Developer of the Year

Touchstone experiments with bio-tech market

“Location Location Location” has long been the mantra for developers. But Touchstone Corp. has shown that creativity and cooperation can go a long way in making tough locations work.

by Lucy Bodilly

Douglas Howe, president of Touchstone Corp., Seattle, has long been known as a developer with pioneering ideas.

Naturally. His ancestors came from New England to Tacoma, Wash. in 1888 as lumbermen. They've worked in that business ever since.

Howe worked in the family business as a hardwood importer traveling to Asia and Europe through his 20's. Though it was a lucrative business, he decided he wanted to be more entrepreneurial and returned to his family's pioneering ways, by opening Touchstone Corp in 1982. Since then James O'Hanlon and Shawn Perry have joined the company as principals.

The company's first project tied into the founders' pioneer roots with a step back into Washington State history. Touchstone renovated the original Burlington Northern Railroad Building in Tacoma. George Weyerhaeuser, another pioneer lumber family member, came to the opening celebration. Weyerhaeuser Co. had occupied the building in the 1920s when it was just a seedling firm George came by to give Howe a copy of the original lease, which still hangs in the building lobby. Because of its historical significance, and Touchstone's expertise, the job won an award from the National Historical Society for best project that year.

Pioneering has continued for Touchstone, which is why Northwest Construction is awarding it the Developer of the Year award for 2005.

It's latest project, the 9th and Stewart Building in Seattle is another example of the company's willingness to accept risk. Biomedical research labs always come with strict criteria. Complex electrical, HVAC and structural systems are necessary to power the equipment, control airflow and dampen building vibrations that could affect delicate research. Not the type of project a developer would take on, without a solid tenant and sound financial backing in place.

Touchstone had been contemplating moving into the Biotech market and started planning for a site at 9th and Stewart near the downtown Seattle core. The tenant had yet to appear. The small site at a great location was too small for the normal biotech facility -- a spread out and a few stories tall. The only solution was to shorten the footprint and make the building taller.

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"We were approached by a potential tenant, Corixa, which gave us the go ahead to build the facility," Howe explained. With the major tenant in place, Howe went hired a design team, but then left 25 percent of it as shell space. The plan is to lease it to a bio-tech company or easily convert it to office space.

How do you pull a magic disappearing act on the HVAC and electrical systems necessary to accommodate a biotech tenant. Many of the building systems are removable in case the tenant is just your average northwest company.

Right now the top floors of the building contained complicated HVAC and electrical systems, with louvers on the exterior. The louvers come off so additional HVAC equipment can be hoisted through the space, if a bio-tech client takes over that portion of the building.

"We designed all of that to be removable in case the tenant turned out to be a traditional business," said Ron Klemencic, principal with Magnusson Klemencic Associates, Seattle, the structural design firm in charge of the building.

That kind of flexibility, and the trust in team members to allow for unusual designs, is another hallmark of Touchstone.

"Not only is it daring build high rise biotech, it is unusual to have it in the downtown core. To build part of the building on spec. . ? " Klemencic said. "That's what is great about working for them. We do the math and the science to design the building and they supply the vision."

Another reason for the developer's success is its reputation for being tough but fair, said Bob Witty, operations manger with Veca Electric, Seattle. The two companies have worked together on several projects on a flat fee basis. "Shawn is every tough, but if things happen that are out of our control, that we couldn't predict in our proposal, he works to make it fair," Witty said. On 9th and Stewart, the city required more generators to supply the building in case of power outage, which would have cost VECA thousands of dollars out of pocket. Since there was no way to predict the cost, and no way to sway the city, Touchstone made up the difference by cutting costs elsewhere.

Still Touchstone does not play favorites. Contractors and designers are selected from a select team of bidders. Any company can come out on top, if their experience and skills match the project needs.

"We did a lot of research and chose NBT to design 9th and Stewart, because they have won more awards for bio-tech design than any other firm in the country, Howe explained.

No matter who works with Touchstone, they can count on having a very transparent relationship, according to Mark Granger, operations manager with Lease Crutcher Lewis, the general contractor for 9th and Stewart. Granger has worked with Shawn Parry for over 20 years, when the both started out at Howard S. Wright Construction, Seattle.

"We always do an open book estimate, and we pick the subcontractors early so that they can be involved in the design process." Granger said.