"If you believe everything you hear on the street," quips Sleeth, "then there is about $100 million of Puget Sound product under contract right now." He notes that some of the deals he's hearing about have three or four months to go before their scheduled closings. "And you never know what's actually going to close," Sleeth adds. "Sometimes deals fall out, especially when you're talking about multi-property transactions. They have a lot of moving parts and a higher likelihood of not succeeding."

The downtown Seattle market is out of the loop as far as deal flow. "There aren't that many opportunities for classic retail plays in downtown--most of the buildings with retail are matched with something else above, like offices."

As far as the size of deal flow Sleeth expects to see this year, he says, "We're coming off a year with a high volume, deals tallied just under $500 million. I think 2002 will be more along the lines of an average year, more like $250 million." As far as how the first quarter of this year will pencil out, Sleeth says, "It's anybody's guess, but actual closings will probably be pretty light."