Colliers International is out with its third quarter review of office and industrial space in the Puget Sound area – and Pierce County shows the lowest office vacancy rate in the region.

Pierce County, according to Colliers, has a current overall office vacancy rate of 8.62 percent, up from last quarter’s 7.89 percent, but below Seattle, at 9.19 percent; the Eastside, at 10.24 percent, the North End (Everett, Monroe), at 18.40 percent; and South King County, at 19.09 percent.

In Pierce County, overall office vacancies in Class A, B and C were up in the Tacoma central business district from 7.52 percent to 8.23 percent; down in South Tacoma from 7.68 percent to 7.01 percent; down in South Pierce County from 8.16 percent to 4.46 percent; and up in Gig Harbor from 9.06 percent last quarter to 13.8 percent in the current quarter.

For industrial space, Colliers reported the overall vacancy rate in Pierce County rose to 11.12 percent from 10.86 percent. The Port of Tacoma showed an increase from 5.26 percent to 11.49 percent; Puyallup and Sumner were down from 28.96 percent to 23.79 percent; South Pierce County was up from 4.8 percent to 8.96 percent; and Lakewood was down from 6.79 percent to 5.65 percent.

A road construction project tied to the new Sound Transit light rail link to Sea-Tac Airport will mean major detours for some airport customers Wednesday and part of Thursday morning, the Port of Seattle announced today.

The airport explained the closures and detours on its Web site:

* Lower Airport Drive (Baggage claim/arrivals level). Access to the Lower Drive will be reduced to one rerouted lane. The detour route will be clearly marked.
* North Entrance to the Airport Parking Garage. The north entrance to the garage will be closed and parkers rerouted to the south garage entrance. Drivers coming to Sea-Tac from the north will be detoured from SR 518 to south I-99 and the south garage entrance. Traffic leaving the garage will not be affected and will exit to the north as always at S. 182 Street.
* Cell Phone Lot. Traffic heading from the Cell Phone Waiting Lot to the terminal will follow a detour route at S. 182 Street.
* Public Transportation. All public transportation buses (Metro Transit, Sound Transit, Pierce Transit) will both pick up and drop off passengers on I- 99. Public transit buses will not have access to the Lower Drive during this period.

Tanks of hundreds of small chin chin or "doctor fish" are hard at work this week trimming off dead skin and softening the feet of patrons at a Kent salon.

Kent Station's Peridot Nail Salon is the first in the Northwest to offer a pedicure accomplished by hundreds of toothless fish who nibble away at customers' feet.

The "fish pedicure" first became popular in Turkey and then in Asia and then spread to the East Coast early this summer.

Peridot co-owner Tuyet "Tweety" Bui said she the technique, which involves a 15-minute soak in a warm water tank filled with fish, tickles, but doesn't harm customers' feet. The fish nibble away at dead skin and leave the healthy skin behind.

They’re so new in DuPont that the city hasn’t yet given them a numbered address – but Community 1st Credit Union, now based in Tacoma, will break ground on its new headquarters tomorrow.

Look for the ceremony at 4 p.m. on Ross Loop, near Center Drive in downtown DuPont.

Community 1st Credit Union, formed as Evergreen Postal Credit Union in 1925, counts 8,000 members and 32 employees. The organization will open its fourth branch in Steilacoom next Monday (look for a soft opening, with a gradn opening to follow), and the headquarters branch will contain a fifth branch when it opens late next spring.

Boeing's 27,000 striking union machinists will receive their first strike benefit checks from the union Saturday as the work stoppage enters its fourth week.

The $150 weekly checks are payable beginning at the end of the strike's third week.

Striking members must show up in person at one of three locations, Green River Community College, the Seattle Union Hall or the Evergreen State Fairgrounds to pick up their checks.

Which location they visit is determined by their home Zip Code. Most Pierce County machinists will pick up their checks at Green River Community College. A list of Zip Codes for each site is available at the union's Web site.

Union members are scheduled to receive their checks based on the last number of their Social Security numbers. A list of pick-up times is available o the union site.

Union members must have performed picket or strike duties and be current on their August union dues in order to receive a check.

The strike, called after 80 percent of union members rejected Boeing's "best and final offer," shows no early signs of resolution. Neither the union nor Boeing has shown any signs of relenting thus far.

Union members say they're striking for a variety of reasons including the lack of job security language in the proposed contract, takeaways in the company's health coverage and an insufficient increase in pension benefits under the proposed 3-year deal.

Boeing says its offer would make Boeing machinists the best paid in the aerospace industry.

The strike has shut down production at Boeing's Puget Sound area commercial aircraft assembly plants.

Any hope that GrandLuxe RailJourneys would revive its deluxe touring train that made its last journey last month to Mount Rainier died this week.

The train's owner put the company's rolling stock, 31 refurbished vintage railway passenger cars, on the sale block in Napa, Calif. Take a tour of the cars offered for sale here.

The company, which offered 10 different 4-to-12 day tours to scenic sites throughout the country, halted its service because of financial problems after the train returned to Tacoma last month from an excursion to Mount Rainier.

The Mount Rainier excursion on rails belonging to municipally owned Tacoma Rail, was part of a tour of Northwest national parks.

GrandLuxe had been using Tacoma Rail tracks for more than a year.

The tours, which included deluxe accommodations and gourmet food, were expensive - from about $4,500 to $6,000 per person.

The train had operated as the American Orient Express before 2006.

Tacoma Rail's former Milwaukee Road tracks between Tacoma and Eatonville have hosted several unsuccessful rail ventures. Those include the Spirit of Washington Dinner Train, which abruptly shut down last fall, and Golden Pacific rail journeys, which faded away last year.