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Media Contact: Sarah Warnberg, [email protected]

SEATTLE – Presented on Friday night at the NAIOPWA 2023 Night of the Stars Gala, the awards honored an impressive slate of commercial real estate projects that serve the community with innovations in retail, office, industrial and multi-family development.

The projects, and the developers who engaged them, demonstrate the flexibility and ingenuity of the CRE community. Additionally, NAIOPWA’s 2023 Night of the Stars finalists highlight important strides made in sustainable development, unique historical renovation, and a continued commitment to world-class development in the Greater Puget Sound area. 

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!

NAIOP Washington State is excited to partner with the Low Income Housing Institute (LIHI) and Onni Group for the 2023 Real Estate Challenge.

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.

Washington is the #9 state in the U.S. for contributions to state GDP created by office real estate development. Overall, construction and development of office, industrial, warehouse and retail created and supported 54,983 related jobs and contributing $8.9 billion to the state’s economy in 2020 (the most recent data available).

The data is from “Economic Impacts of Commercial Real Estate, 2021 U.S. Edition,” published annually by the NAIOP Research Foundation. 

NAIOPWA’s Real Estate Challenge Committee is proud to announce the 2021 Site Sponsor, Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc! The Real Estate Challenge is a development case competition in which students at three regional universities take on the role of developer. Each year, students focus on a different site and craft creative, innovative development proposals. Teams present their proposals to a panel of notable developers and investors, who adjudicate the winner of the Challenge and recipient of the coveted Bob Filley Cup.

Update & Summary for August 3, 2020: 
The WA Dept. of Ecology's new Expedited VCP, launched on July 1, 2020, is a self-sustaining process with dedicated staff to respond quickly to the needs of developers working under compressed schedules. The time to get through the expedited VCP could be as short as 4 months compared to 18 months (or more) under the regular VCP. The new program also allows moving sites in the regular VCP to the Expedited VCP as long as certain requirements are met.

NAIOP, along with AGC, requested clarification on Governor Inslee's recent “Stay Home, Stay Safe” executive order as it relates to construction activities. The newly released Construction Guidance Memo is online.

PSU Edges Out UW and UBC for NAIOP Real Estate Challenge Victory

Portland State University won NAIOP Washington’s Real Estate Challenge for the second year in a row, besting both University of British Columbia and University of Washington with a mixed-use multifamily and retail project that featured, among other things, cross laminated timber (CLT). The innovative PSU proposal named The Lighthouse, “pays homage to the history of the Pacific Northwest’s timber industry,” and seeks to cater to the tech innovation playing out in Bellevue.

NAIOP Washington State Honored as 2020 Chapter of the Year

Repeat Achievement Signals Continued Strength of Organization

SEATTLE – NAIOP Corporate has honored NAIOP Washington State as Chapter of the Year for its 2019 performance, recognizing the chapter’s advocacy efforts, exceptional diversity and inclusion efforts, member engagement, and organizational growth. NAIOP’s annual merit awards program evaluates chapters on a national basis by chapter size for their education, government affairs involvement, member recruitment and retention, communications, and chapter management. 

“NAIOP Washington State is consistently among our best-performing chapters,” said Thomas J. Bisacquino, NAIOP president and CEO. “This year, it was our honor to recognize them as Chapter of the Year for their significant lobbying efforts, their strong membership recruitment and retention strategies, and their successful education and networking events that raise the profile of NAIOP and commercial real estate in the greater Seattle market. Congratulations to the chapter and its leaders for their commitment to and enthusiasm for our industry and association.”

Night of the Stars 2018 Winners Include The Spheres, Sanctuary Seattle, Arbora Court and the BLOCK Project

Ada M. Healey inducted to the NAIOP Washington State Hall of Fame inductee in recognition of her contributions to the built environment of Seattle and the Puget Sound 

People’s Choice Award goes to Maritime Building Seismic Upgrade and Renovation

NAIOP WA Announces New App Featuring CRE’s Industry Best with 2018 Night of the Stars Finalists & First Winner

Second Annual People’s Choice Award with Daily Voting Online September 19 - October 12

On July 11, NAIOPWA held our monthly breakfast meeting at the Georgetown Ballroom to learn about the future of urban industrial and take a field trip to the nearby Prologis Georgetown Crossroads, the first multi-level distribution center of its type.

President Tony Toppenberg kicked off the meeting by thanking our breakfast sponsor, Sierra Construction, and our stellar group of annual sponsors. We sincerely thank them for their involvement.

SEATTLE – The NAIOP Research Foundation has released the NAIOP Economic Impacts of Commercial Real Estate report (2018 Edition). The report is conducted for purposes of estimating the annual economic contribution of commercial real estate development to the U.S. economy.

Development and construction of new commercial real estate in the United States – office, industrial, warehouse and retail – generates significant economic growth at the state and national levels. This annual study, “The Economic Impacts of Commercial Real Estate,” published by the NAIOP Research Foundation, measures the contribution to GDP, salaries and wages generated and jobs supported from the development and operations of commercial real estate.

NAIOP Washington State Wins Three National Chapter Merit Awards Honoring Leadership in Government Affairs, Member Growth and Executive Leadership

SEATTLE – At the 2018 NAIOP Chapter Leadership and Legislative Retreat on February 6, NAIOP Corporate honored NAIOP Washington State with three Chapter Merit Awards, the most awarded to any single large chapter this year. NAIOP’s annual merit awards program evaluates chapter education, government affairs involvement, member recruitment and retention, communications, and chapter management. NAIOP Washington State won recognition for its Legislative/Government Affairs efforts; for membership growth, with the greatest number of new members in 2017; and for leadership, with Executive of the Year going to NAIOPWA Executive Director Peggi Lewis Fu. 

In 2017, NAIOPWA, led by its Government Affairs Committee, made significant impacts on state and local legislation affecting the business environment and commercial real estate; helped elect business-friendly leaders, including Mayor Jenny Durkan; and expanded outreach beyond Seattle with its first eastside mayors and elected officials event, and plans to broaden into Snohomish county as well. 

NAIOP WA's Real Estate Challenge is an annual contest matching teams from real estate programs at Portland State University, the University of British Columbia and the University of Washington in a competition that focuses on a development/redevelopment project in the Puget Sound area. Teams are tasked with forming a proposed investment strategy based on the site sponsor’s needs.

NAIOP WA is pleased to announce the City of Tacoma as the site sponsor for this year’s Real Estate Challenge. The 0.56 acre property, located at 728 Market Street in downtown Tacoma, is zoned Downtown Commercial Core, providing teams with an opportunity to evaluate market-rate urban development consistent with Tacoma’s urban design guidelines.

Night of the Stars 2017 Winners Include Weyerhaeuser Headquarters, UW’s Global Innovation Exchange, Expedia’s 645 Elliot and the Marion West

Inaugural People’s Choice Award voted by the CRE community goes to Atlas Workbase

Douglas Howe is honored as 2017 Hall of Fame inductee in recognition of his contributions to the built environment of Seattle and the Puget Sound 

Visit the Night of the Stars 2017 gallery.

SEATTLE – Announced on Friday, November 3, at the annual gala, NAIOP Washington State’s 2017 Night of the Stars Awards highlight the Northwest’s highly competitive development environment. Seattle tops national crane counts and available land is scarce; tenants require sustainability, from salmon-safe buildings to indoor forests, and the community requires accommodations for increased housing and growing industry. The winners represent how the development community continues to find creative, sustainable solutions to fit the needs of the growing and maturing Puget Sound market.

Each year, NAIOP’s Night of the Stars identifies outstanding real estate developments and activities in a variety of market types and the individuals who conceived of, took risks, sponsored, supported and made the projects happen. The awards aim to honor entire teams, including all who contributed to the project’s success in this annual celebration of the industry. Projects are evaluated for impact on the community, market adaptability, ingenuity and local contributions. All nominations and winners are viewable via the new NAIOP WA app, which is designed to transform how the Northwest commercial real estate community networks.

In addition to nominated projects, each year, an individual who has made outstanding contributions to the industry is selected for induction into the NAIOP Washington State Hall of Fame. This year, Douglas Howe joins the ranks of the vaunted for his contributions to Seattle and the Northwest’s built environment, as well as to the NAIOP organization. As founder and Chief Executive Officer of Touchstone, Douglas built a reputation developing commercial office, biotechnology R & D, retail and hotel properties that make a positive impact on the built environment—whether restoring historical landmark structures or constructing award winning, architecturally distinctive new buildings. Currently, Douglas is Governor of the NAIOP Research Foundation; he served as Chairman of NAIOP in 2009 and as President of NAIOP Washington State in 2004. Read more about Douglas Howe.

Visit the Night of the Stars 2017 gallery.

Lanzi Li is Associate Project Manager with Heartland, a small, Seattle-based commercial real estate advisory firm that has been around for 30 years. Heartland’s portfolio of advisory projects encompasses the full range of economic sectors, real estate product types, geographies and client types. Despite the variety of contexts, we are advisors first and work with our clients from strategy development to analytics and on through implementation.

As NAIOP WA's 900th member, Lanzi received this opportunity to be featured on the NAIOP WA blog and in our newsletter, as well as a season pass to our 2018 breakfast meetings. Who will be our 1,000th member? Join today for your chance to be featured and receive a special event registration bonus.