That echoes what folks see on the ground. Seattle’s urban core has not completely rebounded from the impacts of the COVID pandemic, and the building climate remains sluggish.

“The slowdown in commercial office development—especially downtown—continues to affect the market,” Presser notes.

Despite those woes, there are reasons for optimism. There is an uptick in activity around neighborhoods like the Denny Triangle and South Lake Union, where Amazon has brought employees back to the office five days a week.

“We’ve started to see how moves like Amazon’s start to have a ripple effect with other employers, potentially boosting demand for office space as others follow their lead,” she says.

Dodge’s numbers appear to concur. Office and bank building starts plummeted by more than 72% between 2022 and 2023 but have been on the upswing since. Actual starts topped $822 million last year and are expected to almost double this year.

“Though we’re still dealing with an oversupply of office space, top tenants are prioritizing the newest amenity-rich buildings,” Presser explains. “As demand for top-tier space increases, landlords are actively repositioning older properties to meet evolving expectations, another sign that Seattle’s recovery may be underway.”

And recent projects such as the new elevated Overlook Walk have injected new energy into the urban core, she says. “It’s been one of the most transformative additions of public space that I can remember.”

The region has not be immune to industrywide pressures. Project planning has been complicated by rising material costs and supply chain uncertainty. The prospect of tariffs exacerbates these concerns and makes forecasts more opaque. And that uncertainty can create its own feedback loop.

“If owners and builders aren’t able to rely on established budgets for materials or lack certainty in their funding models for a new project, for example, it causes us all to deploy strategies to mitigate risk,” Presser says.

One of those strategies is the increased use of progressive design-build delivery, which a growing number of public owners in Washington—including universities, school districts, counties, municipalities and transit agencies—are adopting, she says.

Megaprojects such as King County’s $1.7-billion Harborview Medical Center expansion and work on Sound Transit’s regional light rail facilities are utilizing the delivery method to achieve reduced risk, better costs and schedule predictability.

“By bringing design and construction partners to the table early, teams have the flexibility to collaborate closely with consultants and trade partners and adapt as project needs evolve,” Presser says.

Lewis was recently awarded the University of Washington Seattle Campus’ 30,000-sq-ft Ana Mari Cauce Welcome Center project, which will employ the delivery method. When completed in 2028, the center will become a centralized starting point for information, campus tours and home base for UW’s 600,000 alumni.

“This promises to be an iconic addition to campus that will help attract, inspire and engage future generations of students, faculty and community members and serve as a signature project for Lewis,” she says.

In addition to the welcome center, other progressive design-build projects for Lewis include Washington State University’s Schwitzer Engineering Hall project in Pullman and K-12 projects for Northshore and Lake Washington school districts.

Still, AEC optimism for the region should be tempered with caution for now, Presser says.

“The region’s diversified economy, strong tech and life science innovation base and institutional anchors like the University of Washington position it well for a rebound, but uncertainty around government funding pullbacks continues to cast a cloud on future plans,” Presser says.