Turner Construction
Specialty: Construction management, general contracting
Is Seattle’s construction boom sustainable? Dan Kahn won’t say, but his company, Turner Construction, is enjoying the ride. “Will (construction) level off or dive back down?” he asked. “If I knew the answer, I’d be worth a lot of money.” Two busy years Kahn, manager of business development and contract services for Turner, said the company has seen a strong upswing in activity over the last couple of years.
“I think in ’04 we came alive,” he said. Hotel, retail and condominium activity has been especially strong, but Kahn said he’s waiting to see if other product types, such as office buildings, join the mix. Turner has broken ground on the $92 million King County office building in downtown Seattle and will begin work on the 26-story City Center Plaza office tower in Bellevue this summer. More typical are mixed-use projects such as Vulcan’s 2200, which Turner is set to complete this summer, as well as Beacon Capital Partners’ 5th and Madison condo tower and a Tarragon residential tower slated for Third and Virginia. Tight labor market
“All the top-notch trade labor is spoken for,” Kahn said. “If it really starts getting busier, you can’t supplement with inexperienced labor. “It’s just like football -— there’s critical key positions,” he said. “If you don’t have a good quarterback, you’re in trouble. A good superintendent who can manage a hard job is critical.”
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