The Biz Buzz » Residential Real Estate

Private developer, public housing authority float plan to develop well-known commercial site in Tacoma’s Hilltop neighborhood

Kathleen Cooper — Fri, 10 May 2013 13:00:20 +0000

A private developer and Tacoma’s public housing authority are in the early stages of plans to revitalize two 100-year-old buildings and bring more apartments to the Hilltop neighborhood.

Developer Kevin Grossman wants to renovate the Pochert and Kellogg-Sicker buildings, the latter of which once housed the notorious Browne’s Star Grill at 1114 Martin Luther King Blvd. At the same time, the Tacoma Housing Authority proposes new construction on the two parcels next door, which now are a parking lot and a men’s clothing store.

“Finding a way to cost-effectively save those buildings is an acknowledgment of a good era,” said …

Copperline interiors feature decks, interior courtyard in Point Ruston’s first large building

John Gillie — Tue, 07 May 2013 17:53:23 +0000

Point Ruston, the billion-dollar mixed-use development on the site of the old Asarco copper smelter near Point Defiance Park, opened its first major building this week.

The building, the Copperline apartments, was started in 2008, but construction halted after the first three levels were built to wait out the housing bust. The building is being completed this spring.

The building has been repurposed from 99 condos to 173 apartments in the meanwhile.

Workers were putting the finishing touches on the eight-story structure last week. Here are some snapshots from the interior.

The first residents are moving in this week. The …

Revival of housing market drives Weyerhaeuser profits higher

John Gillie — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 17:14:22 +0000

Federal Way’s Weyerhaeuser Co. rode the reviving housing business to sharply higher profits in the first quarter, the highest quarterly earnings since 2005, the company said today.

The results even surprised Wall Street, which had recently revised its own estimates higher to account for the increasing activity in the housing market. The company reported net earnings of $144 million or 26 cents a share for the quarter ending in March.

A recent average of Wall Street analysts’ predictions called for the timber and wood products company to report a profit of 22 cents a share in the first quarter.

This …

Short sales up 77 percent in Pierce County in Q1 compared to Q1 2012

C.R. Roberts — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 19:20:32 +0000

Short sales in Pierce County were up 77 percent in the first quarter, compared to short sales recorded in the first quarter last year.

In its quarterly report, Bellevue-based Washington Property Solutions, a short-sale negotiating firm, reported that along with the jump in short sales, the number of bank-owned property sales fell 40 percent during the same period.

A bank-owned sale typically concerns a property that has been foreclosed by, and is owned by, a bank. A short sale concerns the sale of a home for less than the balance remaining on a mortgage.

“Very tight inventory is affecting the …

Update on Tehaleh (formerly known as Cascadia): Almost 100 homes sold

Kathleen Cooper — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 13:30:40 +0000

Buried in my inbox is a note sent in early April from Liv Faris, who does public relations for the massive planned community in East Pierce County called Tehaleh.

Called Cascadia for two decades, Newland Communities bought it, renamed it and opened it for business in September.

Jay Bradley opens his orange door

…

Tacoma developers propose 161-unit mixed use building on the Thea Foss Waterway

John Gillie — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 04:34:56 +0000

Five years after development went into limbo, developers are returning to Tacoma’s Thea Foss Waterway.

Now a development alliance calling itself the Henry Group is proposing to build a $31.2 million apartment and retail project just north of the Highway 509 bridge across the waterway.

The group is the same one that 10 years ago built the waterway’s first major residential building, Thea’s Landing.

The new proposal, tentatively approved Wednesday night by the Thea Foss Waterway Development Authority, would create a six-story, 161-apartment building on Dock Street next to Albers Mill.

The authority authorized its director, Su Dowie, to negotiate …

Foreclosure and mortgage loan delinquency rates both increased year-over-year in Tacoma in January

C.R. Roberts — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 19:53:49 +0000

The foreclosure rate among outstanding mortgages in Tacoma was 3.88 percent in January, up 1.64 percentage points from a rate of 2.24 percent recorded in January, 2012.

The real estate analytics firm CoreLogic reported Monday that the the delinquency rate for mortgage loans 90-days-or-more delinquent was 9.64 percent, up from 9.48 percent the year before.

The Tacoma foreclosure rate, at 3.88 percent, was higher than the state average, at 2.48 percent, and the U.S. average, at 2.9 percent.

The Tacoma delinquency rate, at 9.64 percent, was minimally lower than the December, 2012 rate, at 9.67 percent, and the November, 2012 …

Northwest MLS names new chair (from Puyallup) and treasurer (from Olympia)

C.R. Roberts — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 22:16:08 +0000

The Northwest Multiple Listing Service board of directors has named Bobby Petrone Chipman, principal managing broker at John L. Scott in Puyallup, as chairman.

Chipman is one of two representatives from the MLS Pierce/Thurston voting district, according to a release Wednesday.

She has been a licensee since 1992, and has been a managing broker since 1996. She is also a past president of the Tacoma-Pierce County Association of Realtors.

Ken Anderson, this year’s newly named MLS board treasurer, is president of Coldwell Banker Evergreen in Olympia, a second-generation family business. Among other professional offices, Anderson has served as chairman of …

Point Ruston loses potential anchor tenant

John Gillie — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 23:59:10 +0000

A South Sound grocer announced last year as a major retail anchor tenant for an ambitious Tacoma mixed use development has backed away from its commitment.

Marlene’s Market & Deli won’t be opening its third store in Point Ruston next year, Marlene Beadle, the market’s founder, confirmed Monday.

“The family just didn’t want to do the risk,” said Beadle. “It just wasn’t the right timing for us.”

The market founder said she favored the expansion, but other family members thought the financial exposure was too great.

“We took a vote, and my side lost,” she said. “You just can’t fight …

Foreclosures up in Tacoma; 90-day deliquencies down since June, according to California firm

C.R. Roberts — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 18:26:51 +0000

The rate of foreclosure among outstanding mortgage loans was 3.95 percent in December last year, an increase of 1.77 percentage points compared to December, 2011, according to data released Tuesday.

The rate in December, 2011, was 2.18 percent, said CoreLogic, a California-based data analytics firm. Foreclosure activity in Tacoma was higher than the national foreclosure rate, which was 2.96 percent for December, 2012.

Also in Tacoma, the mortgage delinquency rate increased. According to CoreLogic data for December, 9.67 percent of mortgage loans were 90 days or more delinquent compared to 9.26 percent for the same period last year, representing an …