TACOMA, WA-Don L Hirtzel is the new executive vice president and manager for Columbia Bank's northern region. The locally based full-service commercial bank is looking to Herzl to increase its presence in King County.

RENTON, WA-The 550-seat performing-arts center planned at the local high school will be called the IKEA Performing Arts Center, reflecting the $500,000 contribution that the retailer made to the center.

TACOMA, WA-The $7-million project will turn the historic eight-story structure into class A office building combining old-world charm with new-world technology for between $13 per sf and $18 per sf triple net plus operating expenses.

OLYMPIA, WA-The county, which is in the process of developing an RFP on the project, plans to begin construction on the building early 2001 and hopes to have it completed by fall 2001.

EVERETT, WA-The former seat of county government may be demolished and replaced with a new 12-story office building because it would cost more than $7 million to earthquake-proof the structure.

KENT, WA-A company official for Berkeley, CA-based Grocery Outlet Inc. says a second and third location may open in the county during first quarter 2001. The first location, a 15,000-sf store in Kent, is slated to open Nov. 18.

SEATTLE-The Seattle-based developer's winning project is the 16-story, former Pacific Medical Center completed in 1999. The building, the third in Seattle ever to win the award, had stood mostly vacant since 1987.

SPOKANE, WA-The commercial lender also is reporting that its fourth quarter could be down from a year ago, due to a problematic $135,000 lease that may have to be written off in the final three months of the year.