Published November 2004

Business Briefs

Seismic Shock Control Systems,
South Korean firm sign deal
Seismic Shock Control Systems Inc. of Arlington recently signed a licensing agreement with Kukje Bridge System Co. Ltd. of Seoul, South Korea, giving Kukje the exclusive right to sell and install SSCS’ Axon Seismic Bearing on bridges in South Korea.

The Axon Seismic Bearing is a newly developed and patented base isolation system that protects buildings, bridges and other structures from earthquake damage, SSCS said, noting that negotiations had been ongoing for six months.

Under the deal, Kukje also will have limited rights to manufacture certain components, SSCS said.

NorthWest Plus opens
full-service office in Smokey Point
NorthWest Plus Credit Union has opened a full-service office in the Smokey Point neighborhood of Arlington, moving from its existing part-time location inside the local Food Pavilion to across the street, at 17021 Smokey Point Blvd. in the Safeway Plaza.

The new branch hours will be from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday, and from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday. A grand opening is planned for Nov. 4.

Smokey Point office staff members include Branch Manager Torrie Ramos and member service representatives Shelley Knight and Alisha Beesinger. The branch includes a drive-through teller window and a drive-through ATM for convenience.

Tulalips re-open old casino
The Tulalip Tribes recently re-opened its 12-year-old casino following a $2 million remodeling of the building at 3410 31st Ave. NE.

The 45,000-square-foot venue, dubbed the Quil Ceda Creek Casino, offers a more intimate atmosphere than the tribes’ year-old, 227,000-square-foot Tulalip Casino just a mile north along I-5, said Marketing Manager Cara Althoff.

Quil Ceda Creek Casino is expected to employ 180 people and will include 600 video slot machines, 12 table games, and disc jockeys to provide music 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. (and until 4 a.m. on Friday and Saturday), Althoff said.

The smaller casino will be open five days a week, 10 a.m. Wednesday to 6 a.m. Monday, with a happy hour from 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, she said.

“The Q” will be the casino’s entertainment venue, instead of the larger Canoes Cabaret at the Tulalip Casino.

The “Pair-A-Dice Cafe” will be open while the casino is open and will serve fast food “including every kind of French fry you can think of,” Althoff said.

Evergreen State Fair
sets exhibitor record
This year’s Evergreen State Fair in Monroe attracted 845,278 visitors during its 12-day run, from Aug. 26 through Sept. 6. That is an increase of 6,518, or 0.78 percent, from 2003, fair officials said.

A total of 4,876 exhibitors (2,987 youth/1,889 adults) entered and displayed 21,174 items at the fair, an increase of 10.9 percent in exhibits from last year and also a new record in total exhibitors and items displayed, according to fair organizers. More than $162,500 in awards went to exhibitors.

Concert and rodeo attendance also increased this year, up 23 percent and 16 percent, respectively.

“A fair’s success is measured in many different ways,” said Fair Manager Mark Campbell. “Overall operation, participation and cooperation were excellent this year as new benchmarks were established in several key areas.”

Prime Pacific Bank
earns five-star rating
Prime Pacific Bank of Lynnwood recently earned a superior, or five-star, rating from BauerFinancial Inc., a national independent bank-rating and research firm.

The rating, which considers issues such as capital and profitability, was based on financial data as of June 30.

“We look at the entirety of the bank and condense it into a simple star rating that anyone can understand,” said Karen Dorway, BauerFinancial president, noting that the system uses a five-star spectrum, with five stars being the highest in quality.

Microvision enters
laser bar-code deal
Bothell-based Microvision Inc. said in October that Smead Manufacturing Co. will market and distribute the company’s Flic laser bar-code scanner. The scanners will carry Smead’s brand name.

With revenue of more than $530 million in 2003, Minnesota-based Smead sells a line of office supplies carried by big-box retailers including Office Depot, Staples and Costco Business Centers.

Nastech partners with Merck
on obesity nasal spray
Nastech Pharmaceutical Co.’s experimental obesity treatment could generate more than $340 million for the company under a new drug development agreement with Merck & Co.

The Bothell company’s obesity nasal spray is based on a naturally produced hormone called Peptide YY 3-36. Known as PYY, the hormone helps to produce the full feeling most people experience after eating.

Under the development agreement, Merck will take charge of advancing the obesity nasal spray through remaining studies and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s approval process. Merck also will lead efforts to sell the drug if it is approved.

But Nastech has the option to co-promote the nasal spray in the United States. It also retains the right to make the drug. That will be done at the company’s Bothell headquarters or a nearby location, said Steven Quay, Nastech’s chief executive.

In return for partnering with Merck, Nastech gets an initial $5 million payment in cash and up to $131 million if all development and approval milestones are met. Merck also could pay out another $210 million for hitting sales-related milestones with the drug.

AquaSox games
to be heard on KRKO-AM
The Everett AquaSox, the local Class-A Northwest League affiliate of the Seattle Mariners, has partnered with radio station KRKO-AM, Northsound 1380, to broadcast all 76 AquaSox home and away games for the 2005 season.

“Our agreement with the AquaSox highlights our station’s programming commitment to Snohomish County and NorthSound listeners,” said Andrew Skotdal, president and general manager for Northsound 1380.

The station, which is an ESPN radio broadcasting affiliate, has been on the air in the northern Puget Sound area since 1923.

Broadcaster Pat Dillon, who is entering his 11th year in the league and eighth with the AquaSox, will be calling the action.

“I believe our many fans will enjoy tuning in to Pat Dillon’s broadcast and a new season of AquaSox baseball,” said Pete Carfagna, vice president of baseball operations. “We could not be happier about this new partnership.”

Edward Jones’ Pavish
moves to new office
Jessica Pavish, an Everett investment representative with Edward Jones, has moved into a new office at 2511 Colby Ave. She will be holding a grand-opening celebration at 8 p.m. Nov. 2.

“We’ve grown right along with this community,” said Pavish, who has been serving the Everett market for 20 years. “Our new office will allow us to continue providing the quality service our clients have come to expect from Edward Jones."

She can be reached at 425-257-1264.

EverTrust shareholders
OK merger with KeyCorp
EverTrust Financial Group shareholders in October approved a plan to sell the Everett-based bank to financial giant KeyCorp for $194.7 million. With the closing of the deal, EverTrust will cease to exist as it merges into Key’s Northwest banking subsidiary.

The vote was the last step in the merger, which already had been approved by regulators. The two banks already have begun the process of integrating EverTrust into KeyCorp’s banking system, with the process expected to be completed by mid-November, Key officials said.

So far, Key has committed to converting the former EverTrust main branch in downtown Everett to become a KeyBank branch. It’s still evaluating what to do with the other 11 branches in Snohomish and King counties. And it is still negotiating with individual EverTrust employees to determine which ones will take jobs with the new regime.

KeyCorp is paying $25.60 a share to buy EverTrust. The banks said shareholders will soon receive information about how they will get paid from a third party, Computershare Investor Services, which will handle the payments.

EverTrust also plans to pay a final quarterly dividend of 11 cents a share, which will be prorated to reflect the 11 days it will operate independently during the month of October.

Everett gets indoor football team
The National Indoor Football League has approved an expansion team for Everett — the Everett Hawks — that hopes to call the Everett Events Center home.

The next step is to work out a lease agreement with the events center, said Lisa Balmes, Everett Hawks spokeswoman. The team could roll out the green turf in March for a 14-game season that includes seven home games.

Fred Safstrom, executive director of the arena’s public facilities district board, said the NIFL’s vote was a big step forward.

“We have made the outline of a contract proposal to the Hawks; they have responded with questions,” Safstrom said. “I would be optimistic that we will have football here this spring.”

Everett Hawks’ opponents could include an expansion team out of the Tri-Cities as well as teams from Billings, Mont.; Casper, Wyo.; Sioux Falls, S.D.; and Omaha, Neb.

Cascade Bank plans 17th branch
Everett-based Cascade Bank has filed for regulatory approval to open its 17th branch, which would be in Everett’s Silver Lake neighborhood.

Bank officials said they hope to open the full-service branch at 10530 19th Ave. SE in July. It would be Cascade’s fifth Everett branch.

First Heritage, CityBank
among top 10 SBA lenders
Two Snohomish County-based banks ranked among the top 10 SBA lenders in Western Washington both in loan volume and loan value for fiscal year 2004.

First Heritage Bank of Snohomish ranked fourth in the amount of U.S. Small Business Administration 7(a) loans processed, at $15.3 million, and seventh in the number of loans processed, 53, the agency’s Seattle District office reported.

CityBank of Lynnwood ranked 10th in loan amount, at almost $10.6 million, and sixth in the number of loans process, also 53, the SBA said.

The entire region issued a record number of SBA loans for the year ending Sept. 30, with the greatest growth came through the SBA’s economic development-focused 504 loan program managed by Evergreen Community Development Association, headquartered in Seattle, and Northwest Business Development Association, headquartered in Spokane.

The two firms provided 131 loans for $66.7 million, a 47 percent increase from fiscal 2003 in number of loans and a 43 percent increase in dollars loaned. The 504 program is designed for long-term purchase of real property and equipment that will create new jobs.

In the SBA 7(a) commercial loan program, the Seattle office guaranteed 1,554 loans totaling $267.7 million, a 15 percent increase from the 1,346 loans issued last year and a 2 percent growth from $261.3 million in 7(a) loans guaranteed in fiscal 2003. “

This reflects a trend toward smaller 7(a) loans,” said Lyn Hamilton, acting district director of the Seattle District office. “Some of our largest lenders are using the SBA Express loan program more frequently.”

Big Brothers Big Sisters
mentoring program gets boost
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Snohomish County recently received a three-year grant totaling $479,908 from the Department of Education to increase and strengthen its school-based mentoring program, Mentors Matter.

The program, a partnership among the YMCA of Snohomish County Big Brothers Big Sisters branch, the Everett and Edmonds school districts and the community, provides early identification and mentoring for youth in grades four through eight who are at the highest levels of risk for academic failure.

“For the first year of the grant we will be targeting fourth graders that are struggling academically,” said Maddy Metzger-Utt, BBBS executive director. “In year two and three, we will follow the kids into the fifth and sixth grades and make new matches in the fourth grade.”

BBBS has selected four schools in each district with the highest percentages of kids on free and reduced lunch and the highest percentages of minorities and will match 100 youth in a one-to-one relationship with a caring adult role model in the first year of the grant. In the second year, 125 will be matched, and 150 will be matched in the third year.

Community Transit donates
vehicles to nonprofits
Community Transit recently announced recipients of its fifth annual Van GO grant program, which provided six vans and four mini-buses to nonprofit groups serving Snohomish County.

The vehicles, including mini-buses equipped with wheelchair lifts, were retired from CT service this year, the agency said.

Groups receiving the vans or mini-buses are: Catholic Community Services and Work Source Homeless Veterans Reintegration Project in Everett, Diversified in Mukilteo, Edmonds Boys & Girls Club, Evergreen Manor in Everett, the Interfaith Association of Snohomish County in Everett, Lutheran Community Services in Everett.

Other recipients include the Snohomish Boys & Girls Club, the Snohomish County Center for Battered Women in Everett, the Stillaguamish Senior Center in Arlington, and Warm Beach Senior Community and Warm Beach Christian Camps and Conference Center in Stanwood.

CT received 26 applications representing a total of 30 agencies for this round of grants. A review panel measured each application against criteria established by the agency’s Board of Directors.

Jobless rate plummets to 5.2 percent
The jobless rates in Snohomish County plunged in September, but economists with the state Employment Security Department say it’s too early to tell whether the dramatic drop signals a real economic turnaround or is simply a statistical blip.

The agency reported that the county’s unemployment rate fell to 5.2 percent in September, a drop of seven-tenths of a percentage point from 5.9 percent in August.

That’s the lowest level of unemployment in the county since August 2001.

The numbers were similar statewide. Washington’s September rate was 5.1 percent, a drop of eight-tenths of a percentage point from August.

However, it’s hard to generalize about the numbers, with some industries continuing with layoffs and others in the hiring mode, said Donna Thompson, a labor economist with the Employment Security Department.

Among those hiring are the aerospace industry, with the Boeing Co. and related firms adding 300 new employees in September and the gaming industry, with the Stillaguamish Tribe hiring 200 people for its first casino and the Tulalip Tribes hiring 150 people for the opening of its second casino. Also, a return of the school year added 500 jobs in the county.

In retail, local stores dropped 300 jobs in September, but Alderwood’s expansion is expected to turn those numbers around. And in construction, the slowing season accounted for 300 lost jobs in September.

The labor force in Snohomish County was estimated at 347,000 people in September, with 328,900 employed and 18,100 looking for work.

Back to the top/November 2004 Main Menu