2023 NAIOPWA Night of the Stars Finalists & First Winners Announced | Annual People’s Choice Award with Daily Voting Runs Sept 20 – Oct 6

SEATTLE – Announced at NAIOP Washington State’s September Breakfast, the slate of competitors for the association’s annual Night of the Stars Awards once again showcases the best commercial real estate development projects across the state completed in the past year. With the announcement, People's Choice voting begins online and runs through Weds., Oct. 6. 

Vote for People's Choice!

The 2023 legislative session drew to a close in April, marking the end of a session that has been billed by some as the ‘Year of Housing’ for Washington State. A remarkable 1,776 bills were introduced, and a staggering number of those bills pertained to housing, development, and commercial real estate.

NAIOP Washington State, a nonpartisan organization committed to creating a favorable political and regulatory environment for the commercial real estate industry, engaged deeply with lawmakers to advise on these bills and advocate for our industry. Lawmakers engaged NAIOPWA’s Government Affairs Committee leadership before session, requesting input on proposed bills and assistance in authoring bills, and continued to engage with NAIOPWA throughout the legislative session.

Ballots are now in the mail for the August 1st Primary Election, and to help NAIOP members support business-friendly candidates in key local races. Please see our Primary Election Voting Guide for voting insights. It recommends the top two most business-friendly candidates in important local races. 

On Monday, April 17, the legislature enters the final week of the 2023 legislative session.  Next week will focus on reconciliation of changes to bills from the opposite house.  The main priority will be passage of the two-year operating budget. To read more, click below. You must be logged in to your NAIOPWA member profile to access the full report. For more details about membership, email Danielle Duvall, [email protected].

Read the full report

The Washington State legislature is moving into the final two weeks of session.  Adjournment is scheduled on April 23. Full legislative reports are available exclusively to our NAIOPWA chapter members. To learn more about the benefits of membership, contact Danielle Duvall, [email protected].

Read the full report

The Washington State legislature has completed work in policy committees for this session. Fiscal committees meet over the weekend and have a deadline of Tuesday, April 4 to complete their work.  Other than bills that are part of the budget, committee consideration will end, and the focus for the remainder of the session will be floor consideration of the bills that remain.

Log in to your NAIOPWA member profile to access the complete report. To join, please reach out to Danielle Duvall, [email protected].

Read the full report

Today is day 75 of the 105-day legislative session.  Hearings in policy committees will be held Monday to Wednesday of next week, ending on March 29.  Fiscal committees will then meet until April 4.

Read the rest of the report, including exclusive bill tracking, using your NAIOPWA member profile. For more information about joining, email Danielle Duvall, [email protected].

Read the full report

The legislature is now focused on the policy committees considering bills from the opposite house.  The next deadline is March 29 when bills from the opposite house need to be passed from the policy committee.  Next week the focus will be on committee hearings, and you will see that reflected in the upcoming events section of the report.

On Monday at 2:00 the State Economic Forecast Council will release the final economic forecast that the biennial budget will be based upon.  The Senate is expected to make their budget public sometime next week, and on Friday the Senate Ways and Means committee will hold a marathon public hearing on the budget.

Join now to read the full report. For more information, contact Danielle Duvall, [email protected].

Click here to read the full report.

Wednesday, March 8 was the last day for bills to pass out of the House of origin, unless they are necessary to implement the budget.  You will see on the report that a number of bills did not survive the cut off and are now in the dead bill file. You may also see bills that appear to have not moved out of various committees that are still part of the active list.

To access the full report, log in to your NAIOPWA member profile. Now is a great time to join the association and get access to exclusive legislative updates like this one. For more information, contact Danielle Duvall, [email protected].

Click here to read the full report.

Today is day 54 of the 105 day legislative session.  We are past the halfway mark. The focus this week has been on floor action and the legislature has been working long hours to act on bills prior to the March 8 deadline for bills to pass out of the Houses of Origin. 

NAIOP Washington State members have full access to our state legislative reports. For more information about joining, please contact Danielle Duvall, [email protected]. 

Click here to read the full report.

Friday, February 17 is policy committee cutoff, meaning all bills need to be out of their policy committee or they will not advance.  The fiscal committees will meet next week and have until February 24 to act on bills. Today’s report still shows bills that may be voted on in today’s hearings.

To view NAIOP's bill tracking report and the full legislative update, log in to your NAIOPWA member profile by clicking below. 

Read the full report

For more information about becoming a member, contact Danielle Duvall, [email protected].

The last week of bills to be heard in policy committees is next week.  The focus next week will be considering amendments and voting bills out of committee. Bills with a fiscal impact will have until February 24 to be considered and voted on.  In the meantime, both the Senate and the House will start to spend more time on the floor debating and passing legislation to the other body.

Log in to your NAIOPWA member profile to see the status of the bills we are following and committee hearings next week.

Read the full report here

For more information about joining NAIOP and receiving exclusive legislative updates, contact Danielle Duvall, [email protected]. 

The week of February 6 is week five.  The focus will be on policy committee activity on hundreds of bills.  We have two weeks to go prior to the February 17 cut off. You can find next week’s hearings in the upcoming events section by logging in to your NAIOPWA member profile below.   Also, the bill status section of the bill tracking overview will illustrate where the bill is at in the process as of Friday, February 3.

I will provide a more detailed update of which priority bills have moved out of committee after February 17. 

Click here to read the full report

For more information about joining NAIOP and gaining access to exclusive legislative reports, contact Danielle Duvall, [email protected].

Week three was focused on committee hearings with hundreds of bills being considered by the various policy committees.  Next week will be the same.  You can review the new bill introductions as well as next week’s hearings using your member profile. For more information about becoming a member, contact Danielle Duvall, [email protected].

Click here to read the full report

NAIOP Washington State 2023 Legislative Report - Week 1

Greg Hanon, Communico

The 2023 session of the Washington State Legislature convened on January 9 for a 105-day legislative session. This is the first since 2020 to completely return to Olympia for both committee hearings as well as floor action.  One addition to the legislative process is the complete integration of hybrid legislative hearings allowing for both in person testimony as well as remote testimony allowing individuals who cannot make the trip to Olympia to participate in hearings from around the state.

Per tradition, the first few days were dedicated to the organization of the legislature, the swearing in of public officials, as well as a state of the state address from Governor Inslee in which he presented his priorities for the legislative session.  Governor Inslee outlined several policies including significant increases in spending on housing, homelessness, behavioral health, and education.  He also advanced policies on gun control and abortion rights.

The past year’s COVID shutdown and restrictions were especially hard on the restaurant and entertainment industries. Despite the tough times, there have been some positives that have come from the pandemic. There have been many new restaurants, bars and businesses that have opened up over the past year in Washington’s South Sound. To celebrate the innovation that has resulted from challenging circumstances, we are going to share a few uplifting success stories. Many of these places have creatively adapted their business models to government orders or designed a space that allows for optimal ventilation and spread-out seating to keep the public safe and remain compliant with COVID opening regulations.

Below are just a couple of the South Sound eateries that have opened up over the past year, highlighted and shared by our NAIOP South Sound Committee Members.

The University of British Columbia bested both Portland State University and the University of Washington to emerge as the victor of the 18^th Annual NAIOP Washington State Real Estate Challenge!

Teams evaluated the highest and best use for the Alexandria Real Estate-owned site at 1600 Eastlake, which sits at the center of Alexandria’s Eastlake biotech campus. As the site sponsor for the Challenge, Alexandria tasked students with creating a feasible development proposal that would enhance the surrounding biotech campus, enliven the neighborhood, and adhere to Alexandria’s commitment to sustainability.

We need housing near jobs, transit, and opportunity. The Housing Supply and Affordability Act (HSAA) creates a new Local Housing Policy Grant (LHPG) program administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The proposed program would provide grants to states, localities, tribes, and regional municipal and county coalitions to support local efforts to expand housing supply.

The HSAA complements legislation such as the bipartisan Yes in My Backyard (YIMBY) Act, which encourages local governments to eliminate exclusionary zoning and discriminatory land-use policies by providing the resources and capacity to enable entities to enact said policies.

With state and local energy codes marching unflinchingly towards a zero-carbon future, projects seeking to show deep sustainability commitments by going beyond energy code requirements are faced with fewer compelling design options. This may be especially true for large scale projects or multi-building developments, many of which have unique constraints on space and more limited system options. Efficiency focused electric district energy systems, or low-carbon energy districts, have been seeing more widespread adoption in the Pacific Northwest and can help fill this unique niche.

What are low-carbon energy districts?

Image courtesy of McKinstry

Low-carbon energy districts are communities of buildings connected via common energy infrastructure and systems, designed and operated together with a common goal of reducing carbon emissions and utility energy usage. They include many or all of the following attributes:

Bryce Taylor has been a fixture of the NAIOP community for over 30 years. He got involved in the early ‘90s to jumpstart his career, at the behest of Ted Sive with Lease Crutcher Lewis. Bryce says he “joined NAIOP and immediately got involved with the Community Enhancement Committee – and never regretted it.” Throughout decades of uncertainty and change, Bryce has remained connected to his colleagues through our association. “I have developed hundreds of great relationships through NAIOP.”

We interviewed Bryce about his involvement with NAIOP, the arc of his career, and the impact he’s had on the industry and community.