Gyp Board Plant Certified

Tacoma - The G-P Gypsum plants in Tacoma has received certification for recycled content from Scientific Certification Systems (SCS), an internationally recognized, third party evaluation and certification organization.

It manufactures products utilizing Flue-Gas Desulphurization synthetic (FGD) gypsum, using only synthetic gypsum as a raw material source. The Tacoma plant has been certified for G-P Gypsum's DensGuard (r) and ToughRock (r) gypsum products.

The SCS Certification was awarded after a rigorous evaluation process that examined the percentage of recycled material used in the manufacturing of G-P Gypsum's products at these plants.

G-P Gypsum is a member of the U.S. Green Building Council, which has determined through its LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standard that synthetic gypsum is post-industrial content.

SCS is a private company founded by scientists and leading practitioners, which is recognized internationally for its third-party evaluation and certification programs.

Harbor Steps Sold to Chicago Firm

Seattle--Harbor Properties, Inc., is selling Harbor Steps, a massive, mixed-use residential complex in downtown Seattle, to Chicago-based real estate company Equity Residential. Harbor expects to close this summer on the landmark deal. The purchase price was not disclosed. Harbor Properties has owned and operated the 4-tower, luxury-apartment complex since development on Harbor Steps began in 1992. According to the company, the property was never formally offered for sale on the open market. Negotiations began when Equity Residential (NYSE: EQR) inquired about Harbor Steps earlier in 2005. The sale comes at a time when Harbor Properties has turned its attention to creating more market-rate mixed-use apartment complexes in and around downtown Seattle. The company recently started construction on Press II, a second-phase residential project on Capitol Hill, and is developing additional workforce-housing projects in the University District, First Hill and other urban-Seattle neighborhoods. Harbor Steps is a 4-building, mixed-use property offering 1.3 million square feet of residential, office and retail space at the corner of First Avenue and University Street along Seattle's downtown waterfront. The 758-unit project is anchored by Harbor Steps Park, a privately owned and operated urban (public) green space. Harbor Steps also includes a boutique hotel, meeting spaces, three restaurants and a delicatessen, a daycare, and various other on-site facilities

When the land was purchased in the 1970s, it represented the first of several real estate transactions Harbor Properties would make to fulfill its mission of creating a vibrant urban core where people lived close to work and, therefore, relied less on cars for daily transportation. Harbor also envisioned a place where people remained after work to take advantage of restaurants, shops, theatre and various other urban-lifestyle opportunities Seattle soon would offer. Realizing that vision would require significant changes to the city's urban infrastructure and service offerings, as well as the manner in which the real estate community approached residential development. Prior to Harbor Steps, Seattle had limited market-rate options for urban-living beyond a few select condominium buildings. In 2001, Harbor Properties' decades of planning and development efforts were fully realized when the Urban Land Institute named Harbor Steps the nation's best large-scale multi-family residential complex, awarded through its annual international Award for Excellence program. Equity Residential was represented on the Harbor Steps deal by Bob Watson of the R.M. Watson Co. of Seattle.

EBI Consulting Announces Alliance

Burlington - EBI Consulting and Kingfisher Analytics announced a formal business alliance designed to offer cost segregation services to clients that have acquired, constructed or improved commercial property. This new offering may save property owners 5 to 15 percent of real estate project costs.

EBI Consulting is a national engineering and environmental health and safety consulting firm based in Burlington, Mass. Kingfisher Analytics, headquartered in Boston with an office in Spokane, is one of the largest independent providers of cost segregation studies (CSS) in the U.S. with a track record of over 2,500 studies performed.

DBM Prepares Foundation

Seattle - DBM Contractors Inc. recently began installing temporary shoring and permanent foundation support for The Cosmopolitan, a 33-story tower at Ninth Avenue and Virginia Street in Seattle. The shoring is being done on a very tight (120 foot by 120 foot) downtown site and includes 59 cantilevered soldier piles with timber lagging and 117-drilled shafts. The shoring was completed in early June.

The $100 million building will house 250 condominiums. The project is being developed by Continental Properties of Bellevue. Mithun is the architect and Mortenson is the general contractor. The project is scheduled to open in early 2007.

In another downtown Seattle project, DBM Contractors Inc., has completed installing 224 soldier piles as part of a shoring system for a segment of the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel (DSTT) Retrofit and Expansion along both sides of Pine Street between Eight and Ninth Avenues. This $1.14 million portion of the project involved installing the soldier piles in 30 inch and 36 inch diameter shafts, ranging from 53 feet to 92 feet in depth. The project was challenging due to the logistics of maintaining Pine Street open to traffic during construction, and the amount of coring required through abandoned concrete ducts, vaults, areaways and shoring systems from adjacent buildings. Work areas and shoring wall alignments are located in very close proximity to existing and operating businesses, including the historic Paramount Theater. Throughout the summer, DBM will install 67 tieback anchors on the east-shoring wall. The remainder of the soldier piles are internally braced from the opposing wall. Balfour Beatty, the general contractor, furnished the steel piles used in the shoring system.

Other current DBM projects include another tunnel extension project for Sound Transit, Evergreen Hospital in Kirkland, The Venetian Phantom Theatre in Las Vegas, Nev., the 1900 SW Morrison Civic Redevelopment in Portland, Ore., Laguna Honda Hospital Replacement Program in San Francisco, Calif., and SR16-Union to Jackson in Tacoma.

Other current DBM projects include two tunnel extension projects for Sound Transit, The Venetian Phantom Theatre in Las Vegas, Nev., the 1900 SW Morrison civic redevelopment in Portland, Ore., and the Cal Trans DOT Headquarters in Sacramento, Calif.

Chelan Celebrates with Ribbon Cutting

Wenatchee - Chelan Mayor Jay Witherbee and Washington State Transportation Improvement Board Executive Secretary Stevan Gorcester cut a yellow ribbon at the Woodin Avenue-Emerson Street intersection to mark the successful completion of a $309,000 paving project. Woodin and Chelan Avenue paving was financed by the TIB "Newstreets" program which paid 100 percent of the cost of paving. The work was done in conjunction with the WSDOT's US 97A-Chelan Area Paving project.

The city of Chelan was selected by the Washington State Transportation Improvement Board (TIB) for a new state program that pays for paving of small city arterials. When compared to a typical small city project, the coordination between TIB and WSDOT saves about 20 percent of paving expense. Asphalt typically costs are currently $55.00 per ton, but when purchased in larger quantities, along with the state's project, the cost per ton was $32.00." TIB is funded with 3 cents of the state's gas tax. Since 1991, the Legislature has provided more than $1 billion through TIB programs for local projects, statewide.

Parsons to Manage Everett Project

Everett - Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB) has been named program manager for the development of Port Gardner Wharf, a residential, office and retail complex being built on 65 acres of waterfront in Everett.

Port Gardner Wharf is a public-private venture of the Maritime Trust Co. and the Port of Everett. The project's buildable area will range from 1.2 to 1.6 million sq.- ft. The first phase of development will entail approximately 200 condominiums, town homes and retail spaces. Subsequent phases call for 660 high-end residential units, retail and professional office space, an inn, restaurant, and marina sales and service facilities.

Under a separate project, the Port of Everett is building a 234-slip marina on the north side of the site. The marina will be completed in 2006, preceding the completion of the first phase of Port Gardner Wharf in mid-2007. The entire development is expected to be over between 2012 and 2015.

As program manager, PB will administer the overall project and manage the project team, including the design consultants and construction contractors.

Non-profits Receive Funding

Seattle - Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels and Congressman Jim McDermott presented nearly $700,000 to four local nonprofit organizations for facility construction that will allow them to more effectively deliver services designed to help end poverty and homelessness in the community.

The four winning agencies competed for the federal Community Development Block Grant funding through the Seattle Human Services Department's Community Facilities Program.

The organizations were:

FareStart provides job and life skills training and job placement in the food service industry to formerly homeless individuals. It will use $150,261 in Community Facilities funding to help pay for renovation of its new building at 2004 Westlake Ave. and to help generate matching private dollars to pay for the entire rehabilitation project - $4.7 million. The renovation will include two commercial kitchens, customized classrooms and a restaurant, where clients will receive on-the-job training.

The Filipino Community of Seattle will use the funds to pay for a $132,148 second-floor addition to the organization's building in the Rainier Valley, and help to generate matching private funds to pay for the entire project - $1.1 million.

The Operational Emergency Center runs one of the largest-volume food banks in the state in Seattle's southeastern border. It will renovate a warehouse so the building is more accessible to clients and the agency can provide more services, and to help generate matching private dollars to pay for the full project - $217,900.

The West Seattle Food Bank, with partner Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association, is developing a new food bank and resource center with 34 units of affordable housing in West Seattle. Community Facilities funding of $250,000 will pay for construction of space where social services will be delivered to help individuals and families move out of poverty. The public dollars also will help the agency generate matching private funding to pay for the entire project - $2.4 million.

State Court Hears Arguments

Olympia - The Washington Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the challenge brought by Association of Washington Businesses to the Department of Revenue's authority to promulgate interpretive rules that are non-binding yet portray to the public that the interpretations have the force of law. Specifically at issue in the case is the validity of three rules under the tax code, including the tax exemption for machinery and equipment ("M&E"). AWB was represented by attorney Frank Dinces.

Previously, the Thurston County Superior Court invalidated all three rules holding the Department lacked statutory authority to promulgate them. The Superior Court's reasoning was that the Department lacks authority to adopt informational rules that do not have the effect of law; that these rules were informational and lacked the effect of law; and that the Department misled the public into believing the rules had the effect of law. The Department of Revenue appealed this ruling to the Court of Appeals. The Court of Appeals disagreed, and in a unanimous decision, reversed the trial court. The Court of Appeals reasoned that the Department does not need statutory authority to promulgate interpretive rules, that an interpretive rule can still be binding.

HDR and Turner Joint Venture on DOC Facility

Seattle - HDR and Turner Construction Co., in a joint venture, were recently selected to provide design and construction services on a $100 million integrated single-source design-build project for the Washington State Department of Corrections.

The project, located in Walla Walla, Wash., will be an expansion of the existing Washington State Penitentiary. The new 270,000-sq.-ft. facility will have 768 close custody beds and 132 IMU/SEG (intensive management unit/segregated) beds. Other support services, including food service for 2,000 inmates, are included in the assignment.

In the design phase at present, construction is expected to begin this June and the project's anticipated completion date is February 2007.