New Banking Concept Introduced inVancouver

Vancouver - As a 95-year old bank, First Independent is in the re-branding stage. Yost Grube Hall's branch renovation in Cascade Park reflects the new brand image for First Independent Bank and will help them introduce the beginning of a new approach to banking.

First Independent Bank, Cascade Park is a renovation of an existing branch building that is easily 30 years old. A series of sofits will draw the visitor inside, and create a sense of place at the teller line. The entry sofit terminates at the wall behind the teller line that will serve as a place for the bank logo/promotional material. Light boxes will occur at the check writing counter and teller line to demarcate these special areas of the space. Construction is tentatively slated to be completed by Fall 2006.

Legacy Partners Announces Golf Course/Condo Project

MUKILTEO - Legacy Partners, announced its newest Puget Sound-area condominium project - Front9 - in Mukilteo.

The 26-acre, golf-course-view project, is a conversion to condominiums of 264 of 558 apartments at On the Green Apartments in Mukilteo's exclusive Harbour Pointe neighborhood. Legacy Partners purchased the property for $69 million.

This is Legacy Partners' second condominium conversion project in the Puget Sound area. The company's other project, announced late last year, is the conversion of Seattle's historic Queen Anne High School into upscale condominiums.

Front9's resort-like amenities include indoor and outdoor swimming pools, a fitness center, a half-court indoor basketball court, outdoor playground equipment, expansive public patios with barbecues, a spa and sauna, and even a custom-designed gazebo featuring seating areas and a fire pit.

With condominium homes located in 14 buildings, Front9 provides an intimate condominium experience by minimizing shared walls and providing each homeowner with a private entrance.

MKA/Courthouse Win National ACEC Award

Seattle- The 23-story United States Courthouse in Seattle rose above 162 contenders to take top honors at the national "2006 Engineering Excellence Awards" sponsored by the American Council of Engineering Companies. Local structural and civil engineering firm Magnusson Klemencic Associates (MKA) won the "Grand Conceptor Award," ACEC's highest honor across all disciplines, for their design of one of the safest courthouse structures in the nation.

The winning system, "Steel Plate/ Com- posite Concrete Shear Wall" (SPCCSW) combines steel plate wall panels, steel wide-flange beams and columns, and concrete-filled steel pipe columns in a solution that eliminates the exterior moment frame and consolidates the building's wind- and earthquake-resisting systems into the core.

A system of strategically placed catenary floor cables run parallel to the building's primary system to secure the perimeter and protect against bomb blasts and progressive collapse. This system provides better performance than a traditional moment frame solution, at a lower cost and with less construction material.
Additionally, since the system eliminates the need for a view- and light-blocking exterior frame and minimizes spandrel beam height, the floors are much more open and flexible for program configuration.

Seattle firm NBBJ was the architect and the contractor was the now-defunct JA Jones, who joint ventured with Absher Construction.