Golden

LOS ANGELES-El Segundo, CA-based Partner Engineering and Science Inc. has opened its first office in the Pacific Northwest in Seattle, headed by environmental scientist Ryan Golden. Under Golden’s supervision, the Seattle office will work with both real estate lenders and buyers on a variety of assignments including ESAs, soil and groundwater investigations and remediation, and commercial building inspections and energy audits.

Golden, who played a key role in starting Partner’s first New York area office in 2008, has performed and supervised more than 1,000 environmental site assessments and soil and groundwater investigations on all property types including multifamily, commercial office, retail, hotel, and numerous industrial sites including projects related to aerospace and technology, according to a prepared statement. 

A Phase I ESA is a report that identifies potential or existing environmental liabilities on commercial real estate.  The report is triggered by its purchase or refinancing, or by a lender who is providing a commercial real estate loan on the asset. According to Golden, Partner performs more ESAs than any other environmental due diligence firm in the US.

An increase in Phase I ESAs is directly related to an increase in commercial loan originations and Seattle experienced the highest percentage of growth in ESAs from first quarter 2011 over the same period last year, says Golden. This suggests that commercial real estate deals are getting done in Seattle, he says.

Partner Engineering and Science Inc. is a GlobeSt.com Thought Leader, providing viewpoints and solutions to commercial real estate's biggest engineering and environmental issues. Look for the firm's Science of Real Estate blog to launch on GlobeSt.com this summer. For more information about the Thought Leadership program, contact Scott Thompson at sthompson@alm.com.