The University of Washington Tacoma Milgard School of Business has announced the winners of its 11th annual Business Leadership Awards.

The winners will be honored at a dinner at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, April 24, at the Greater Tacoma Convention & Trade Center.

The winners for 2012 are:

• Business Leader of the Year: Luke Xitco, president and CEO of Tacoma’s Associated Petroleum Products.
• Small Business Leader of theYear: Tony G. Panagiotu, president of Panagiotu Pension Advisors of University Place.
• Nonprofit Business Leader of the Year: John R. Peterson, president of Bellarmine Preparatory School of Tacoma. …

Read more »

The Green Building Certification Institute has awarded its highest certification – LEED Platinum – to the University of Washington Tacoma’s Russell T. Joy Building.

The Joy Building is the first in Tacoma and first in the University of Washington to achieve a Platinum rating in the “new construction/major remodel” LEED system, the university said in a release Tuesday. It is the second state-funded building to receive this recognition. The downtown Wells Fargo Plaza in July received a LEED Silver designation for existing buildings, and the Pacific Plaza project received LEED Platinum. St. Elizabeth Hospital in Enumclaw has received a Silver …

Read more »

Downtown Tacoma’s largest employer will open a new business prototype this week on Pacific Avenue.

Kidney dialysis leader DaVita Inc. will open its first primary care clinic Wednesday. Denver-based DaVita is expanding into primary care through its subsidiary, Paladina Health.

The Tacoma clinic at 1250 Pacific Ave., which will open a month ahead of schedule, is Paladina’s first. The company also is growing through acquisitions, evidenced by its purchase earier this month of Modern Med, a Wisconsin-based clinic group.

“We had a lot of hard work and a little extra money” to finish early in Tacoma, Rebecca …

Read more »

Looks like 2012 will be the Year of Meh.

According to an economic forecast presented this morning at the annual Horizons Breakfast, Pierce County’s economy will grow for the second year in a row. But it won’t feel good.

People still will have trouble finding a job. Business profits will stagnate. The housing market will continue to hurt.

This is what healing feels like after a such a wounding Recession. (I’m taking a liberty here and capitalizing it, since we capitalize the Great Depression.)

Soon-to-be former state economist Arun Raha, one of the keynote speakers, said this year’s income …

Read more »

The Tacoma Chamber is sponsoring a new business education program, Sound Business: A Practical Business Development Series.

The program includes multiple sessions focused on helping entrepreneurs grow their businesses from start-up to maturity. More than 20 workshops providing practical business information for entrepreneurs will be delivered by successful subject matter experts, the chamber said.

For a full course description and fee schedule visit the chamber website, www.tacomachamber.org. The workshops will be held in the chamber’s Simpson Community Room at 950 Pacific Ave., Suite 300.

The sessions include lunch and validated parking. The cost is $20 per session for chamber …

Read more »

Here’s this notice from the City of Tacoma on the improvement project for South 9th, which was suspended for the holiday season:

The South 9th Street project in Downtown Tacoma will resume on Monday, Jan. 9. Work will begin with the demolition of the sidewalk adjacent to 302 S. 9th St. and will then progress uphill to the corner of South 9th Street and Market Street.

Traffic control will be in place on Thursday, Jan. 5 and Friday, Jan. 6. The revisions will include closing the two eastbound lanes (downhill). The remaining westbound lanes (uphill) will be reconfigured to provide

…

Read more »

Downtown Tacoma’s holiday ice rink has been such a success that organizers plan to keep it open an extra week, and to bring it back next year.

“We’re meeting target numbers right now,” Tacoma Art Museum’s Cameron Fellows said Wednesday. “We’re definitely going to make the goal where the operator wants to do it again, and we want to do it again.”

The museum and Texas-based Ice Rink Events opened a temporary rink in downtown’s Tollefson Plaza. Franciscan Health System has been the lead sponsor and gave it its name: Franciscan Polar Plaza. The museum guaranteed it …

Read more »

If you’ve ever thought of owning a gift shop in one of the world’s most respected hotels (that according to Conde Nast Traveler Magazine), well now’s your chance.

Hotel Murano this afternoon posted a notice on Facebook announcing that the lease on the lobby gift shop is now available.

“We’re looking for someone who would run their own shop,” said hotel general manager Stan Kott on Wednesday afternoon.

The previous tenants, he said, have moved to San Diego.

“We’re looking for someone to turn it into something new,” Kott said.

He expects that the new operators would offer the basic …

Read more »