Unico Wins Big at this Year’s Night of the Stars Gala

SEATTLE, WA (November 23^rd, 2022) – This November, NAIOP’s Washington chapter hosted their annual Night of the Stars Gala, widely considered the most prestigious awards event in the industry. Over 1,000 of Seattle’s biggest real estate players put on their finest attire to celebrate and recognize local projects and companies that left their mark on the Greater Puget Sound community.

This year, Unico took home the top honor in three categories:

Deal of the Year
Historic Renovation of the Year
Developer of the Year

These awards are tremendous honors for a job well done. The credit goes to our team members, who know that no better feeling exists than seeing hard work come to life. Thank you to everyone who contributed to these projects, and who continue to make a positive impact in the communities we serve.

Below is additional information on each award:

Deal of the Year – Longacres

Longacres is a 158-acres site, with an additional one million square feet of existing commercial real estate. Located in Renton, Longacres has a rich history of being home to the renowned horse-racing track and most recently, the Boeing Commercial Airplane HQ facility. Unico secured the site at $100 Million.

Within a 93-day period, Unico sourced, negotiated, and signed a lease with Seattle Sounders FC, developed a repositioning strategy for existing office space, worked with City of Renton on vision of campus to develop initial master plan, and secured necessary capital to close the deal.

With the Sounders as the key anchor tenant and community partner, Unico casted a bold vision to recreate Longacres as a transit-oriented district.

This vision includes repositioning, upgrading, and leasing the remaining vacant office space, plus development of +3,000 apartments, retail, and upgraded green space circling the central ponds for the public to enjoy.

Deal of the Year | Night of the Stars | Unico Properties

Historic Renovation of the Year – The Astor at the Washington Building

Initially built for the Scandinavian American Bank in the 1920’s, The Astor at the Washington Building has been transformed into a 156-unit apartment community in the heart of Downtown Tacoma. The project renewed one of Tacoma’s architectural treasures and brought new life and vitality to the neighborhood while complying with National Parks Service rehab requirements. In addition to the property being located within an Opportunity Zone, our team was able to solve budget constraints by leveraging Historic Tax Credits and two local tax financing programs.

Great care was taken to deliver apartments with modern finishes while preserving their historical character throughout common areas and corridors. The exterior terra cotta tiles were carefully restored along with the decorative cornice. Many interior features that remained were restored and/or repurposed to accommodate the current century. The main lobby features the original marble tile walls and the bank vault in the basement has been re-purposed into a speak-easy lounge.

The building brings tasteful and sophisticated apartment homes in various layouts to Downtown Tacoma, a submarket previously lacking housing opportunities for the city’s professional population and growing student contingency.

The Astor’s first residents moved in earlier this year.

Historic Renovation of the Year | Night of the Stars | Unico Properties

Developer of the Year – Unico Properties LLC

This honor recognizes a company whose noteworthy contributions to the industry distinguish it from its competitors. NAIOP chose Unico for our demonstrated commitment to clean energy and community development.

Unico has always followed an innovative approach to development. Our diversity of expertise and willingness to look beyond the obvious continues to transform the neighborhoods where we operate. We are dedicated to leaving each project better than we found it by incorporating sustainable operations into the buildings we transform.

The three projects we submitted for this category include The Cascadian, The Astor, and Climate Pledge Arena Rooftop Solar.

We have celebrated many milestones on The Cascadian project. Three years ago, Unico acquired the land with a vision to add to the lively tech-hub of South Lake Union. Now, the 212,000 square foot Class-A creative office space has earned LEED Platinum (Core + Shell) and is Salmon-Safe certified. We were especially proud of the employees who worked on this project, as they were able to deliver it on time and within budget during the most challenging phase of the pandemic.

In collaboration with the City of Tacoma, Unico worked tirelessly to re-design the landmark Washington Building into what is now known as The Astor, a 156-unit apartment community. The renovations brought the building’s historical charm into the environmental standards of the 21^st century. Seeing residents move in and enjoy living at the core of downtown was a gratifying experience for our whole team.

Spearheading the solar panel installations for the Climate Pledge Arena has been one of our proudest projects. Climate Pledge is on track to be the first Net Zero Carbon-Certified stadium in the world as certified by International Living Future Institute. The solar panel installation is an indispensable part of reaching the project’s 100% renewable energy goal.