Magnusson Klemencic

Leadership: Jon Magnusson, chairman and CEO; Ron Klemencic, president

Specialty: Structural and civil engineering

Year Founded: 1923

2002 revenues: About $18 million-$18.5 million

Projected 2003 revenues: About $19.5 million-$20 million

Image courtesy of LMN Architects Sports arena for the city of Stockton, Calif.

It’s been a good year for Magnusson Klemencic, despite the economy.

“We’re actually pretty fortunate,” said Jon Magnusson, chairman and CEO of Magnusson Klemencic. “Even through this past lull, we didn’t reduce in size in all. We’ve actually grown.”

Staff size is at 130, up five people from last year, and Magnusson said they may be adding staff in the upcoming year. The firm opened a branch office in Chicago in January, and in March changed its name from Skilling Ward Magnusson Barkshire.

The firm has been able to ride the ups and downs of the market, Magnusson said, because they work on bigger projects, “(which) have a longer shelf-life in terms of keeping people busy.” He said that diversifying in the kind of projects they do and where they do them helps as well. “We’ve got projects going from Hong Kong ... to the Middle East.”

While no area of the market is particularly hot right now, Magnusson said there are certain areas, such as commercial office buildings, that are slower. Even in that sector, Magnusson Klemencic is doing well. The firm is working with NBBJ on the new Washington Mutual office building and Seattle Art Museum expansion.

Magnusson said the firm’s hotel and hospitality group has been busy, “which is not the norm in the country. Maybe we’ve gotten more than our share of those.”

The firm is also working on two hotel towers in New York — the New York Marriott and The James. Magnusson Klemencic is playing a part in the design of the Lotte World II Tower in South Korea which, when finished, will be the world’s tallest structure.

In this country, the firm is working on a 60-story residential tower in Chicago, a sports arena for the city of Stockton, Calif., with Heinlein Schrock Stearns Architecture, and a $600M convention center expansion for the city of Phoenix with architect Leo Daly and HOK Venue.

Locally, Magnusson Klemencic is working on the Harborview Medical Center expansion with NBBJ, a new tower for Virginia Mason, and a surgery and bed tower for Evergreen Hospital.