Published July 2002

Business Briefs

KeyBank opens Harbour Pointe branch
As part of its expansion throughout the Pacific Northwest, KeyBank celebrated the grand opening of its Harbour Pointe KeyCenter in Mukilteo, located at 11700 Mukilteo Speedway, in June.

Mandi Mitchell is the new Sales Manager at the Harbour Pointe branch, and Barbara Lowell is the new Key Client Relations Leader.

Along with offering another site for banking in Snohomish County, the Harbour Pointe branch also reflects Key’s new facility design, according to the bank, and features a rotunda entrance, customer-service areas for financial planning and transaction zones for account activity.

CT service set to expand in September
Community Transit’s Board of Directors recently approved plans to increase bus service in several areas of Snohomish County beginning Sept. 29, according to the transit agency.

Changes include the restoration of weekend service on Route 120 between Lynnwood and Bothell, and the creation of two new routes: Route 121, which will operate during commute hours, and Route 881, an abbreviated version of Route 880 between Mukilteo and Seattle’s University District.

The agency also will add no-transfer trips between the Granite Falls/Lake Stevens area and Boeing’s Everett plant during morning and afternoon commute hours. Several other routes will have trips added or be adjusted to improve efficiency, CT said.

The expansion plans are made possible by a three-tenths of 1 percent sales tax increase voters approved in September 2001. That vote also allowed Community Transit to restore Sunday service on many of its local routes in February.

For a detailed listing of the changes, visit CT on the Web at www.commtrans.org.

Quinton reports loss for quarter
Quinton Cardiology Systems Inc., which sold its first public stock offering in May, reported in June that it lost $1.2 million during the first quarter. The Bothell-based maker of heart monitoring and related equipment saw revenues during the quarter ended March 31 reach nearly $10.4 million, a 3 percent increase from the same period last year.

Quinton also announced that it has signed a distribution agreement in Japan. Nihon Kohden Corp. will have distribution rights for Quinton products for three years, significantly strengthening Quinton’s reach into Japan.

Learn investment strategies
at summer workshop
Everett Community College is offering a summer workshop titled “Strategies for Serious Stock Investors” on four consecutive Thursdays from 7 to 9:30 p.m. beginning July 25.

The workshop is intended for serious, long-term stock investors. Topics include common-sense rules for choosing stocks, ways to analyze stock research, and how to properly build an equity portfolio.

The price is $39 per individual. Pre-registration is required. For more information or to register, call Continuing Education at 425-388-9214.

Commercial real estate ‘Stars’ sought
Nominations for the eighth annual Night of the Stars awards, the awards program of the Washington state chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties, are open until July 19.

Night of the Stars recognizes the people and projects that exhibit excellence, ingenuity, and success in the commercial real estate industry. This year’s winners will be revealed November 15 at an awards and dinner gala at the Westin Hotel.

The competition is open to anyone involved with the commercial real estate industry. To be eligible, projects should be substantially completed between June 2001 and June 2002.

For more information on nomination categories and judging guidelines, or to request a nomination form, call 206-382-9121 or visit www.naiopwa.org on the Internet.

EdCC Foundation celebrates
20th anniversary
The Edmonds Community College Foundation, a nonprofit organization that supports the college and provides scholarships to students, celebrated its 20th anniversary June 11.

The foundation also honored two distinguished alumni of the college at the anniversary celebration: Don Wick, Executive Director of the Economic Development Association of Skagit County, who was the college’s first elected student body president in 1967, and Steve Pennington, an Executive Manager for the Boeing Co., who attended the college after serving in the Air Force during the Vietnam War.

Established in 1982, the foundation has created awards to recognize outstanding faculty and staff, completed a $1.2 million campaign to renovate the college library and recently completed a $4 million campaign to build the Center for Families, a child-care and parent education facility.

A groundbreaking for the center also was held June 11.

Coastal Community Bank charity fund awards grants to three youth programs
The Coastal Community Bank Employee Giving Fund recently awarded grants to the Mount Baker Boy Scout Council; Campfire, Snohomish Council; and the YMCA of Snohomish County for its Monroe program. The grants were given to support these groups’ youth programs.

The giving fund, the Greater Everett Community Foundation’s first corporate giving fund, is supported entirely by donations from 100 percent of the bank’s employees.

“The fund enables us to pool our donations for the greatest impact to benefit charitable causes in Snohomish County,” said Lee Pintar, Coastal Community Bank President. “We’re pleased to be supporting such worthwhile community organizations.”

To receive a copy of the grant guidelines, contact Karri Matau at the Greater Everett Community Foundation by sending e-mail to kmatau@greatereverettcf.org or mail to P.O. Box 5549, Everett, WA 98206.

Everett Plaza sells for $7.95 million
The Everett Plaza shopping center at the corner of 52nd Street and Evergreen Way has sold for $7.95 million to Asia First Inc., a Seattle property management company.

It’s the second multimillion-dollar shopping center deal in Everett this year. The seller this time was Everett Plaza Shopping Center, a local partnership.

“It’s been a really good shopping center and performed well over the years,” said Stan Rosen of Rosen-Harbottle Commercial Real Estate, the Bellevue firm that brokered the sale.

The nearly 80,000-square-foot strip mall, sitting on more than six acres, was built in the mid-1960s and renovated in 1996, Rosen said. It is home to Washington Mutual Home Loan Center and Earl Scheib Paint & Body. Other tenants include Display & Costume, the state Department of Licensing and New & Used Liquidators.

Krista Haverly of CB Richard Ellis Real Estate, who is handling leases in the center, said there is less than 10,000 square feet of vacant space there.

The Everett Plaza deal follows the $19 million sale of the much bigger Everett Mall Plaza, located near Everett Mall, earlier this spring. That sale still ranks as one of the largest property transactions in the region this year.

Parks foundation lists final donors
to Wiggums project
The Everett Parks Foundation recently announced the final corporate and community donors to the Wiggums Park Renewal Project, a public/private partnership between the city of Everett Parks Department and the Everett Parks Foundation to rebuild the park, located at 2808 10th St. in Everett.

They are: Allstate Foundation, E.K. & Lillian F. Bishop Foundation, Everett Central Lions Club, Fluke Corp., Horizon Bank, KeyBank, PEMCO Foundation, Tiger Woods Foundation and the Verizon-sponsored Norwesco Telephone Pioneers. All of these groups contributed since September 2001.

County employees raise food,
funds to feed hungry
Snohomish County government employees raised the equivalent of 382,897 pounds of food for 19 local community food banks during their fifth annual food drive.

Donating the greatest number of pounds of food per employee were the departments of Auditor (124.89), Fairgrounds (86.67) and Treasurer (70.9).

Departments raising the most dollars per employee were the Executive ($96.11), Treasurer ($94.43), Facilities Management ($32.27) and Information Services ($31.03).

Arlington-based Cossack Caviar sold
Two Seattle investors have paid $5.15 million to buy the assets of an Arlington-based caviar business.

Joe Brotherton and Dan Nelson confirmed recently that their company, Round Gold LLC, has taken over Cossack Caviar Inc., which filed in April for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

The caviar business’ major assets include a new, 60,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in Arlington and a roe-processing barge.

Right now, the caviar business employs about nine people, but more than 100 typically work for the business during the summer and fall harvesting seasons, according to the Arlington office.

Brotherton and Nelson formed Round Gold earlier this year for the specific purpose of taking over Cossack Caviar.

In addition to caviar, the new business, which will use the Round Gold name, will use the barge to produce hydrolysate, a high-protein product used for animal feed and fertilizer. It is made out of the parts of the fish that are unsuitable for human consumption.

Cossack Caviar was founded in 1970 by previous owner Garry Shaw.

According to documents filed with U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Seattle, Cossack Caviar reported assets of $8.4 million and liabilities of more than $14 million when it filed for Chapter 11.

Bothell-based Aculight
gets weapons work
Aculight Corp., a Bothell company developing laser technologies, has received a $750,000 contract from the U.S. Air Force to investigate new fiber-laser radar systems.

These systems can be used for targeting in a new generation of “smart” weapons. The technology developed under the new contract could also lead to advances in nondefense-related laser applications, including optical medical imaging, according to Aculight.

Founded in 1993, Aculight has 35 employees at its head office.

Golf tourney to benefit
children’s organization
Kirtley-Cole Associates Inc. of Snohomish is sponsoring the Charity Golf Tournament for Healing the Children, set for Aug. 7 at Kayak Point Golf Course.

The design-and-build firm’s sponsorship already is attracting interest from the construction community, including both players and sponsors. Registration must be mailed no later than July 12 to Kirtley-Cole Associates Inc., P.O. Box 1179, Snohomish, WA 98291, or contact Annette Halvorson for more information at 425-609-0415 or by e-mail to ahalvorson@kirtley-cole.com.

Healing the Children, a Spokane-based nonprofit organization, provides free medical aid to children around the world who need medical help provided by traveling physicians from the United States who donate their time and skills.

Mukilteo company signs tech pact
The Japanese subsidiary of Mukilteo’s CombiMatrix Corp. has entered into a technology collaboration and purchasing agreement with the Genome Science Laboratory at the University of Tokyo’s research center.

Under the terms of the agreement, the research center has installed a CombiMatrix gene chip synthesizer and will purchase blank chips that will be used in genetic and drug development work. Any novel discovery or development from the research will then benefit both the center and CombiMatrix.

This is the second such agreement in Japan that CombiMatrix has announced in recent weeks.

Bankrupt Genespan puts
assets up for auction
Microscopes, centrifuges and other laboratory equipment used by Genespan Corp. went to the auction block in June as the bankrupt biotechnology company’s assets were sold.

Bothell-based Genespan filed for Chapter 7 protection in early April, reporting $1.46 million in assets and $4.7 million in liabilities.

Shelly Crocker, the Seattle attorney representing Genespan, said the company ceased operations soon after the Chapter 7 filing.

“They were very sad, but the company just ran out of funding,” she said.

Company founder Randal “Tony” Goffe, who lives in Arlington, was unreachable for comment about the bankruptcy during the past month, and the company’s phone number had been disconnected.

Genespan began operating in early 1995 in Redmond. The company, which employed about 10 people, had been located in Bothell for the past few years.

Unlike some of the area’s biotech companies that are still years away from entering the commercial market, Genespan developed and sold cell management systems for researchers. Its Cellstasis product was a small incubator that could grow human cells in three-dimensional form.

Career Action Center opens at EdCC
Edmonds Community College has opened the Career Action Center in the college’s Lynnwood Hall.

The center assists students by helping them learn job-search skills and providing job internship referrals, and it works with the business community to help employers find qualified workers. It also guides people to programs that offer help with tuition and book fees such as Worker Retraining for those facing layoffs or receiving unemployment and WorkFirst for low-income working parents.

For more information on the center, call 425-640-1443, send e-mail to careeractioncenter@edcc.edu or visit its Web site, http://careeractioncenter.edcc.edu.

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