Q&A A conversation with Marla Schimke, vice president of marketing for Zumobi. 6
Business to Business Happiness ... what does it mean to you? 3
$2.50
INSIDE February January 9, 18,2012 2013| |Volume Volume28 29 No. No.14
Small businesses Convention Centerspeak to host out quilterslegislative during applenty.session. 9 9
Workers’ comp Convention Center overhaul to host quilters plans fuel applenty. big debate. 13 9
Is it a real problem for real estate in the South Sound? The housing industry has had to defeat a variety of obstacles to start its climb back up to pre-recession levels. But a new enemy may lie on the horizon, and it even has a shady name to go with it: shadow inventory. According to Glenn Crellin, associate director for research at the University of Washington’s Runstad Center for Real Estate Studies, “shadow inventory” represents properties that have been taken back by the lending institutions, but for whatever reason, have yet to be put back on the market. The term has become a bit of a real estate buzzword recently, fueled by speculation that banks are holding back a flood of distressed inventory, laying in wait for improved selling conditions before letting such properties hit the market. So many properties hitting the market all at once, some experts predicted, would send home prices hurtling in reverse, damaging the finally recovering housing market. “If they all came on the market at the same time when there is a healthy inventory level, it would have the impact of pushing prices down,” Crellin said. “How
quickly (banks) will get those properties onto the market to help stabilize the market is hard to tell.” So are fears of this threat to the housing industry founded? Crellin and others around the South Sound real estate industry say no. For starters, according to Crellin, housing levels are low right now and could probably use more listings. Phil Harlan, practicing broker at Keller Williams Olympia, said agents throughout the South Sound are aware of the shadow inventory and will continue to watch the situation.
“If (shadow inventory) all came on the market at the same time ... it would have the impact of pushing prices down.”
See Shadow inventory, Page 7
- Glen Crellin, Runstad Center for Real Estate Studies
Could Cherry Point project cause Kent ‘terminal’ problem? New invention Convention Center could tohelp host quiltersand stroke applenty. cerebral17palsy patients. 15
Increased coal traffic on railroad could lead to road congestion issues for distribution center
INDEX
The proposed coal export terminal in Cherry Point would mean an increase in coal train traffic through the BNSF railway corridor (shown approximately in orange) that travels through Kent.
year mined from Montana and Wyoming would be hauled to the terminal along the Burlington Northern Santa Fe rail line – and therein lies the potential problem. The rail corridor that the coal trains would travel extends from the two inland states and winds through Idaho and Washington before climbing up the Puget Sound coast, passing through Tacoma, Kent, Seattle, Everett and Bellingham before reaching Cherry Point. The opening and operation of such a high capacity terminal would inevitably lead to an increase in coal train
See Terminal concerns, Page 4
IN
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Q &A................................................... Featured List.....................................67 For The Record................................. Featured List....................................19 20 People For Theon Record................................. the Move.........................20 22 Scene Q&A................................................... & Heard.................................219 Scene &onHeard................................. People the Move.........................22 21
Cherry Point is over a hundred miles from south King County, but recent developments there have attracted the attention of some in the Kent business community. That’s because the Whatcom County site, already home to the largest oil refinery in Washington, may soon be home to the largest coal export facility in North America. The proposed Gateway Pacific Terminal, to be operated by global maritime service provider SSA Marine, would handle import and export of up to 54 million dry metric tons per year of bulk commodities. Up to 48 million tons of coal per
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