Harbor Civic Center

A public library, council chamber and waterfront plaza for the City of Seattle, built on reclaimed land and opened on the date the city announced two years earlier.

The challenge

The site is reclaimed harbor land with a high water table, bordered on two sides by a live waterfront promenade that the city wanted kept open through the summer season.

The opening date was public before we were appointed. Any slip would have been visible to every resident, so the schedule had no hidden float to lean on.

Our approach

We split the work into an early ground package and the main build. Ground improvement ran ahead of the main contract, so the structure started on firm, dry ground instead of waiting on it.

• Dewatering and ground improvement completed before the main contract mobilized.

• A phased promenade closure, so the waterfront stayed open all summer.

• Weekly public updates published alongside the client report, written in plain language.

On a civic project the client is the whole city. We reported to residents the same way we report to the council: every week, with the real numbers.

Rebar crews on the council chamber columns, with the promenade open alongside.

The outcome

Harbor Civic Center opened to the public on schedule in spring 2024 and achieved LEED Gold certification. The promenade closures finished two weeks earlier than planned.

The project led to our permanent Seattle office, opened in 2026 to serve civic and commercial clients across the Pacific Northwest.