Published July 2001

Coast Management changes name as its services expand

By John Wolcott
Herald Business Journal Editor

A significant name change is in place for the property management company that brothers Tom and Shawn Hoban formed in 1987 in Everett — from Coast Management Co. to Coast Real Estate Services.

While property management still provides the core of the firm’s business, its services have expanded into new realms, not because the Hobans sat down for an executive conference and made that decision but because their clients made it for them.

“The new name reflects more what we do,” President Shawn Hoban said. “As we’ve worked with people on property management, they asked us to advise and consult with them on asset management, too. Now, we’re involved with property acquisitions, refinancing, dispositions, brokerage and even partnerships on some real estate investments.”

Property management still accounts for 80 to 90 percent of their business, overseeing daily operations and maintenance of 225 properties in the Pacific Northwest associated with 75 to 100 clients. The company is involved with real estate totaling 7,000 multi-family living units and nearly 2 million square feet of office and retail space.

But building closer working relationships with their property owners has led to workdays filled with much more than the traditional signing of leases and collecting of rents.

Tom Hoban, CEO and Director of Business Development, said the company’s understanding of the investment real estate market and Northwest economy has made it a logical resource for clients who want help in deciding on the right time to acquire property, making sensible investments and conducting due diligence investigations of potential purchases.

The company employs about 35 at its Everett headquarters, but its total work force is nearing 500 counting resident managers, maintenance crews and others working in the field for Coast Real Estate Services. Managed properties are concentrated in Snohomish and King counties but range geographically from Puget Sound into Idaho and Montana, the latter two managed by a branch office in Boise.

One of the firm’s most recent real estate involvements was representing Providence Everett Medical Center in the purchase of the College Plaza Shopping Center at 1001 Broadway on June 14, the first step toward an agreement to exchange College Plaza for Everett Community College’s athletic field on Wetmore Avenue.

Everett real estate developer C. J. Ebert of Harbor Mountain Development represented the seller, Plazamerica Inc., a Japanese real estate holding company.

“I’m personally excited about the possibilities for north Everett and what the upcoming dialogue between (those two parties) might mean for health care and higher education in our community,” Tom Hoban said.

The real estate transaction was part of an agreement between the college and medical center to appoint a Strategic Development Team to define the needs and benefits of both organizations in working together to expand their respective campuses in north Everett over the next 25 years through joint master planning.

Coast Real Estate Services will manage College Plaza for the hospital in the interim period.

“All of the leases will be honored,” Tom Hoban said, “so the businesses at College Plaza should rest easy.”

The brothers believe their business growth will be spurred by an expanding Snohomish County real estate market that is responding to the needs of county businesses and others moving north from King County to seek lower rents, less traffic congestion and facilities closer to where their employees live.

“There’s a lot going on commercially in Everett,” Tom Hoban said. “Everett tends to benefit from business moves and spin-offs of new businesses locating in Snohomish County. The city’s new North Marina project for residences and commercial properties is getting a lot of attention in its design stage.”

The marina project “could include some 300 apartments for 600 to 900 people, retailers, office buildings, new boat slips and freeway access. We believe the marina development will create more business for downtown Everett and more activity,” Tom Hoban said.

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