Chairman: Mort Mortenson
President: Tom McCune
Specialty: Large commercial buildings
Year founded: 1954
1999 revenues: $1 billion
Projected 2000 revenues: $1.2 billion
Largest current project: University of Washington-Cascadia Community College collocated campus in Bothell is a two-phase, $120 million project of five education buildings and multiple parking garages.

In 2000, one of M.A. Mortenson’s biggest goals is offering clients what it calls total facilities solutions.

In layman’s terms, that means one-stop shopping. The company wants to help a customer by clarifying his or her needs and meeting them at a guaranteed cost. It’s a matter of doing it all - from securing land to building the facility.

"We really believe that’s the future of the private sector," said Rodger Benson, director of business development in the Bellevue office. "You see it in the Midwest a lot. In that part of the country, the bulk of private work is done that way."

The goal of Minneapolis-based Mortenson is to conduct 40 percent of its business in this manner, he added.

Streamlining the contracting process makes sense, especially in the booming Puget Sound region where competition has increased. "Everyone is taking a run at the Pacific Northwest," said Benson.

But competition is not Mortenson’s biggest challenge; rather, it is the chronic shortage of workers, especially supervisory staff. Benson said there is more work than the company can staff.

Mortenson’s niche market is construction of education buildings, with higher education in particular the focus. Benson thinks this sector will continue to thrive, especially in Washington state, because of Gov. Gary Locke’s commitment to expanding educational opportunities. As noted above, the company’s largest current project is the University of Washington/Cascadia Community College collocation project in Bothell.

The emphasis on education projects means the general contractor/construction manager alternative bid process will become more important. Six years ago the state Legislature enacted several statutes that gave certain public agencies permission to use GC/CM.

This presents challenges because each public entity is interpreting the rules and managing the process somewhat differently, according to Benson. Nonetheless, Mortenson likes the growing use of GC/CM. Under this alternative, projects are bid not on cost; instead, the qualifications and reputations of the contractors going after big complicated projects are weighed.

"We’re real bullish on it," said Benson, who noted Mortenson has 10 recently completed or under-contract GC/CM projects.

Another high-profile project Mortenson is working on is the $58 million expansion of the parking garage at Sea-Tac International Airport. Work began in September 1997 and should be done in July. The result will be 3,000 new stalls.

Benson thinks contractors in the Northwest will remain busy with airport projects, particularly at Sea-Tac, Portland and Boise, Idaho.

Office building construction likely will remain on a roll. Thanks to Microsoft and other high-tech companies, Benson said, "The Eastside will continue to be hot." He is confident that as pricing pressures mount in Seattle and the Eastside some companies will "start squirting south through Renton and Kent and Pierce County."

Benson also thinks that urban high-density projects will continue to become more popular as single-family housing becomes more costly and traffic worsens. Currently, Mortenson has about 1,200 high-end units under construction. Among them is Westlake Tower, the $52 million Continental-Bentall project of 31 stories and 367 units in downtown Seattle.

Benson isn’t sure what will happen to the construction market in the next year or two. Last year many people thought activity would slow down because of the Asian financial crisis and Boeing layoffs, but the market has remained strong.

"Trying to predict the construction market is like trying to predict the stock market," he said. "You know what we watch? Activity at our design partners’ offices." He said that even though architects are cautious, things do not appear to be slowing down. "I think that bodes well for all of us."