Lorig Associates

Founder: Bruce Lorig

Specialty: Real-estate development

Year founded: 1972

Headquarters: Seattle

Some economic observers call rising Puget Sound college and university enrollment a sign of a shaky job market. To Lorig Associates, back-to-school-itis is a blessing.

As the economy soured in recent years, Lorig Associates shifted attention from private to public/private and, increasingly, collegiate projects. Founder Bruce Lorig said rising enrollment and limited off-campus rental housing options have created demand for apartment-style dormitories.

“Universities are changing the kind of housing they provide,” he said. “It’s a much more satisfying form of housing. All the universities are going to a different model than they had in the past.”

Lorig’s development and management portfolio includes mixed-use, public/private, renovation and collegiate projects. Lorig said his company has about 20 development specialists and about 100 in property management.

Lorig is master developer on Salishan, a 180-acre Tacoma Hope VI project redeveloping World War II housing into low-income and market-rate housing with parks and commercial space.

More typical of the firm’s recent work, though, is Nordheim Court, a 400-bed, apartment-style dorm for the University of Washington. Lorig said the firm has or will soon work on similar projects for Seattle Pacific University, Pacific Lutheran University, UW Tacoma and Oregon State University.

“We take a fairly long-term perspective on things,” Lorig said. “We’ve been fortunate. Many university clients had not built any university housing for years.”

As for the next three or four years, Lorig says he expects to return focus to urban-infill projects such as Walsh Plaza, 162 units of housing and 14,000 square feet of commercial space Lorig is developing in Seattle’s Central area.

“We’re looking forward to a much stronger real-estate market than the last several years,” Lorig said. “Demand is going to be up, and I think the development business is going to prosper.”