from sales and marketing vice president to chief growth officer. Hennig has nearly 20 years of veterinary industry sales experience and has been with Petriage for two years. Four-year-old Petriage brings telehealth technology to veterinary practices.

Sustainable Restaurant Group

Portland investment firm Sortis Holdings acquired Sustainable Restaurant Group, owner of Bamboo Sushi, out of bankruptcy. Bain Capital Double Impact and the Kitchen Fund previously led a strategic investment in SRG in 2018 and have reinvested in the company. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Bamboo Sushi has nine locations across Portland, Seattle, the Bay Area and Denver. Some of the restaurants are offering limited pickup and delivery. Sortis says it will rehire furloughed workers and resume full operations at the restaurants when pandemic opening guidelines allow. Sortis in May bought Rudy's Barbershop chain out of bankruptcy.

Mod Pizza

Seattle-based Mod Super-Fast Pizza Holdings acquired 13 franchised Mod Pizza locations in North Carolina, adding them to its portfolio of company-owned stores. Mod says the North Carolina stores were previously owned and operated by SD Holdings, a restaurant franchisee who filed for bankruptcy in February. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. This acquisition gives Mod 406 company-owned locations and 82 franchise locations.

U.S. Cellular

Chicago-based U.S. Cellular says it will activate 5G phone service later this year in 11 states, including Washington and Oregon. The network will be initially available in select areas of the states.

Amazon

Seattle-based Amazon has delivered more than 6 million meals since the start of the pandemic to people in need in over 25 cities across the U.S. It said it plans to deliver another 1 million meals in August. Amazon has donated delivery services to food banks and community organizations since March through its Amazon Flex network and other delivery partners. Locally, the online retailer has delivered thousands of meals to Seattle Public Schools.

Jul 30, 2020

Big Tacoma space leasing quickly

[enlarge]

As the DJC first reported in May, Industrial Realty Group of Los Angeles paid about $42.3 million for the 24-acre SuperValu property at the Port of Tacoma. Now IRG has announced that the 702,034-square-foot complex is mostly leased to PCC Logistics. In addition to two other smaller pending leases, SuperValu will lease back some of the property for three years. Monte Decker of CBRE is leasing the complex, with about 103,000 square feet still available. “The leasing activity has been tremendous,” said John Mase of IRG, whose partner in the project is Industrial Development of Irvine. That company's Bruce Haas added, “The project was a great opportunity to take an aged asset and revitalize it, taking advantage of Tacoma's excellent industrial market.”

Newmark Knight Frank

Sheinkop

Newmark Knight Frank has made Michael Sheinkop, of its Chicago office, executive VP and regional managing director of its Northwest region, which includes the Seattle office. The entire region spans 15 offices. Thirty-year industry veteran Sheinkop served past stints at UGL Equis and Equity Office Properties. He joined NKF 10 years ago. His current portfolio spans about 42 million square feet of offices.

Daimler heads new Zillow product group

Seattle-based Zillow recently announced that its Matt Daimler will become senior VP of its newly created product group. He's based in the New York office. Zillow president Jeremy Wacksman said in a statement, “He brings the forward-thinking perspective and focus that we need to build innovative products that rewire the way people buy, sell, rent, and finance homes.” Caroline Burton will assume Daimler's former role as general manager of StreetEasy and Zillow Group NYC.

Hatchback Cottages to produce DADUs

[enlarge]

Detached Accessory Dwelling Units, aka backyard cottages, are a thing in Seattle, now sprouting all over the city. Most are custom made, some are from kits, and now Hatchback Cottages has entered the fray with an all-services-in-one turnkey approach. The venture recently completed a second round in funding and launched a new website, hatchbackcottages.com. The company is led by Shannon Loew, of FIX Impact Development. Its backers and board members include veteran developers Ron Sher and Dale Sperling. Sperling's OneBuild previously experimented with modular construction, and Hatchback hopes to eventually pursue that model. Also on the board is industry veteran Peter Orser, who said in a statement, “This is a disruptive solution that will have significant impact on our region's housing supply problem.”

Panorama: 63 new homes in Issaquah

Lungren Homes and JR Hayes are developing Panorama, a new single-family development at the 630-acre Talus in Issaquah. The partners are planning 63 homes ranging from 3,100 to 4,100 square feet, with three to six bedrooms and 3.5 to 4.5 bathrooms. Prices are expected to range from $1.5 million to $2.2 million. The first model home, dubbed Vista, will open next month. Construction is now underway on others, with the first home expected to finish in September.

Banzai

Seattle-based Banzai added Kevin Riegelsberger as an independent director. Riegelsberger is a director of TangoCard and Shiftboard, and is a 40-year software veteran. He previously was president and COO at Avalara. Banzai develops cloud software for webinar and event marketing.

Curi Bio

Seattle-based Curi Bio acquired Dana Solutions, a developer of artificial intelligence and machine learning software for in vitro cell-based assays. Palo Alto, California-based Dana sells PhenoLearn, which models cell and tissue phenotypes, and Pulse, which analyzes cell contractions in the heart. It also has FDA funding to validate PhenoTox, which assesses the safety of medicines. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Curi Bio develops human stem cell-based biotechnology products. It recently changed its name from NanoSurface Biomedical.

State Department of Corrections

The Correctional Leaders Association picked Washington Department of Corrections Secretary Stephen Sinclair to chair its program and training committee. Sinclair is a 30-year veteran of the state Department of Corrections, starting as a correctional officer at the Washington State Penitentiary. He served as an investigator, sergeant, associate superintendent, superintendent and assistant secretary of the Prisons Division.

Angela Vineyards

In Oregon, Angela Vineyards created an outdoor wine tasting experience called Return to the Vines that is geared toward social distancing. The tastings include seven wines and a snack during a reserved 90-minute session. Cost is $40 per person and $25 for Angela Estate club members. Seatings are limited to 20 people and are available noon-6 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays until Sept. 27. The winery is at 11311 N.W. Bayliss Road in Carlton. Reservations can be made at http://www.exploretock.com/angelavineyards.

Avangrid Renewables

Portland-based Avangrid Renewables recently finished the 56-turbine Montague Wind Farm in Gilliam County, Oregon. Along with the Gala Solar project in Crook County, it supplies renewable energy to Apple's Prineville data center through power purchase agreements. Avangrid operates 11 wind and solar generation facilities in Oregon.