Puget Sound Business Journal articles from March 2001

Puget Sound Business Journal archives from March 2001

REGIONAL STOCKS.(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... REGIONAL STOCKS Percent Closing price 52-week range change 3/20 3/13 High Low Best performers Flow Int'l 12.5% 11.81 10.50...

BRIEFCASE.(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... * ACCOUNTING The Tacoma office of Knight Vale & Gregory has added the following: Jerry Hammond, state and local tax consultant; Tamsyn Earsley, tax staff; Rebecca Bruce, Barry Ray, Paxton Henry and Julie Vanderslice, audit and accounting...

Hersman Series.(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... Hersman Series, with offices in Kirkland, Seattle and Everett, has joined the BDO Seidman Alliance, a nationwide association of independent accounting and consulting firms.

Mediapassage.(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... Mediapassage, a provider of e-commerce services for ad media transactions, has merged with OneMediaPlace, an online service specializing in front-end planning and purchasing for media channels. The company will keep the name Mediapassage and...

Newhall Jones & Stackman.(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... Greg Newhall and Gary Jones, longtime Eastside home builders, have formed a construction and land development company in partnership with John Stackman, whose background is in custom home building. Newhall Jones & Stackman will be based in...

Boeing move's impact on real estate uncertain.(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... The Boeing Co.'s headquarters building on East Marginal Way South, which houses most of the 1,000 employees affected by the company's planned move is 435,000 square feet -- less than one-third the size of the 76-story Bank of America Tower in...

Another earthquake.(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... Boeing news shocks region There is perhaps no other instance in the country in which a city and a company have been so synonymous as Seattle and Boeing. Thus the manner in which Boeing announced this week that it was moving its...

B'vue COC wants action on traffic.(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... As traffic congestion threatens the Eastside's economic vitality and quality of life, the Bellevue Chamber of Commerce is hard at work on two fronts. It has joined other Eastside chambers of commerce in lobbying state legislators to act...

Reich: New Economy is making us old fast.(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... For the past decade, Robert Reich has been a notable player in national economic policy. Reich served in the Ford and Carter administrations and was secretary of labor during Clinton's first term. He visited Seattle recently as speaker at the...

LETTERS.(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... Freei facts Perhaps the fact that reporter Jeff Meisner had to dive under his desk to escape the earthquake during his interview of me caused him to become confused regarding the facts surrounding the demise of Freei Networks Inc. (March...

Don't go overboard when fund managers jump ship.(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... More and more fund managers are jumping ship. During the past year alone, 200 have left 70 different fund families. Some depart for lucrative job offers elsewhere. But others are pushed overboard by fund companies that have become...

SHOPPING CENTERS.(Directory)
March 23, 2001... SHOPPING CENTERS The largest in the Puget Sound area. Ranked by leasable square feet. Shopping center Address Phone Gross leasable area Rank Web site ...

Banks vie to enter real estate brokerage business.(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... Comment period on proposal extended to May 1 as agents flood feds with protests A proposal that would let banks enter the real estate business is so preposterous to real estate executive Lennox Scott that he simply refuses to believe the...

Contractors enlisting on-site medical care for workers.(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... Baugh Construction has added another regular if not slightly unusual -- subcontractor to its major construction projects. The 55-year-old Seattle company has taken steps to make its construction sites safer by teaming with Virginia...

Cushman vies for slice of shrinking multifamily pie.(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... New York-based real estate brokerage Cushman & Wakefield wants to expand its presence in the multifamily real estate market, both locally and nationally. Cushman officials hope to broaden the company's network of 21 veteran, brokers in...

Lenders cautious to deliver dough for office projects.(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... Demand remains strong for lending dollars, but builders shift development strategies Local real estate financiers aren't seeing a slowdown in the number of projects looking for funding, but the tone of those projects has taken a far more...

Rents rise for Spokane's downtown office market.(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... New office-vacancy survey shows premium core space is becoming harder to find Lease rates for premium downtown office space are rising to new heights in Spokane, as increased demand for floor space -- and a dearth of new inventory in the...

Developers bargain for height in Denny Triangle.(height restriction eased in exchange for new housing, open space)
March 23, 2001... Rarely do environmentalists and developers agree on anything. But King County's Transfer of Development Credits (TDC) program is something both groups embrace -- at least on paper. The pilot program lets developers defy height...

EASTSIDE SHOPPING CENTERS.
March 23, 2001... EASTSIDE SHOPPING CENTERS The largest on the Eastside. Ranked by leasable square feet. Shopping center Address Rank Phone ...

Swap offers 'best solution' for Tarragon, YWCA.(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... An accord between Tarragon Development Co. of Seattle and the YWCA of Seattle, King County and Snohomish County has created an unusual connection between their separate development projects. After individually pursuing pieces of the same...

Portland leads cities with green buildings act.(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... Portland City Council has approved a resolution to incorporate "green" building principles into all city facilities. Even more far-reaching is the resolution's aim to engage Portland's private developers--those who truly shape the cityscape....

New York company goes on Northwest buying binge.(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... A New York City-based investment company has plunked down $100 million for 12 Portland and Puget Sound-area buildings. Felton Management Corp. bought the entire portfolio of Asa Properties Inc., the Hawaiian company that owned more than 1...

Health-care organizations vie to build new hospital.(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... Legacy Health System has spilled the beans on its $170 million secret: It plans to build a 200-bed hospital north of Vancouver, Wash. Legacy last week laid out its plans in an application to Washington state for a certificate of need. The...

Proper vetting gives clear picture of deal to financiers.
March 23, 2001... Anyone who has ever been involved in financing a real estate-related transaction, be it as a lender or borrower, has probably come to realize the complexities involved in judging a property's ability to generate income. But as parties of...

Holistic planning approach creates sense of place.
March 23, 2001... At its best, master-planning is about "place-making." At its worst, it's merely a fulfillment of zoning requirements. As urban redevelopment becomes more prevalent in areas such as South Lake Union, the Sodo market and the central...

Preleasing new space offers tenants options, flexibility.(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... Imagine you are the president of an Eastside company that currently occupies 40,000 square feet of office space. Unlike the 27-year-old dot-commer down the hall you have been in business for years. You have a good team of people that you care...

Economy presents small speed bump for local construction.(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... While a potentially declining economy has drawn a lot of attention in the last year, and certainly some sectors have been hit hard, the Northwest market is in pretty good shape. Even with layoffs in high technology, our region has generated...

Small biz optimism on the rise.(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... Despite news of falling stocks and talks of an impending energy crisis, prospects for small business found a way to rebound last month, according to Small Business Economic Trends, a monthly survey of small business owners from the National...

SOAKING THE MARKET.(Country Save aims for larger market)
March 23, 2001... Country Save gears up to compete against detergent giants Tide, Cheer Kris Anderson wants his company's detergent to appeal to more than just the environmentally conscious. His business, Country Save -- an Everett-based laundry...

Hacker insurance can protect your digital assets.(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... No matter what the pundits may claim, the Internet is not going away. Opportunities to use the Internet to help grow your business continue to abound. A word of warning, though, these new business opportunities do come with their own set of...

Interest on business checking may be OK'd.(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... Small businesses and community banks hope to persuade Congress to repeal a Depression-era law that prohibits banks from paying interest on business checking accounts. Legislation to remove the prohibition passed the House last year, but...

Palo Alto bank will buy Bellevue lender.(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... Capco Financial Co. Inc., a lending company based in Bellevue, is being acquired by Greater Bay Bancorp of Palo Alto, Calif. for $8.5 million in cash and stock. Greater Bay said Capco brings it about $28 million in commitments and $2.8...

Estate tax dilemma: quick exemption or later repeal.(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... Around 200 small business owners, recruited by their trade associations and Washington lobbyists, crowded into the East Room of the White House March 16 to hear President Bush make the case for tax cuts. They applauded when the president...

SafariDog hunts users for multimedia browser tool.(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... A young company called SafariDog Inc. hopes to move the Internet one step closer to the world of television, and radio with software that makes streaming media much more user-friendly. The Seattle company, launched by former engineers and...

Ten Mercer scores with hearty and tasty fare.(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... The innocuous name of the new restaurant on Queen Anne Hill, Ten Mercer, and the equal billing of Dinner and Drinks on. its sign were not promising. The fact that it was located where a very good restaurant named Credenzia's Oven recently...

West's No. 2 utility builds and retrenches.(PacifiCorp)
March 23, 2001... Portland's PacifiCorp, hammered by wholesale prices, sees a turnaround down the line Obligated by contracts to supply more electricity than it was able to generate last year, PacifiCorp lost tens of millions of dollars in wholesale...

Historic group helps with quake damage.(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... Historic Seattle, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving Seattle architecture, will help property owners assess structural damage caused by the Feb. 28 Nisqually earthquake. The group allocated $200,000 from its "Save the...

Intracorp project vies for top award.(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... Seattle-based lntracorp has earned the Building Owners and Managers Association's local office building of the year award and will now compete on the national level. Intracorp won The Office Building of the Year -- or TOBY Award -- for...

INDUSTRIAL-STRENGTH RESOLVE.(Redevelopment at Seattle, Washington's Interbay area)
March 23, 2001... A redevelopment wave pounds Interbay's industrial core, but longtime businesses there vow to stay Developers have begun to target Seattle's Interbay area for a prospective wave of new projects, promising dramatic change and stirring...

Technology fallout sends Q1 vacancy rates soaring.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 23, 2001... As the first quarter of 2001 draws to a close, brokers and analysts are calling the swing in vacancy rates nothing less than a wild ride. In downtown Seattle and the North End, overall vacancy rates nearly doubled from those of the...

GMS, Regency nudge into regional retail market.
March 23, 2001... If you can't build it, buy it. That's the secret two shopping center development companies -- Regency Centers Corp. and GMS Realty LLC -- are using to gain entry into the restrictive but coveted Puget Sound retail market. Retail...

Conference brings top deal makers to region.
March 23, 2001... Northwest property owners and managers are spit-shining their buildings and polishing their presentations as they prepare for more than 500 of the world's corporate real estate executives to descend upon Seattle. The decision makers will...

EvergreenBank.(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... EvergreenBank in Seattle is forming a holding company, Evergreen Bancorp Inc. "A bank holding company will provide added flexibility in dealing with the many recent and anticipated changes in the banking industry, in our bank's...

Pacifica Bank.(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... Pacifica Bank, in Bellevue, has created Pacifica Mortgage Co., a subsidiary that will specialize in financing residential real estate loans. The mortgage company is starting operations with four loan officers -- Gene Halsey, Trudy...

Eastside Commercial Bank.(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... Bellevue's newest bank, Eastside Commercial Bank, recently cleared the final regulatory to opening its doors, having been approved for deposit insurance by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. The bank also received approval from the...

HomeStreet Bank.(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... HomeStreet Bank in Seattle has added free checking, an indexed money market account, and earthquake insurance to its product menu. With $1.3 billion in assets, HomeStreet Bank, through its 30 branches across four states, offers financial...

McCaw Foundation gives $2 million for tech center tied to Grameen Bank.(Craig and Susan McCaw Foundation)(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... The Craig and Susan McCaw Foundation has donated $2 million to the Grameen Foundation USA to establish a center that will fight poverty in developing countries through the use of technology. Called the Grameen Technology Center, it will...

As economy swoons, interest in MBAs grows.(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... In the midst of this year's downturn in the economy, the University of Washington Business School has seen applications rise in recent weeks for its full-time Master's of Business Administration program. In February -- one month before...

Retail skills center opens at Westlake Center.(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... Seattle Community Colleges has opened the RetailSkills Center at Westlake Center for students interested in pursuing careers in the retail, financial services and hospitality industries. The 2,300-square-foot center -- located in a...

For international students, business and ESL combined.(English as a second language instruction )(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... University of Washington Educational Outreach is offering a new program combining international business skills classes and English as a second language instruction starting Mar. 26. The 10-week certificate program -- called Business for...

Lynnwood branch of CWU offers accounting degree.(Central Washington University)(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... Central Washington University's business school is offering a new one-year program in professional accountancy at its Lynnwood branch beginning in fall 2001. The program has been added to meet new requirements from the Washington State...

Pacific Northwest Bancorp.(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... Ragen MacKenzie analyst Jay Tejera issued a Feb. 27 report on Seattle-based Pacific Northwest Bancorp, raising his rating on the bank's stock from "market perform" to "buy." Tejera said his recommendation is based on the bank's...

Local impact of Equity-Spieker deal still unclear.(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... A month after Equity Office Properties Trust announced plans to acquire Spieker Properties Inc., questions about the possible impact of the deal remain. To name a few: What will happen to Spieker's proposed Bellevue office tower? Where...

Merchants on the block.(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... It's a rare opportunity to own one of Seattle's oldest businesses: The Pioneer Square building that houses Merchants Cafe will be put up for sale in a package that also includes the restaurant. Brian Scott, who has owned the restaurant...

Shake, rattle and wait.
March 23, 2001... The Feb. 28 earthquake rattled more than the region's buildings. At least one large real estate deal was delayed, albeit only slightly, by the big quake. The sale of Sammamish Park Place, a two-building complex occupied by Microsoft...

Sabey Corp.
March 23, 2001... The Washington state chapter of the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors announced its annual awards last week. The winners: Opus Northwest LLC, Office Development of the Year for Opus Center @ Union Station; Sabey Corp., Industrial...

Kidder Mathews & Segner.(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... Kidder Mathews & Segner observes in the preface to its recent Seattle-area office forecast that, while many office buildings under construction are substantially preleased, demand has slowed for "shadow space" -- the square footage expected...

Colliers Retail Index.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 23, 2001... The latest Colliers Retail Index for the Puget Sound region shows an increase of less than 1 percentage point in overall vacancy, from 4.47 percent in Spring 2000 to 5.36 percent in Fall 2000. The index, calculated by Colliers International,...

Volatile market leaves funding deals in limbo.(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... When Bothell-based biotechnology company Seattle Genetics Inc. filed for an initial public offering in November, it was hoping to raise up to $75 million. By the time the road show was over, underwriters for the company, which included...

Bills, bills, bills.(Government Activity)(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... About four-dozen bills of significance to the business community are still alive in the state Legislature after the March 14 deadline for passing legislation out its house of origin. Bills that are still alive, and bear watching, include: ...

State sues R.J. Reynolds over auto-racing ads.(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... Washington state filed suit this week against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. to force compliance with the 1998 National Tobacco Settlement, according to Attorney General Christine Gregoire's office. The suit, filed in King County Superior...

Quake speeds historic building's 'deconstruction'.(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... The Feb. 28 Nisqually Earthquake speeded up the demise of a historic -- and decrepit -- building on the downtown Tacoma waterfront. The 6.8-magnitude temblor shook loose bricks and opened large cracks on the end walls of the old Municipal...

Big banks rearranging business-loan teams.(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... Three large banks with Washington operations are making changes in how they serve their business borrowers. Wells Fargo is putting a renewed emphasis on business customers with sales between $2 million and $20 million by concentrating the...

ReFlex hunts for options.(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... ReFlex Communications Inc. slashed its staff to the bone this week in a move to conserve cash as the high-speed Internet provider tries to cement a round of funding. "At this point we're still out seeking funding and other opportunities,...

Kitsap County may give Bremerton a boost.(Government Activity)(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... In Kitsap County, some civic leaders see another role for buildings that house government employees -- as a tool for downtown revitalization. Kitsap County commissioners and the city of Bremerton are considering whether to build a...

Chamber targets legal fees awarded in tobacco cases.(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... The U.S. Chamber of Commerce filed Freedom of Information Act requests in 21 states for all documents related to the hiring of outside counsel in their lawsuits against tobacco companies. The chamber fears attorneys will use the $11...

House passes bill to ease paperwork requirements.(Government Activity)(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... The House unanimously passed legislation aimed at reducing paperwork requirements for small businesses. The bill calls for the Office of Management and Budget to publish an annual list of all the federal paperwork requirements that small...

Seattle Genetics joins ranks of 'broken IPOs'.(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... Six trading days after Seattle Genetics Inc. completed the state's first initial public offering of 2000, its shares dropped below their offering price for the first time. The Bothell-based biotechnology company's shares fell 8.6 percent...

Shurgard Europe increases credit line for expansion.(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... Shurgard Storage Centers Inc. of Seattle has increased the credit line available to its Belgium-based European operation to about $193.5 million, the company said Friday. The credit facility, which had been about $126 million, is led by...

Boeing employees help overseas quake relief effort.(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... Employees of the Seattle-based Boeing Co. gave $154,000 to earthquake relief organizations in India and E1 Salvador, the company said Friday. Boeing matched its employees' contribution with $251,600. The Seattle area had its own...

InterNap creates holding company for 'flexibility'.(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... InterNap Network Services Corp. is asking shareholders' approval for a plan to reorganize under a holding-company structure to allow more flexibility in future financings, acquisitions and diversification moves. The Seattle-based...

AVT fires 70 in restructuring move.(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... AVT Corp. of Kirkland, a supplier of unified communications and mobile business solutions, said it is laying off 70 employees as it shifts direction to focus on newer products. The layoffs affect 14 percent of the company's worldwide work...

Schnitzer buys Sammamish business park for $39.45M.(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... Schnitzer Northwest LLC completed its purchase of the two-building Sammamish Park Place office complex in Issaquah from Bentall U.S. LLC for $39.45 million, King County property records show. For Kirkland-based Schnitzer Northwest, the...

Global asset manager buys control of Bellevue firm.(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... State Street Global Alliance LLC has taken a majority stake in Bellevue-based Residential Capital Management LLC, a recently formed asset management firm. State Street is a Boston-based company jointly owned by State Street Global Advisors,...

Penford posts quarterly loss.(International Pages)(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... Penford Corp.'s newly acquired Australia unit was a bright spot in an otherwise dismal second-quarter earnings report. The Bellevue-based industrial starch maker said Penford Australia, which it acquired as Starch Australasia Ltd. from...

San Jose's Metricom cuts work force by 22 percent.(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... Paul Allen's strategy to salvage his $300 million investment in San Jose, Calif.-based Metricom Inc. became a little clearer Thursday when the company announced it will cut 179 employees from its 800-member nationwide staff. Allen...

SonoSite receives Japan's OK to market device.(Government Activity)(International Pages)(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... Bothell-based SonoSite Inc. has received approval from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare to market its high-frequency imaging version of the SonoSite 180 hand-carried ultrasound system in Japan. SonoSite said it will proceed...

Terabeam prepares service launch in Denver markets.(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... Terabeam Networks Inc. plans to begir offering its fiberless optics telecommunications service in Denver, its second city, starting this summer. The Kirkland company launched commercial service in Seattle at the beginning of this year,...

Itron's devices tap into concern over energy.(maker of wireless, automated meter reading equipment for utility companies)(Brief Article)(Company Profile)
March 23, 2001... Itron Inc. doesn't generate electricity, but the Spokane company's stock has surged from $3 to around $9 since the rolling blackouts in California began in January. The rapid rise is in part because the maker of wireless, automated meter...

Employees added to health insurance tax credit bill.(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... Supporters of refundable tax credits for the purchase of health insurance say the legislation could reduce the number of uninsured Americans by up to 17 million people. Under the bill, individuals and families who do not have access to...

Avista delays fuel-cell IPO.(initial public offering for its Avista Labs fuel cell affiliate)(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... Avista Corp. of Spokane said it has delayed a planned initial public offering for its Avista Labs fuel cell affiliate because of poor market conditions. Though it had not yet publicly announced the move, Avista was prepared to file for...

Starbucks sets stock split.(Starbucks Coffee Co. said it will split its shares 2-for-1)(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... Seattle-based Starbucks Coffee Co. said it will split its shares 2-for-1 effective April 27 for shareholders of record as of March 30. This is the coffee chain's fourth 2-for-1 split since it went public in 1992, the company said.

Japanese economy concerns exporters.(in Washington state)(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... Unease is sweeping through Washington's Japan-focused export community, as exporters here try to gauge how Japan's staggering economy will impact them. In the close interdependence of the transpacific economy, Japan is a kingpin as the...

Market's downturn is slow to affect retailers.(Seattle area retailers still doing well despite stock market falls)(Brief Article)
March 23, 2001... When the markets cause stress, the stressed get massages. At least that's been the recent experience of Colleen Stone as the stock market has spiraled downward. Stone owns the three-location day spa InSpa, which has locations in University...