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American Idol Stefano sings Bellevue 6/4
American Idol contestant Stefano Langone, 22, is returning to his roots at Bellevue College for a concert Saturday June 4 with “Celebration,” a jazz ensemble group he was part of at the school. “Tickets are selling like hotcakes,” reports BC president Jean Floten, who, during this season of American Idol, was there at the college with a large group of supporters viewing every one of Langone’s performances on a big screen, cheering him on and racking up votes for him after each show. The city of Kent, where his family lives, is organizing a welcome celebration for Langone earlier in the day on June 4, where he will sign autographs and thank…
First Heritage Bank seized, sold
Washington state regulators closed First Heritage Bank, in Snohomish, Wash., and sold its assets to Tacoma-based Columbia Bank Friday evening, marking the second bank failure in Washington state in 2011 — and the second such purchase by Columbia in as many weeks. Like many Washington state banks, First Heritage suffered from a pileup of bad commercial real estate loans during the recession, which ate away at its capital cushion. First Heritage had five branches, total assets of $173.5 million, and deposits of…
Petermann Northwest to lay off 109
Petermann Northwest LCC, a Seattle school-bus company, is planning to lay off 109 employees as of June 22, according to a notice the company filed with the state Employment Security Department, as required 60 days before a mass layoff. Petermann Northwest has two locations in Seattle, at 13525 Lake City Way N.E. and 13281 Aurora Ave. N. Petermann Northwest provides the contract school-bus service for Battle Ground Public Schools. FOLLOW the Puget Sound Business Journal on Twitter @PSBJ and on Facebook | Click here to sign up for the PSBJ Daily…
Insight Schools to lay off 168 in Bellevue
Insight Schools, an online high school with an office in Bellevue, has notified Washington state that it will be laying off 168 employees as of July 18. Insight sent the state Employment Security Department the notice, as required 60 days before a mass layoff, defined as 50 or more employees at a single location. Earlier this week, the Portland Business Journal reported that Insight had laid off 58 employees from the school’s Portland office, related to a decision by Insight’s parent company, Kaplan…
Agent Axelrod on Amazon, and Seattle as a publishing city
Though we’ve seen only glimpses until now of Amazon.com’s interest in the publishing world, the online sales giant is finally demonstrating some of its intent, begging the question, could Seattle be the next publishing city? Respected literary agent Steven Axelrod, who has been an agent for more than 30 years and represents seven No. 1 New York Times bestselling writers, including Seattle romance author Jayne Ann Krentz, said the Seattle-based online retailer’s ability to corner the e-book market could be one of the biggest concerns to other…
How nonprofits will cope with state cuts
There’s a lot of anxiety in the nonprofit sector now that Washington state’s next two year budget is set at $32.2 billion, down more than $5 billion last year. Education, human services and health programs will shoulder a major portion of the cuts, but it will be awhile before the sectors knows exactly how they will respond. But the Washington State Budget & Policy Center has a pretty comprehensive analysis that you can find here of what programs will be hit. I asked some nonprofit leaders about how the sector will respond to the cuts and here is what they told…
Bellevue Towers marks 90 sales in 2011
High-end condo project Bellevue Towers said it has sold 90 units since the beginning of the year — a notable improvement after sluggish sales caused its Portland developer Gerdling Edlen to turn the project over to lender Morgan Stanley in December. Last year at this time, Bellevue Towers sales were pretty stagnant. The project was completed in 2009, after the housing bubble had burst and residential real estate prices had fallen upwards of 30 percent off their peak. However, prices at the luxury condo project remained high with several units priced well over $1…
Seattle-area housing market at bottom?
I just about fell out of my chair when I read the news this morning. Well-known Seattle real estate blogger and Redfin product manager Tim Ellis — “The Tim” — has finally bought a house. Immediately I wondered, along with many of Ellis’ readers on his popular and controversial Seattle Bubble website: Has the local housing market finally hit bottom? Have we finally reached that nirvana, “it’s-a-great-time-to-buy” moment that real estate agents everywhere love to constantly proclaim? First, a bit of background, so that you can understand the monumental nature of this event, and its reflection on what’s happening in the Puget Sound real estate market right now, and what has happened over the last few…
Xanterra completes purchase of Windstar
Xanterra Parks & Resorts announced today that it has completed the purchase of Windstar Cruises following the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware approval last week of sale of the assets of Ambassadors International Inc., which filed for Chapter 11 reorganization on April 1. TAC Cruise, owned by Xanterra Holding Corp., of suburban Denver, won the competitive court bidding process for Windstar with a $39 million cash bid. Windstar will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Xanterra Holding, and operations will continue uninterrupted “The first order of business for Windstar Cruises is that it is full sail ahead,” Andrew Todd, president & CEO of Xanterra Parks & Resorts, said in a…
Gates Foundation expands social network
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced on Twitter this morning that it is launching a project to follow all of its grantees on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Flickr (click the link for the foundation’s page on those social media outlets). It’s hard to say how many grantees the foundation has; I’ve never actually seen an “active” number. And to be sure, the figure is constantly changing with new grants and old ones being retired. Bust be assured it is big; the foundation’s online database now lists more than…