Jun 04, 2020

Work starts on second Rainier Square tower

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It's no secret that Wright Runstad has been working on the 10-story 400 University office tower planned at Rainier Square. The tower crane went up in March, and the jobsite has been gradually coming back to life since work was paused that month due to the coronavirus pandemic. Now it's official. The company, with new financial partner Intercontinental Real Estate, yesterday announced its official groundbreaking on the 122,000-square-foot speculative project. NBBJ is the architect and BNBuilders is the general contractor. Completion is expected by July 2021. Greg Inglin and David Abbott at Colliers are marketing the space. Jeffrey Weber and Jason Flynn of Eastdil Secured arranged the JV with Intercontinental, of Boston. (That firm, with a portfolio worth about $10 billion, recently acquired Roosevelt Commons in the University District for $157 million.) Wright Runstad's Walt Ingram said in a statement, “400 University reflects our continued belief in downtown Seattle and the long- term prospects for its economic growth and office demand.”

Prado expands to Seattle

McCormick

Prado Group of San Francisco recently announced that it was dispatching Bridgett McCormick to Seattle to become acquisitions manager for the Pacific Northwest region. Prado's Zach Felson said in a statement that the company would be focused on the Seattle market as it expands into the region. The 17-year-old company values its current and planned portfolio at about $2 billion. All of that appears to be apartments over retail in the Bay Area.

Caliber joins Compass

Ian Morell

Jillian Morell

Lazo

Albers

The newly renamed Caliber Group recently said that its 60 brokers have joined Compass. Caliber founders Zack Lazo, Ian Morell, David Albers and Jillian Morell announced the decision to merge. Caliber says it did about $312 million in deals last year. Compass is far larger, with national reach. Its 2019 deal total was around $91 billion.

May 28, 2020

Gantry secures two loans worth $25M

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Gantry recently announced a pair of financing deals in our region. Mike Wood secured a $17 million loan for the Brewery Blocks in Tacoma, the new mixed-use development by Horizon Partners Northwest. A life insurance company put up the three-year bridge loan. Wood explained, “The Brewery Blocks borrower was seeking a bridge loan to pay off their existing construction loan that was coming due.” Wood also arranged a $7.8 million loan to the unnamed owner of two 17-year-old industrial buildings at Seaway Business Park in Everett. Another life insurance company provided the 20- to 30-year loan, which is interest free for the first five years. That structure, said Wood, “allows the borrower to recoup the prepayment penalty and improve cash flow.”

Microsoft leases two new Atlanta buildings

Microsoft is leasing 523,000 square feet in two full buildings at Atlantic Yards in Atlanta. Its landlord, Hines, made the announcement earlier this week. Invesco Real Estate is also a partner in the project. T. Dallas Smith & Co. was Microsoft’s broker. Terms for the lease weren’t disclosed. Microsoft expects to occupy the buildings next summer, with about 1,500 employees. Hines’ John Heagy said in a statement, “Microsoft’s next generation of talent will be blocks away at Georgia Tech, and once they occupy Atlantic Yards, Microsoft will have unmatched access, retail and restaurant options and a working environment deliberately designed to foster creativity.” Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture designed Atlantic Yards, with Wakefield Beasley & Assoc. as architect of record. New South Construction recently topped out on the project, for which PCCP provided the construction loan.