In the region's largest deal of the year Kilroy Realty yesterday bought Key Center, a highrise in downtown Bellevue, from Beacon Capital Partners. Eastside real estate broker Mike Schreck of Colliers International called it “a great buy.” He said it's one of the best buildings in downtown Bellevue based on architecture, location and floor plate efficiencies.

Bret Jordan, a managing director in the Bellevue office of Colliers International, is one who dismisses the chatter about Beacon potentially selling any of its office buildings in Seattle or Bellevue. “Typically those loans are very siloed,” Jordan said. Only properties covered by a particular loan are affected by its restructuring, Jordan points out. “Projects they own outside the loan do not come into the equation.”

“A year ago, corporate real estate officers basically prohibited regional offices from doing anything other than short-term leases,” Truex said. “We’ve seen a definite shift to 10-year leases.” Truex expects office vacancies to drop about 2 percent in 2011.

Vendovi Island, Washington Sold to the San Juan Preservation Trust Long Term Seattle Fluke Family ownership will now convert to the Non Profit organization

Brokers come together to answer some difficult questions facing the commercial real estate industry.

Supply may be fairly flat, but demand is rising and will contribute to a rental market that heavily favors landlords. By Dave Schumacher and Joe Levin

The Seattle office market experienced a decline in vacancy in Q3 2010. Vacancy decreased by 45 basis points from 18.02% in Q2 2010 to 17.57% in Q3 2010.

The Kent Valley industrial market is stabilizing as Q3 2010 recognized 12,000 SF of net positive absorption and a 1 basis point decline in vacancy to 8.03%.

Colliers International announced today that respected real estate veteran Scott Coombs has been recruited as the organization’s Regional Managing Director, Northwest.

Tim Smith joined the Bellevue office leasing team as a senior vice president. Smith has 13 years of experience as a seasoned specialist in office tenant and landlord representation.

The Colliers International team of Tim Chin and Blake Diers have been selected to represent Cosmos Development in leasing phase one of the new Lake Hills Village mixed use development.

With the second quarter 2010 (Q2 2010) closing, Colliers International Puget Sound is cautiously optimistic for the future of the post-recession office market.

The Puget Sound region industrial market posted 85,900 SF of positive net absorption in Q2 2010, which is primarily concentrated in the Pierce County industrial market.

The Bellevue office of Colliers International added three new members to their professional team. Chris Fox was hired as the new eastside research analyst, and Blake Diers and Mark Forgette joined the brokerage team specializing in landlord and tenant representation.

Respondents to Colliers International’s 2010 Global Investor Sentiment Survey from the USA view the property market as at or near the bottom at 6:00 o’clock and expect to be seeing signs of recovery on the “Global Property Clock.” Respondents also expect the Puget Sound market to reach 7:00 o’clock by the 4th quarter.

Colliers International announced that their Commercial Condominium Real Estate Group (CCREG) has turned to CommercialCondos Inc. (CCI) to assist in promoting Collier’s commercial condo listings on a national level. CommercialCondos Inc. (www.commercialcondos.com) recently launched the first web community servicing niche buyers and sellers in the commercial condominium asset class.

The results are in and Colliers International has climbed to the #2 spot in the annual Lipsey Survey of the top 25 brands in the commercial real estate industry. The firm had a lock on third place since 2004 and rose from 6th place in 2002 to 4th in 2003.

"But there are a lot of people packed into small spaces now," said Leigh Callaghan, a senior vice president with Colliers. "When companies do choose to expand, demand could really explode."