Kent Station, downtown Kent’s urban shopping center, has announced two new tenants will soon join the mix of restaurants, office users and retailers at the development across from the King County Regional Justice Center.

With the completion of a new four-story office and retail structure at Kent Station, the first tenants are starting to move in. Those tenants are led by Green River Community College with 43,000 square feet of classroom space to augment the college’s existing Kent Station classrooms.

New tenants for the structure include the Social Security Administration, which is leasing 14,200 square feet on the

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Orders for commercial aircraft may be in the tank at Boeing this year, but the Navy has come through with a new order this week that should help sustain employment at Boeing’s Renton plant.

The Navy this week added nine aircraft to its previous order for 114 P-8A naval patrol planes.

The sub hunting aircraft is made in Renton on a new assembly line adjacent to the existing 737 assembly line.

The P-8A Poseidon is a militarized version of the twin jet 737 equipped with sensors to detect submarines and with weaponry to kill them.

The

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More than 1,000 job seekers, resumes in hand, went job hunting Wednesday at the Tacoma Dome Exhibition Hall.

The occasion was the Northwest Job Expo in its 8th annual version.

Those hiring ranged from DaVita Inc. to Emerald Queen Casino. Organizers said the number of exhibitors this year was less than half of the 70 that attended last year’s expo. Missing were government agencies which had neither the budget to open a booth nor jobs to offer.

For Starbucks’ fans, here’s a bit of good news to counter the bad that has befallen the Seattle-based coffee retailer recently.

Starbucks’ Pike Place Blend coffee recently won unanimous praise from a panel of “java junkies” in a St. Petersburg Times blind taste test.

The Starbucks blend was named “best hot coffee,” surpassing McDonald’s, Dunkin Donuts’ and 7-Eleven’s.

Starbuck’s iced mochas came in second behind McDonald’s.

Pierce County’s office vacancy rate increased from 11.90 percent in the second quarter from 10.62 percent in the first quarter of this year, according to a report released today from Colliers International.

The report credits the troubled economy with the increase in available office space. Multiple companies have departed, according to the report, and the vacant space at Tacoma’s Old City Hall was added back into the inventory.

The office vacancy rate in the second quarter of last year was 11.10 percent.

Meanwhile, the vacancy rate for industrial real estate in the county dipped ever

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Bearish traders are buying Costco “put” options in unusual volumes this week, betting that the Issaquah-based membership retailer’s stock will fall further this year.

Put options increase in value if the selling price of the stock declines.

According to Barrons.com, Costco usually trades about 9,000 puts and calls a day. But that volume rose to almost 40,000 Monday including 15,000 October 45 put options.

Costco has reported declining year-over-year sales in recent months, although some of that decline was attributable to currency valuation changes and the relative bargain prices of gasoline compared to this time last year.

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In a move that could affect the number of cruise ship passengers departing from Puget Sound on Alaska cruises, the cruise industry says it plans a legal challenge of the Alaska cruise tax.

Micky Arison, chief executive of Carnival Corp., the world’s largest cruise line, this week told reporters that the industry will take the 49th State to court over the $50 per passenger tax.

The cruise industry claims that tax is cutting into its Alaska cruise business. Seattle is now the main home port for Alaska cruises, taking the place long held by Vancouver, B.C.

Cruise

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Transportation and logistics company American Fast Freight plans to start construction soon on its new 90,000-square facility in Fife.

The company — now located in Tacoma’s Tideflats — ships cargo to Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and Puerto Rico.

American Fast Freight currently leases property from the Port of Tacoma and is moving to make way for the port’s planned expansion onto the Blair-Hylebos Peninsula.

The new building will house the company’s northwest sales group, administration and customer service departments and will feature a cold storage facility and 100 shipping and receiving doors, according to a

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