National construction firm Swinerton promoted industry veteran Nick Vovakes to vice president and division manager of its office in Seattle, a market where building activity in at least one sector reached a near-record high before new project starts tapered off.
Swinerton picked Vovakes, who most recently served as operations manager in Seattle, to replace Dave Worley, who is retiring as division manager in October after 21 years with the company, the firm said in a statement.
Vovakes, who also has more than 20 years of experience in the construction industry, joined Swinerton's Seattle office in 2011.
In that time, he has helped the company increase its footprint in healthcare and other types of construction projects across the region, the company said.
Under Vovakes' leadership, the office will look to expand into life science projects and increase its presence in mass timber and healthcare commercial construction, Swinerton said.
Office construction activity in the Seattle market, fueled by life science development, remains robust, but new project starts have dropped off, according to CoStar data.
Slower Activity
"As of the second quarter of 2023, about 13.0 million SF of office space is under construction, the equivalent of a 5.6% increase over the existing inventory," a CoStar market analyst said in a recent report. "While this is near a record high, activity has slowed somewhat. Construction starts in 2023 are the slowest they have been in at least five years."
Moreover, developers have broken ground on traditional office projects, "and these represent the largest spaces under way in the city," the report said.
The company also remains focused on self-perform projects, in which contractors provide their own employees to complete specific portions of construction projects such as concrete work, steel framing or other services.
Swinerton, founded in 1888, provides commercial construction, construction management and design-build services across the United States.
The firm, with headquarters in the San Francisco Bay Area, has regional offices in Seattle and Spokane as well as Portland, Oregon, and Boise, Idaho, in the Pacific Northwest.