2014 October

CALENDAR
XXNovember Night of the Stars
Fri, Nov 7, 2014 6:00 PM
Hyatt Regency 900 Bellevue Way NE, Bellevue
XXNovember South Sound Breakfast
Thur, Nov 13, 2014 7:30 AM
Pacific Grill Events Center, Tacoma
XXNovember Breakfast Meeting
Wed, Nov 19, 2014 7:00 AM
MOHAI, 860 Terry Ave, Seattle
The Deal
M O N T H LY
NEWSLETTER
October Breakfast Meeting and Fall Forum
Ed Scherer, Avidex Industries, LLC
The Rise of the Urban Campus – Now That It’s Here,
What’s Next?
Each year, NAIOP offers Continuing Education credits through its
Fall Seminar. This year’s theme was the Urban Campus. Special
thanks go to Courtney Hashimoto and the Programs team for their
incredible efforts in putting this seminar together.
The breakfast was sponsored by Umpqua Bank/Intervest and Lease
Crutcher Lewis. We thank them for their generous support.
Maude Daudon – CEO of the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce
moderated this distinguished panel.
President A-P Hurd informed those present about the planning efforts
currently underway for upcoming retreats and asked for input. We
also heard about the results from the Community Enhancement
Project, the Night of the Stars, and the NAIOP mentoring program.
The Breakfast meeting had a stellar panel representing three
companies that have created Urban Campuses in Seattle:
John Schoettler – Director, Global Real Estate and Facilities –
Amazon
Mike Nolan – Real Estate Project Executive – Google, and
Eric Jensen – Director of Corporate Facilities – Starbuck’s
Maude’s first question was – “Why Seattle?” Eric replied that it was
more serendipity than strategy while Mike and John both mentioned
the availability of talent and the culture of innovation. John also
mentioned that Jeff Bezos was instrumental in deciding the location.
Maude then asked about most favorite and least favorite attributes of
the various locations within the greater Seattle area. Mike replied that
Fremont (one of Google’s locations) has a great vibe but that
accessibility and availability of Class A space is a challenge in
Fremont. John brought up a theme that we are hearing more and
Continued on page 2
Story Ideas?
Vol.10 October 2014
www.naiopwa.org
Contact: Kristy Alley at [email protected]
or Ted Caloger at [email protected]
October Breakfast Meeting - Continued from page 1
PAGE 2
more with the new generation of workers – the desire to live, work,
and play within walking or biking distance is a great feature of the
South Lake Union and downtown Seattle locations. He highlighted
that transportation is and will continue to be a challenge. Eric has
found the SODO area to have good accessibility while some of the use
conflicts between the stadiums and port have presented issues.
session on Fremont. Panelists included:
Maude posed the question of urban versus suburban and the three
companies’ strategies regarding that. Eric replied that Starbuck’s tends
to be more urban-oriented because that is where the talent is. Google
has more variety as they generally desire more flat floor plans than
vertical, but the driver is to be located near customers and universities.
John replied that talent is the main driver, as well as being close to
Amazon’s competition.
Suzie began the session by giving an overview of the Fremont
community. Fremont is a place where people interact. Some of the
companies that call Fremont home are:
• Google
• Tableau Software
• Adobe
• Brooks Running
Maude asked about the increased
costs for the urban environment
and all three panelists said that
may be an assumption that is not
borne out by fact. They
mentioned that the opportunity
cost of not attracting talent must be factored in as well.
Suzie mentioned that Fremont is literally a bridgehead community and
one of the few East/West corridors in the city.
All the panelists noted that there may be increased costs to the
employee by locating in an urban campus but Amazon, Google, and
Starbuck’s mitigate those costs with programs that aid with
transportation, parking, and wellness.
There was discussion regarding the design criteria for an urban campus
and Eric mentioned that collaboration is key, and that Starbuck’s tries
to bring the store environment into the office space. Mike added that
an open design fosters collaboration while John talked about flexibility
and the ability to change designs being very important to Amazon.
Maude then asked what these three companies’ experiences were with
local governments. All had high marks for the City of Seattle but are
concerned about the transportation challenges that we face.
Finally, Maude asked about trends that influence the urban strategy.
Mike replied that generational migration and the increasing desire of
the new worker to not own a car are a pillar of Google’s strategy. John
remarked that sustainability is fostered in the urban environment
because of density, and Eric noted that the speed of change and the
adaptability of the urban environment are keys.
What’s next? For the foreseeable future, it is likely more of the same.
This train is picking up steam and we will see more companies
embrace the urban campus in Seattle.
Session 2A – “Fremont: An
Emerging Urban Node”
Courtney Hashimoto was the
facilitator of this fascinating
Suzie Burke – President of Fremont Dock Company
John Savo – Principal at NBBJ
Greg Inglin – Sr. Vice President at Colliers
A-P Hurd – VP of Touchstone
John gave a historical overview of the Quadrant development in
Fremont. Adobe is the anchor tenant and their list of desires includes:
• Large footprint space
• Flat rather than vertical
• Talent retention and recruitment
• Ease of transportation, and
• Expedited timeline
With the exception of the transportation issue, Fremont excelled in the
rest of the desires. The Fremont Arts Council was an active participant
in the project and public and private open space was a key element of
the overall design.
Greg spoke of the “state of the union” in Fremont. Given that there is a
0% vacancy rate in Class A space and that any space that does become
available is often occupied prior to coming on the market, Fremont is
an incredibly desirable area. Greg went on to say that tenants want the
following:
• Safe, clean environment
• Transit
• Collaborative areas
• Bike friendliness
• Walkability
• Restaurants
• Opportunities to engage in fitness activities, and
• A sense of neighborhood
A-P spoke to the fact that Fremont is unique in many ways. From a
real estate standpoint that uniqueness is expressed in the fact that the
space is not aggregated – it is physically separated. However, the fact
that people live, work, and play in Fremont makes it a 24 hour
community which results in a very safe environment. She also talked
about the talented people that inhabit the North Lake Union area and
that walkability and “walksheds” are important to that talent.
Fremont is not without challenges however. A recurring theme of the
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October Breakfast Meeting - Continued from previous page
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PAGE3 7
entire seminar was that transportation is difficult. Having institutional
investors quantify the value of place that Fremont offers is also a
challenge.
Session 2B – “Getting Down
with Upzoning”
Thanks to Tony Pai from
Investco for his summary of this
session.
The old saw is that you should invest in land because they aren’t
making more of it. That is where upzoning comes into play – if we
can’t expand horizontally we must do it vertically. In this session,
Patrick Gordon, Principal of ZGF Architects, moderated a panel of
experts on the subject. The panel included:
Matt Anderson – Principal & Sr. Projector Director for Heartland
Matthew Roewe – Director at VIA Architecture
Lyle Bicknell – Principal Urban Designer for the City of Seattle, and
Dan Stroh – Planning Director at the City of Bellevue
Patrick began by stating that the Puget Sound Metro area will have 5
million people by 2040 and 7 million people by 2100. To put that into
context, today the number is approximately 3.2 million.
well. Matthew agreed and added that if Single Family zoning is not
reduced, something has to give. The core can only absorb so much.
Matthew also commented on the new Seattle linkage fee and stated
that it is really a tax on the developer. The City of Seattle is intending
for those fees to go to nonprofits that can leverage grants and other
programs to make the money go further. But, the project must make
financial sense to the developer.
Lyle said that Seattle can accommodate the future growth comfortably
but needs to focus on the location and quality of growth areas.
Dan talked about some of the uniqueness present in Bellevue and the
complexities of rezoning and land use politics. BelRed is one of those
areas that require great collaboration and many tools to achieve what
the neighborhood deems a quality result.
Session 3 – “The Next Chance to Unlock Urban Value: New Tools
for Redeveloping Contaminated Properties”
Tom Abbot, Senior Vice
President at Colliers moderated
a lively discussion about
contaminated properties and
how that fits into a growing
urban presence for Seattle. The
panelists included:
Lyle began by presenting a case study of upzoning. He highlighted the
Mt. Baker Station/Rainier Valley.
Michelle Connor – Executive Vice President at Forterra
Jim Darling & Mike Stringer – Maul Foster and Alongi, and
The bottom line is that even though there was an increase in allowable Mike Dunning – Senior Counsel at Perkins Coie
height to 125’, development has not rushed in. Lyle asserted that is
because there was more collaborative work to be done in bringing the
Tom presented a hypothetical
community to the table.
property and asked for audience
questions about how to analyze
Dan stated that Bellevue is looking at upzoning and doing it for
the contaminated parcel and
selected projects but the philosophical approach is to prioritize single
move forward to development.
family residences. There is a delicate balance in play – the value of
A variety of questions were
upzoning must pay for the cost of density. If the numbers don’t work, fielded by the panel. A couple of points that were not brought up by
the project doesn’t work.
the audience included:
• How involved is the Department of Ecology?
Matthew spoke about how upzoning can be used as a tool to incentify • Is there historic insurance?, and
development. To go through the upzoning process is inherently risky
• Does this property qualify as a Redevelopment Opportunity Zone
for developers both in terms of time and money. He spoke about
(ROZ)?
Vancouver, BC and the collaborative approach that brought payoffs to
the entire community, including the developers. Matthew also brought The panel engaged in a free flowing discussion that spanned from
up that the Seattle City Council just passed a new linkage fee to help
Lloyd’s of London (historic insurance) to the fact that there is a real
offset the impact of rising rents. We’ll see how that plays out.
sea change occurring at the Department of Ecology as Baby Boomers
retire. The bottom line is that brownfields (contaminated lands) are a
Matt made the point that nothing is free – incentive zoning has costs. real redevelopment opportunity and a land bank. The easily developed
He also talked about the challenges presented by the permit pipeline.
land is developed. If a developer has the right degree of risk tolerance
Patrick asked the question about what the developer’s responsibility is and a vision for what the cleaned up property can be used for, these
in taking on the cost of affordable housing and local improvements.
properties are something that should be looked at. A new tool such as
Matt stated that the developers cannot shoulder that burden entirely.
the ROZ and a philosophical change at the governmental level offers
Benefits are spread throughout the community; the costs need to be as opportunity.
PAGE 4
NAIOP Goes to Denver for Development ‘14
Jeff Curwen, Executive Director, NAIOP WA
The NAIOP Development
’14 Conference took place
October 26-29 in Denver.
The Washington State
chapter had 30 members in
attendance, with over 1,100
NAIOP members overall
attending.
Next on the agenda was the Developer of the Year Luncheon, with
keynote address by Fox News Sunday anchor Chris Wallace. The
2014 Developer of the Year is Brandywine Realty Trust. After
hearing a grateful acceptance speech from Brandywine CEO, Gerard
Sweeney, the audience received a keynote address focusing on the
upcoming mid-term elections. Following his address, Chris Wallace
took questions on any topic, providing insight into many of the key
races this year.
The first day’s events were
mainly comprised of
Corporate Board and
committee meetings. The
next day focused on
pre-conference orientation
and educational programs in
the morning, and group
tours in the afternoon.
There were five tour
destinations which explored
much of Denver’s diverse downtown area. Among the options were:
the Forest City Enterprises/Stapleton Redevelopment Foundation’s
public/private partnership – the country’s largest urban-infill
redevelopment; the Cherry Creek North business district – Colorado’s
first business improvement district; Coors to Pepsi – an exploration of
Denver’s LoDo district, anchored on each end by Coors Field and the
Pepsi Center; RiNo – the River North Art District; and finally, Union
Station and DaVita – a once-abandoned rail yard that now hosts a
bustling transit hub, hotel, and several businesses, including the
DaVita headquarters. Following the tours, there was a welcome
reception back at the Sheraton Hotel, and each of the National
Forums hosted a dinner at one of the many outstanding restaurants in
Denver’s downtown core.
After lunch, the attendees went back to the following breakout
sessions:
• The Changing Face of Office Space
• Debt, Equity, and Structured Finance: Capital Sources in a Changing Market
• CEO Insight: Heavy Lifting of Industrial Real Estate
• Switching Gears from Traditional to Alternative Investment Options
• What’s Trending in the Retail Sector?
• Profiting from Public/Private Partnerships: The Success of Union Station
• The E-Commerce Effect: How and Where Commercial Real Estate Will Next Develop
• Prescription for Change: New Look of Aging Medical Office Buildings, and
• Real Estate Crowd Funding
The main conference programming opened up on Tuesday with a
breakfast and general session. During that session, the 2014
Sustainable Development Award was presented to JBG Companies,
for its National Cancer Institute project. Following the breakfast
session, attendees split off for the breakout educational sessions.
After a long day of educational programming, the Developing
Leaders hosted a reception before the big Reception in the Rockies, at
Union Station – one of Denver’s most popular venues. Later that
evening, the Washington State attendees were invited to meet up at
Guard and Grace for a chapter dinner.
The National Forums met
again on the final day of
the conference, and those
attendees who stayed
were able to go through
some of the group tours
offered earlier in the
week.
The morning breakout sessions were:
• Today’s Capital Markets – Senior Debt Panel
NAIOP’s Development
• CEO Insight: Office Market Outlook
’14 was a resounding success with great networking opportunities,
• Beyond the Border: Foreign Investment in U.S. Real Estate
educational programs, and a beautiful setting in the Rockies. Next
• The Weakest Link: Benefits of Understanding the Supply Chain
year’s conference will be held in Toronto.
• Avoiding the Hidden Cliff: Succession Planning for Sustainability & Success, and
• Second to None: The Role, Value, and Potential of Secondary Markets
PAGE 5
NAIOP Transforms Camp Waskowitz
By Michael Newbury, Sparling
Camp Waskowitz and Outdoor School in North Bend was
given a major make-over by the members of NAIOP on
October 4. NAIOP’s 2014 Community Enhancement
Event drew more than 320 volunteers who descended on
the 372-acre facility to undertake 20 much needed
improvement projects. Owned by the Highline School
District, but also used by many other schools and groups,
the site includes two large dorm/cabins, dining hall, barn,
council hall, education center, administration buildings
and other structures. In addition to the buildings, there
are miles of trails on either side of the Snoqualmie River.
Built in 1935 as part of the Depression-era Civilian
Conservation Corp. (CCC), many of the buildings and
grounds needed more attention than the limited school
district budget could provide. NAIOP brought together
the expertise of the real estate, construction and design
community to overcome those budget and personnel
constraints.
Headed by NAIOP’s Community Enhancement
Committee, projects included: re-staining the cabins,
council hall and lookout tower; relocating a large deck to
the other side of the council hall and replanting the
entrance; re-graveling and refurbishing benches and
picnic tables by the river-side amphitheater; repairing
trails and installing trail gates ; installing an ADA ramp
to the nurse/staff building; replacing a worn split-rail
fence; constructing a 150-sf green house to grow tree
seedlings; removing extensive non-native invasive plants;
and placing 200 tons of crushed rock on walkways and
parking lots.
“I truly feel as if Camp Waskowitz has won the lottery”,
said camp director Roberta McFarland. “Thanks to the
partnership and support by NAIOP, future students will
have a much better facility to enjoy for years to come.
What NAIOP accomplished in one day would have taken
us five years in a normal maintenance cycle. It was
amazing to watch it all happen. We are thrilled.”
The camp houses the Waskowitz Outdoor School, Carl
Jensen Environmental Education Center and the
Waskowitz Environmental Leadership School, is a state
and national historic preservation site, and one of only
two CCC camps in the U.S. with all of the original
buildings still standing. More than 350,000 students have
experienced this “school in the woods” over the years.
With enhancements made by NAIOP, future students will
have a better facility to enjoy for years to come.
Related links:
Enjoy the video of the event posted by the Highline
School District: http://vimeo.com/108545611
KOMO TV news story on the event: http://www.
komonews.com/home/related/Highline-Schools-CampCleanup-278429001.html?tab=video&c=y
PAGE 6
Upcoming Event: 2014 Night of the Stars Finalists
Won Moc, Sellen
Each year, NAIOP recognizes local real estate professionals, projects and companies for their impact on the Washington State
community at the highly anticipated Night of the Stars awards gala. At this dress-to-impress, black-tie evening affair, eighteen
awards are revealed to the winners and celebrated by attending NAIOP members and their guests. The following projects,
companies and individuals have been selected as the finalists of this year’s Night of the Stars Awards.
Developer of the Year
• AMLI Residential
• Panattoni Development
• Vulcan Real Estate
Deal of the Year
• Trulia Center (former 110 Atrium)—Market Leader
• 401 Terry Ave
• Bellefield Office Park—Edifecs Building
(former Magnolia Building)
• Second & Spring—MOZ
• Skyline Distribution Center (Former Washington
State Liquor Control Board Building)
Office Development of the Year
• Home Plate Center
• Interbay Work Lofts
• Stone34
Industrial Development of the Year
• Apollo Building
• Prologis Fife Distribution Center
• SGL Automotive Carbon Fibers, Phase 2
• Sumner Corporate Park--Wenatchee Building
• Titan Building
Mixed-use Development of the Year
• 325 Westlake
• Stack House and Supply Laundry Buildings
• Stadium Place
• Stone34
• Sunset Electric
• Urbana
Multi-Family Development of the Year
• Addison on Fourth Apartments
• Allez
• Stadium Place
• Sunset Electric
• The Martin
• True North
• Urbana
• Viktoria Tower
Retail Development of the Year
• Opus Bank Seattle Branch
• The Outlet Collection
• University Village
• Westlake Center Place and Interior Redevelopment
• Westlake Distillery
Redevelopment/Renovation of the Year
• 325 Westlake
• Addison on Fourth Apartments
• Greenwood Retail
• The Outlet Collection
• Westlake Center Plaza and Interior Redevelopment
Office Redevelopment/Renovation of the Year
• Bellefield Office Park
• Gateway One
• Microsoft Building 44 WPA
• Skyline Tower Public Space Repositioning
• Trulia Center Renovation
Community Impact of the Year
• Emerald City Commons
• Lifelong AIDS Alliance
• Northwest School
• Stone34
Commercial Interior of the Year
• FiftyThree, Inc.
• LMN Office Renovation
• Microsoft Building 44 WPA
• Schuchart Office
• Trulia/Market Leader Tenant Improvements
• Westland Distillery
PAGE 7
NEW MEMBERS
Joshua Alhadeff
DSB Investments
Matt McGregor
Colliers International
Jason Chen
University of Washington
Kent Mueller
Marcus & Millichap
Thomas Collins
Sustainable Site Development, LLC
Aegir Olsen
University of Washington
Lauren Coombs
PS Business Parks
Scott Rasmussen
University of Washington
Andrew Cox
Unico Properties, LLC
Lisa Rowe
Cushman & Wakefield
James Darling
Maul Foster & Alongi, Inc.
Andrew Rudzitis
University of Washington
Mike Epperly
BPCI
Shelley Ryan
Kidder Mathews
Fan Fan
University of Washington
Kara Schmidt
Callison
Aaron Fjelstad
Coughlin Porter Lundeen
Daniel Seger
JLL
Shanon Ford
University of Washington
Damian Sevilla
Colliers International
Laura Fox
Kidder Mathews
Micheal Shill
VECA Electric
Brooke Friedlander
LMN Architects
Kathleen Sirianni
Chicago Title Co.
Mia Guo
University of Washington
Matt Staublin
MulvannyG2 Architects
Ryan Healy
Lydig Construction
Michael Stringer
Maul, Foster & Alongi, Inc.
Lori Hill
Jones Lang LaSalle
Zac Strode
University of Washington
Blair Howe
Kidder Mathews
Julia Sun
Stanford University
Brett Jordan
Colliers International
Dustin Thorlakson
Freiheit & Ho Architects, Inc.
Molly Kemper
MulvannyG2 Architects
Devin Thorpe
Peterson Sullivan, LLP
Jenny Li
MulvannyG2 Architects
Matt Wheaton
Terracon Consultants, Inc.
Junjie Liao
University of Washington
Alexander Wilson
University of Washington
John Lo
JLL
Andy Wolverton
University of Washington
Brad Machat
University of Washington
Kasemsit Yimparsit
University of Washington
James MacIsaac
Petra, Inc.
Joe Malaspino
Kidder Mathews
PAGE
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PAGE9
Chapter Members in the News
Ben Swenson joins Americom
There is something special about a meeting room with
extraordinary Audio Visual capabilities that allow the
user to effortlessly plug-in, present and clearly
communicate a message. As final construction is
completed on new construction, tenant improvements
or a simple conference room remodel it is one of the
most exciting days for a team when they can finally
experience the new A/V equipment by testing it out for
the first time. From individual users to large company
meetings boasting full automation and a HD quality
experience, companies are excited to go virtual with
voice and video conferencing options.
Americom, Inc is based out of Eagan, Minnesota and has been in the industry for 20 years offering a full service A/V
package to accommodate any business’ needs. Recently, Americom opened its newest branch in Bellevue, Washington in
June 2014 but has been supporting some of the largest companies in the Seattle area for the last two years prior to the
new office opening by having a traveling team on call for the Northwest clientele.
Ben Swenson, a member of the MarCom Committee (and liaison to the Property Tour), is beginning a new venture as a
part of the Americom team developing business opportunities in the Greater Seattle Area. Ben is now in a role that
allows him to present the uniqueness of Americom to potential clients and create solutions for companies with A/V
needs. As Seattle is prospering and business expansion trends are on the rise, updating the A/V technology in the meeting
spaces has not made it to the priority list for many companies in the last six years. However, the use of handheld devices
and new connection types (i.e. iPad connections, Micro-HDMI) have sky-rocketed and can be found in every
workstation or jeans pocket in America. Many businesses are now seeking out support with design, installation and
ongoing support for the new technology that are being utilize to make the workplace more efficient.
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