Windermere Real Estate announced yesterday plans to open an office on Commerce Street in downtown Tacoma.

The new office, called Windermere Metropolitan, joins the seven Windermere offices serving the Tacoma and Pierce County area. The office is located at 727 Commerce Street, Suite 210, near the Theater District Sound Transit Link Platform.

The owners of Windermere Metropolitan on Commerce are Terry Leigh and Mark Johnson, and part-owner Ron Lunsford.

Leigh has been in real estate for over 13 years, and Johnson is a third generation Realtor. They have been partners at Terry Leigh & Team L.L.C. for the past six years and are members of the urban developers group as well as Master Builders.

Leigh and Johnson are actively involved in the urban renewal of downtown Tacoma and have several plats in development throughout the area and Pierce County.

“The Windermere Metropolitan on Commerce office is an important addition to the Windermere presence in Tacoma,” says Leigh. “We are the first affiliate of a multi-state real estate franchise network to move into the downtown area.”

The new Tacoma location currently has 10 agents in its 3,000 square foot office, but that number is expected to grow as they actively recruit agents. The new office will be focusing on new construction and real estate sales in the downtown core and surrounding areas.

“The housing market in Tacoma is emerging strong, especially in and around downtown,” says Leigh. “We expect a lot of activity in the market, due in part to the number of new town home and condominium communities currently under development.”

Windermere Real Estate is the leading residential real estate network in the West with more than 290 offices and 8,000 associates serving neighborhoods in Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington and British Columbia.