June 4, 2026

BNBuilders completes new building for Lakeside School

Photo by Brian Miller [enlarge]

On a recent weekend visit, naturally, no students were on the 20-acre campus.

In late April, Lakeside School students, parents and alumni toured the recently completed academic building at 14050 First Ave. N.E.

LMN Architects designed the two-story, 39,000-square-foot structure. BNBuilders began work during autumn 2024. And, toward the end of construction, it gained a new name: the T.J. Vassar '68 Center for Sciences and Humanities. Vassar is a distinguished alumni who has long served the private school in various capacities.

The ribbon snip concluded a self-funded effort the school valued at $60 million. It'll be fully open to students and faculty when the fall term begins this year.

With a large double-height atrium entry on the building's north side, the building faces the 1980s-era Gates Allen Hall (yes, named for benefactors/graduates and Microsoft founders Bill and Paul).

Photos via Photos via BNBuilders [enlarge]

The view from above the school ...

[enlarge]

... and outside, with seating among the trees.

The Vassar Center has classrooms for physics, English and biology, a chemistry lab, lounge, small cafe and all-gender bathrooms. The project replaced some portable offices, once a soggy softball field. It's on the southwest corner of the 20-acre campus, just north of Northeast 140th Street.

Construction was Type II-B, using steel, masonry and concrete. The Vassar team also included Seneca Group; Coughlin Porter Lundeen, civil and structural engineer; Berger Partnership, landscape architect; Glumac, MEP engineer; Tree Solutions, arborist; Stantec, acoustic engineer; Dark Light Design, lighting; and Bush Roed & Hitchings, surveyor.

The school paper, The Tatler, correctly notes that the Vassar Center represents the first all-new construction project on the campus since the 1980s. On the north end of the campus, on 145th, the existing Allen Athletics Center was expanded and renovated in 2012.

The Tatler also reports that the old Moore Hall, now used by the English department, may now be converted to offices. Like the other original buildings from the early '30s, it was designed by Bebb & Gould. Nearly a century later, the school is now a short walk to light rail at the Shoreline South/148th Station.