Utility rates going way of phone plans?

The chief executives of Duke Energy Corp. and Southern Co. talked about changing technologies and energy-industry trends. But they also championed the need for pricing innovation in the sale of electricity.

Speaking on “Adapting to a Changing Power Industry” at the N.C. CleanTech Summit at UNC Chapel Hill’s Friday Center for Continuing Education, Southern CEO Tom Fanning said the utility rate system is outmoded and does not meet customers needs.

“It would probably be more helpful to everybody if…

Why these are boom times for some Bay Area malls

The Bay Area’s humming economy has made the region’s shopping centers hot properties for retailers.

According two recent reports, vacancy rates at many malls and shopping centers are very low and are projected to remain so at least for the next year. While there are national reports of “dead” or failing malls, experts disagree whether this is a trend to watch in the Bay Area.

While the average shopper might loosely use the word “mall” for many shopping destinations, the word encompasses an ecosystem…

Buyer locks down prime downtown Bellevue development site

One of the last development sites along Bellevue Way in downtown Bellevue is back on the market, and the asking price has jumped 45 percent in four years.

This is not dissuading buyers. A party has the 1.2-acre site at 120 Bellevue Way N.E. under contract, said Mark C. Anderson, a commercial real estate broker at Colliers International’s Bellevue office.

The Robbins Brothers’ jewelry store and a restaurant, Coco Ramen & Curry Bar, operate on the property that the Bates family has owned for three-quarters…

New medical office building breaking ground in Roseville soon

Work should begin soon a new three-story office building intended for medical users in Roseville.

Tanner Industries will be the builder for the 33,000-square-foot building behind an existing retail property, north of where Sierra College Boulevard meets Douglas Boulevard.

The building will get underway as soon as the first tenant is signed, said Tyler Jerde, office leasing and sales broker with Turton Commercial Real Estate in Roseville.

“I feel very, very confident,” he said. “With medical, especially,…

This older downtown Bellevue building just sold, but it's not going anywhere

A good-sized property where restaurant Sushi Maru operates near the core of downtown Bellevue has sold for $7 million, and surprisingly the buyer is not a real estate developer.

Sushi Maru owner Paul Choi bought the property at 205 105th Ave. N.E., behind the Safeway (NYSE: SWY) from Bates Oil Co., according to public records. Choi plans to continue operating his restaurant in the nearly 50-year-old building and will continue to use the property for parking, according to a real estate broker who…