October 13, 1999

UW Construction Hall of Fame adds Johnson, Burnstead

By BENJAMIN MINNICK
Journal Construction editor

On Nov. 5, two star players will be honored at Safeco Field. They won't be Ken Griffey Jr. and Alex Rodriguez -- instead they'll be Fred Burnstead and Larry Johnson, two heavy-hitters in the construction industry that will be honored at a banquet at the stadium.

Burnstead and Johnson are being inducted into the University of Washington's Construction Hall of Fame. They will join a who's-who list of construction leaders who also hold the honor: George Allen, Bob Cochran, William Conner, James Crutcher, Terry Deeny, Richard Eberharter, Allan Osberg, Bill Scott and Frank Young.

Johnson

"I'm thrilled," said Johnson about being inducted. "I hope it will help other contractors do similar things."

By "similar things," Johnson means volunteering in the community and promoting education.

"I would like to see all people involved in the construction industry have a greater effort in education," Johnson said. "We will turn out far better people as a result of it."

Johnson, a professional engineer since 1951, is noted for starting Prime Construction in 1962. Over the years, Prime has built office buildings, prisons, apartments and about 100 schools. Some of the larger projects include the Monroe prison, Metro's south operating base and Woodinville High School.

Johnson said his interest in construction came from his father, who immigrated from Sweden in 1892 as an apprentice carpenter, eventually opening a contracting business in Bellingham.

Growing up, Johnson decided to become a civil engineer. He joined the Navy's civil engineering program at the University of Washington and earned his bachelor's degree. Later, he went back and earned his master's degree in civil engineering. He taught structural engineering to architects while in school and later taught classes in estimating at the UW and Edmonds Community College.

Burnstead

Outside the construction industry, Johnson is known for his work in the community. In 1968, he helped raise funds and organize volunteers to build Kirkland's popular public swimming pool.

Johnson said more than 1 million people have used the pool over the years and last summer it attracted 1,700 kids a day. "It's probably the most popular outdoor pool in the area," he said.

Another Kirkland project Johnson helped build is its baseball park. Using donated labor, he directed the construction of two grandstands, a concession stand and meeting room for $15,000.

Johnson said his favorite organization is the Associated General Contractors. "I met and associated with some very wonderful people at the AGC," he said.

Johnson has served many different roles with the AGC, including being president in 1982. He even designed and built the fountain the graces the lower entrance to the AGC Building on Lake Union. It is called the Presidents' Waterfall in honor of past and future AGC presidents.

Perhaps Johnson's biggest accomplishment at the AGC was starting its Education Foundation in 1980.

Johnson got the idea for the foundation when Hendrik Zalle, one of the area's largest contractors before World War II, died many years ago and left $3.3 million to the UW to attract Scandinavian graduate students to its civil engineering program. The problem is there haven't been that many Scandinavian civil engineering graduate students interested in coming to the UW. Since the fund has seen little use over the years, it has grown to $12 million.

The Education Foundation has about $1 million in its fund, enough for 10-15 scholarships a year.

Unlike Johnson, Fred Burnstead backed his way into construction. He said he wanted to work for himself 40 years ago and had friends in the industry, so he built a house in Yarrow Point. That became the launching pad for Burnstead Construction.

Burnstead's company went on to build notable housing developments like South Cove on the south end of Lake Sammamish and a 200-home project now under way in the Timberline Ridge neighborhood west of Sahalee. The company also does some land development and light-commercial construction.

Burnstead said most of his projects are 50 to 100 homes. The company is not a custom builder, but does use a fair degree of customization in its home designs.

There is a change going on in the housing industry, according to Burnstead. He said married couples with kids have been displaced by single people and couples without kids, resulting in more demand for condos. "The baby boomers are all becoming empty nesters," he said.

Because of that, and higher density requirements for developers, Burnstead Construction is building more multi-family units.

But building permits are harder to get. "It's amazing how many different organizations you have to get approvals from," Burnstead said.

Burnstead said some of the biggest advances in the industry over the last 40 years are homes that are built more efficiently, are structurally stronger and more energy efficient.

"One of things that have happened over the 40 years is the growth of the [UW] Construction Management program and how important that training is," Burnstead said. Now, nearly every manager at Burnstead Construction graduated from a university's construction management program.

In addition to his impact on the housing industry, Burnstead has also made a difference in the community. He built the Merrywood School for the developmentally disabled and was involved in low-income and HUD-related projects. He also has been a member of the Bellevue Affordable Housing Task Force, the King County Affordable Housing Regulatory Reform Committee, the AGC of Washington Education Foundation Committee and Habitat for Humanity.

Burnstead said it is an honor to be part of the Hall of Fame.