SEATTLE – In a reflection of Seattle and the Puget Sound region’s strong commercial real estate activity, NAIOP Washington State recently became the fourth-largest chapter of NAIOP, the commercial real estate association.

NAIOP Washington State is committed to members’ professional success and to an overall, long-term positive environment for business and development in the region.

Be humble and always be flexible.

Anyone who knows Douglas Howe knows that his charismatic personality, dedication to his craft and keen business sense have made his success what it is today. His passion to develop buildings that make a positive impact on the built environment, his humility and the ardent viewpoint that he’s a student of his field even after forty years are also hallmarks of his tenure—one that’s made a significant difference to the Seattle urban core and the Puget Sound region.

NAIOP Washington State will honor and induct Douglas Howe, founder and former CEO of Touchstone, into its Hall of Fame at the 2017 Night of the Stars awards. The Hall of Fame was created to recognize the people who laid the groundwork for the industry today and have helped shape the character of the region and the great cities in Washington. Under Douglas’ leadership, Touchstone has broken ground on 12 projects comprising nearly three million square feet and is currently developing two million square feet of real estate.

NAIOP WA Announces New App Featuring CRE’s Industry Best with 2017 Night of the Stars Finalists & Hall of Fame Inductee Douglas Howe

New for 2017: People’s Choice Award with Daily Voting Online | Douglas Howe to be honored as 2017 Hall of Fame inductee in recognition of his contributions to the built environment of Seattle and the Puget Sound and to NAIOP

The 2017 session of the Washington State Legislature is now in its second 30-day special session in order to find agreement on the level and sources of funding for the McCleary decision to fully fund K-12 education. The legislature is expected to reach agreement by the end of the special session on June 21, or by June 30, the final day of the current biennium.

The Washington Supreme Court ruled in McCleary that school districts’ reliance on local levies, and the ability of local communities to pay for those levies, varied dramatically around the state and resulted in inequitable funding of K-12 education. The legislature’s challenge has been to equitably fund education statewide.

This was a tough one! We have participated in and to a large extent driven the tremendous real estate expansion in Seattle and that’s a good thing! However, there can be unintended consequences and in our May Breakfast we explored one of those consequences: Homelessness. The Breakfast was sponsored by Lake Union Partners, Runberg Architecture Group, and Rushing. We sincerely thank them for their continued support.

President Kristin Jensen related information about the annual NAIOP Washington State PAC fundraiser on June 28. She also welcomed our new members. We heard about the Summer Social on August 14 at The Golf Club at Newcastle and received a presentation on the 2017 Real Estate Challenge, which was held in British Columbia.

Richard Kendall, General Manager, Allison+Partners moderated our panel which included:

In a very highly attended event, the annual Broker’s Forecast was presented to our Breakfast attendees on April 26. The breakfast was sponsored by Rushing, LBA Realty, O’Keefe Development and Sellen Construction - we sincerely thank them for their continued support. President Kristin Jensen began the meeting and gave the assembly an update on new members and introduced Kris Beason who gave some background on Sellen. John Swanson from Umpqua Bank also made a short presentation. We heard about the Community Enhancement Project which will be on September 30 at Farmer Frog in Woodinville.

Rob Swartz, Senior VP of Kilroy Realty, moderated our panel and introduced our esteemed panelists:

Report: Commercial Real Estate in Washington State Supported 43,130 Jobs and $6.3 Billion of GDP in 2016

SEATTLE – In late February, the NAIOP Research Foundation released the NAIOP Economic Impacts of Commercial Real Estate report (2017 Edition). The report is conducted for purposes of estimating the annual economic contribution of commercial real estate development to the U.S. economy. 

National highlights from the 2017 report include:

• Commercial real estate development supported 6.3* million American jobs in 2016 (a measure of both new and existing jobs).
• Commercial real estate development contributed $465 billion to the GDP* in 2016.
• There were 410.1 million square feet of commercial real estate space built in 2016, with capacity to house 1.1 million new workers.

Locally, 2016 economic impacts in Washington State included: 

This is why NAIOP works.

This morning in Washington, D.C., NAIOP Corporate named Washington State the 2017 Chapter of the Year, recognizing the overall strength of our local organization. The annual merit awards program evaluates chapter education, government affairs involvement, member recruitment and retention, communications, and chapter management. 

2015 NAIOP Washington State Night of the Stars Honors Local Real Estate Projects, Companies and Leaders

Finalists and Hall of Fame Honoree Announced for 2015 NAIOP Washington State Night of the Stars, Honoring Local Real Estate Projects and Companies