March 11, 2016

New leaders at Mahlum but they'll maintain the ‘Norwegian tradition'

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The Mahlum partners are (left to right) David Mount, Kurt Haapala, Mark Cork and Anne Schopf.

Mahlum has some new leadership, but don't expect big changes in direction for the Seattle architecture firm, which specializes in health care, education and student housing.

Operations Partner Diane Shiner and Managing Partner Gerald (Butch) Reifert will sell back their shares to the privately held firm, and retire March 31.

Mark Cork, David Mount and Kurt Haapala purchased shares at the end of 2015 and were named partners. They join Anne Schopf, a shareholder and partner in charge of design, in leading Mahlum.

Terms of the deal were not released.

This is the fifth generation of management for Mahlum, which was established in 1938. It has a staff of 70, split between Seattle and Portland.

Shiner

Reifert

Schopf said the new partners have been studio directors for years and worked with the current owners to help run the firm. A new strategic plan is under way outlining Mahlum's vision for itself in 2025, but don't expect big surprises.

“Our roots are in conservative Norwegian tradition (although) none of us are Norwegian anymore,” Schopf said. “I don't see taking us in a dramatically new trajectory.”

Mahlum provides architectural design, interior design and master planning. In 2014, it won the Firm Award from the American Institute of Architects Northwest and Pacific Region.

Most of its work is in the Northwest, but the firm has projects elsewhere, including New Orleans and San Diego.

Current work includes renovations at UW Medical Center, a residence hall and dining facility for University of Washington Bothell, and Northwood Elementary School in Mercer Island.

Schopf said Mahlum is doing well, with a lot of work now in elementary and secondary education.

Gross revenues rose 52 percent and staff levels are up 22 percent over the last two years, she said. Gross revenues were $20 million in 2015, and she said this year's look comparable.

The impact of the recession came later for Mahlum because of its focus on public K-12 projects. There's a lag between when school bonds are passed and work gets done.

“We had a couple really dark years where it wasn't much fun,” said Reifert. Things started to turn about three years ago, he said, as voters began passing school bonds again.

“There's more voter confidence in where the economy is going than we've seen — in the last several years,” he said.

But school officials have tighter budgets today and want to be sure their buildings are efficient, adaptable and durable, Reifert said.

Higher education also is adapting, Schopf said. Colleges are building more 5-over-1, wood-frame residence halls to compete with units on the private market.

“More and more universities need to answer to a ... developer pro forma,” she said. “They have to become more entrepreneurial. The state is not just handing over a lot of money.”

For instance, she said, schools want flexible dorms. That might mean designing a two-bedroom unit so it could accommodate three people, or adding amenities that conference goers want when they rent dorms in the summer.

Owners also must stay competitive in health care, she said. They want rooms with universal features that can be used for a variety of purposes and by all sorts of patients, to avoid down time and save money.

At Mahlum, Cork will oversee firm operations. He joined Mahlum in 1998 and leads the post-secondary education studio. His recent projects include UW's West Campus Housing Phase I.

Mount joined the firm in 2000. He leads the K-12 practice and oversees best practices, construction technologies and sustainability for all the studios. He was project manager for Gray Middle School in Tacoma.

Haapala joined Mahlum in Portland in 1998, and is based there. The firm said in a press release that he helped build the student housing studio, and brought in three clients over the last year: the universities of North Dakota, San Diego and Wyoming. He will lead business development.

Schopf will continue to oversee health care, student housing and education projects. The firm said that under her leadership, Mahlum won a 2015 AIA National Healthcare Design Award for the pediatric emergency department at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane.

Shiner has been with Mahlum for over 30 years, 20 of them in Portland. She has done planning and design for school districts, universities and health care projects. She was principal in charge on Thurston Elementary School in Springfield, Oregon, which won a citation from the AIA.

Reifert joined Mahlum in 1988 and has helped build the education facilities studio. He was principal in charge of Wilkes Elementary School on Bainbridge Island and Nathan Hale High School modernization in Seattle. He has been a leader of the AIA Committee on Architecture for Education.