May 30, 2024

The Seattle Storm’s new home: a beacon for women-led change

Hobson

Seattle is home to one of the most incredible new buildings in the country. Not just because of the building alone, but because of the team who brought the owner’s vision to life. The Seattle Storm Center for Basketball Performance is the first ground-up facility designed and built for a WNBA team. The Storm ownership group centered and elevated women at every step of the project, driven by a vision to create a facility built by, and for, women.

The work put forth by all levels of our team — from the Storm’s ownership to a first-year apprentice — shows what is possible in our industry through an intentional approach to women-led design, management, and project delivery. As the principal-in-charge for Sellen on the project, I feel a profound sense of gratitude and pride to have worked alongside each person on this team, and I am inspired by what this new facility represents in women’s professional sports and the A/E/C industry.

BUILDING THE DREAM TEAM

Photos courtesy of Sellen Construction [enlarge]

The crew begins to install the flooring for the practice courts. Women made up 85% of the project management and design team, and more than 40% of the subcontracted scope was performed by women-owned and diverse-owned subcontractors and suppliers.

It started with a challenge from the owners of the Storm: to forge a high-performance, women-led team with the experience, skill, and drive to deliver the first-of-its-kind facility. The 50,000-square-foot building includes practice courts, training rooms, a locker room, an aquatic center, and offices for the staff and ownership group with cutting-edge technology to help the Storm’s athletes achieve peak performance.

The team behind the four-time WNBA champion’s new home would need to share its values and reflect the diversity of our community. Owner’s representative barrientosRyan, designers ZGF Architects and Shive-Hattery, and Sellen embraced this vision from day one. As consultants and subcontractors were added to the team, it was made clear to all that this wasn’t just another project — it required a firm commitment to the owner’s vision.

No specific goals or target percentages for women-led teams, women-owned or diverse-owned subcontractor participation were established at any point. Instead of working to reach a specific metric, the team collectively decided to push the envelope.

“We looked at each other and thought about just how far we could push this,” said Sarah Carlson, Sellen’s senior project manager. “We decided to shoot for the stars and see what might happen.”

Word quickly spread throughout the local subcontractor community. Women-owned firms started reaching out directly to the project team wanting to join the project. As part of the bidding process, all subcontractors and consultants were evaluated based on past performance, current capacity, and a holistic review of their commitment to creating a more diverse construction industry.

THE NUMBERS TELL THE STORY

[enlarge]

Storm owners Lisa Brummel and Ginny Gilder speak to the project team at the topping out ceremony.

[enlarge]

Sellen’s self-perform concrete crew included two women in prominent roles (including the female journeyman nozzle operator on the left and an apprentice on the right).

The results speak for themselves: women comprised 85% of the project management and design team, and more than 40% of the subcontracted scope was performed by women-owned and diverse-owned subcontractors and suppliers. Throughout the project, women outnumbered men in the weekly coordination meetings between the owner, owner’s representative, architect, and construction team — an exceedingly rare sight in an industry long dominated by men.

“We leaned in to identify women-led consulting firms and principals in engineering and design here in Seattle,” said Maria Barrientos, a partner at owner’s representative barrientosRyan and a key leader on the project. “There were firms we had worked with for years that we were unable to engage with because they didn’t have women leaders, principals, and staff to assign to the project. Three years later, those firms have all made a push to hire and promote women in their firms. In addition, many of the women who worked on this project have been elevated in their firms and provided with more opportunities because of their experience delivering this facility for the Storm.”

Today, women represent less than 10% of the national construction workforce. It’s only fitting that Sellen’s self-perform concrete placement crew — responsible for creating the very foundation of the building — featured several women in prominent roles, including a female nozzle operator. The finished facility, which officially opened for players and front office staff in April, is a testament to the world-class craftsmanship put forth by every man and woman who set foot on the job site.

A CATALYST FOR CHANGE ON AND OFF THE COURT

The Center for Basketball Performance established a new precedent for women-led project delivery in the Puget Sound A/E/C industry. But what lessons does it offer for the broader industry and how can we successfully build upon its momentum?

[enlarge]

Seattle Storm co-owner Lisa Brummel, Maria Barrientos, a partner at owner’s representative barrientosRyan and a key leader on the project, and Seattle Storm co-owner Ginny Gilder at the building’s groundbreaking on March 27, 2023.

An interesting parallel exists in another sphere where women have historically been underrepresented: the national sports stage. In the finale of last month’s NCAA women’s basketball tournament, more than 24 million people tuned in to watch Caitlin Clark’s Iowa Hawkeyes face the South Carolina Gamecocks. It marked the first time in the history of the tournament that the women’s final garnered more viewers than the men’s, and it was the most-watched basketball game at any level — college or professional — since 2019. The game captured the attention of the entire country and put the elite athleticism and skill in women’s basketball on full display, inspiring a generation of new fans.

The Storm’s Center for Basketball Performance opened just 11 days after that game, representing a new standard for investing in professional women athletes. We hope that our project and the team behind it can serve as a similar catalyst within our respective fields.

While much work remains to build a more diverse construction workforce, we are seeing positive trends begin to emerge. At Sellen, 14% of our craft apprentices in 2023 were women, more than three times the local industry average. For those apprentices and women early in their careers who worked on this project, the women-led Center for Basketball Performance doesn’t represent an outlier — it shows what is possible when high-performing, women-led teams work together to accomplish something truly groundbreaking and advance our industry.

Erin Hobson is an executive vice president at Sellen Construction, serving as a principal-in-charge on projects throughout the Pacific Northwest, including the Storm Center for Basketball Performance.

Other Stories:

• Designing the first ground-up WNBA practice facility
  
• Engineering planning and project team collaboration for a new season, new home
  
• Setting a new standard for energy-efficient and low-carbon design for professional sports facilities
  
• A landscape to embody the Storm’s identity and mission