Photo by Jeff Beck The Gig Harbor Costco, which opened in 2007, and surrounding retail buildings were built using more than 115,000 masonry units.

The Costco at Harbor Hill in Gig Harbor is on 17.5 acres of a 320-acre development, master planned by the Olympic Property Group.

The 152,000-square-foot warehouse is the anchor of a 23.5-acre “village” that also includes five specialty retail buildings. The warehouse, along with the surrounding retail buildings, needed to be designed and constructed as a unified architectural expression, as required by the city.

A design palette was created that integrated concrete masonry, steel, glass and sloping metal roof forms to establish the look for the retail village. Five earth-tone masonry colors, in both split-face and smooth-face finish, were blended into the Costco warehouse and village design. More than 115,000 masonry units are woven into the project.