The rapidly expanding structural engineering firm D'Amato Conversano (DCI) approaches the new millennium with the design of the firm's first high-rise buildings.

Currently DCI Engineers is in the early planning stages for Boise Towers, a mixed-use facility that will soon be Idaho's tallest building. Some of the other new high-rise projects include: Merrill Gardens, an assisted-living facility in Seattle's Belltown district, which includes two 12-story towers; a 30-story mixed-use structure; and a 23-story office tower in downtown Seattle. The company is also part of the team on the $40 million mixed-use and high-rise project, Civica Commons, in downtown Bellevue.

This year DCI Engineers expanded in the recreational area with the Open Ocean Exhibit for the Oregon Coast Aquarium, a renovation of the former home of Keiko the whale, into a three-phase ocean exhibit complete with a submerged pedestrian acrylic tunnel. The Portland branch is also about to begin work on the Palm Desert Sports Facility in Palm Desert, Calif., which includes several indoor sports arenas and a large hotel. And DCI Engineers completed several major theater projects during the past year, including Imax theaters in Salt Lake City and Victoria, B.C.

The Spokane branch is at work on a new athletic complex for Washington State University in Pullman and on the WSU Museum of Art Building. Meanwhile the civil department has just begun site preparation on a major casino project for the Coeur d'Alene Tribe in Idaho. This year the civil department also secured its largest civil project to date, a 50-acre development for a Tacoma sawmill facility.

DCI founder Mark D'Amato thinks the expanding use of the Internet will have a profound impact on the retail sector of the industry. "As more people rely on Internet shopping, that will lead to larger and more numerous distribution centers."

The Bellevue-based firm added 18 new employees this year, growing to 62. Less than two years ago that it opened branch offices in Spokane, Everett and Portland. DCI project revenues increased by $1 million during 1999, a 25 percent increase over the previous year. Much of the growth centered in hotels and long-term care markets.

This year the structural and civil engineering firm was the only engineering company on the West Coast to win two awards for excellence in the International Tilt-up Concrete Association Competition. The winning projects were the Tactical Skills Training Center in Kent and Trinity Life Center in Sacramento, Calif.