Below is GlobeSt.com's bi-weekly update on the middle markets throughout the North West region. Here's a look at the latest news, announcements and deals that you may have missed from areas including: Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Northern California.

NEWS & NOTABLES

EAGLE, ID—LiveRez.com, a cloud-based software for professional vacation rental managers, recently revealed that it is developing a revolutionary new channel management system for professional vacation rental managers. The system includes a game-changing internal marketing network that will allow professional managers using LiveRez (called partners) to advertise their inventory on other managers' websites, create regional co-op listing sites and refer bookings to other partners. This will allow properties to be marketed exponentially across the entire network, which at this time includes more than 1,000 websites.

SEATTLE—Urban Renaissance Group is celebrating its 10th anniversary this month, reflecting on a decade of significant expansion and tremendous growth. “URG was founded in 2006 with the core belief that the renaissance of our cities represented a fundamental shift in the American landscape—believing in and capitalizing on that change became our greatest opportunity,” says URG Founder and CEO, Patrick Callahan. Callahan's original vision for URG's unique operating platform incorporated a competitive blend of asset acquisition and repositioning, asset management, property management and construction services, provided by a team with local experience and expertise in both high rise and historic class A office properties across Seattle, Bellevue, Portland, Ore. and Denver, Colo. Looking ahead, as Callahan looks ahead to the next decade, the firm will continue focusing on strategic expansion of its footprint in Seattle, Bellevue, Portland and Denver, and will consider expanding into additional markets over the next five years. “The dichotomy of the city and suburbs continues to shift,” says Callahan. “The evolution of technology has also made the city easier to navigate—and it is becoming more and more accessible because of technology and transit investment.”