As we approach the final quarter of 2020, commercial tenants, property managers and landlords continue to monitor government orders, economic trends and financial realities. In our latest webinar, we took a look at what’s ahead for Seattle’s office market and office leasing.

With the pandemic continuing, a recession underway and an election in the offing, there’s no shortage of trends and developments affecting the commercial real estate sector. In the fourth installment of our webinar series on Sept. 10 from 1:00 – 2:00 p.m., we provide an update and outlook on office leasing.

Holmquist + Gardiner hosted a webinar on Thursday, June 4 examining the latest that business owners need to know about the impacts of COVID-19 in Seattle and Washington state.

Here are the main takeaways.

Join Holmquist + Gardiner Partners Imants F. Holmquist and Hamilton H. Gardiner for a Business and Commercial Real Estate Update on Thursday, June 4 at 1:00 p.m.

The Federal Clean Water Act (and many other statutes) makes it clear that any development has to comply with a no net-loss standard when it comes to impacting wetlands and other natural resources. Project proponents who could impact a wetland must first attempt to avoid the impact, then if an impact is inevitable minimize the impact. Finally, the party must mitigate for any impacts that do occur. Boiling that down, if you impact an acre of wetland, you have to replace it with at least another acre of wetland.

The federal Opportunity Zone program offers significant tax incentives to taxpayers who invest in land-use, business or real-estate projects within specified low-income and underserved communities. Investors with the right strategy and long-term investment goals can take advantage of this program to reduce, or event eliminate, their capital gains taxes. 

As a real-estate attorney with Holmquist + Gardiner, I specialize in transactions involving mixed-use development properties and tax-deferred investment strategies, including Opportunity Zone investments. I help clients mitigate risks and successfully take advantage of incentives.