June 18, 2019

Currie & Brown opens doors in Tacoma

Currie & Brown opens office downtown Tacoma Pierce county WA Washington

Welcome to Tacoma, Currie & Brown

Currie & Brown open their new office in downtown Tacoma, WA Pierce County, 1202 Pacific Building

New Tacoma digs for Currie & Brown. From left, Sarah Bonds, EDB vice president for business recruitment; Lynda Meadows, director, Currie & Brown; and Gloria Fletcher, City of Tacoma business development manager

When Lynda Meadows joined Currie & Brown last year as a director of the organization’s Washington State office, she and co-director Christine Williams oversaw a small crew in a shared space in Seattle’s Pioneer Square. The company provides construction-consulting services around the globe, along with the resources of an international team of subject matter experts.  Meadows was hired to head up business development and to grow the company’s loan-monitoring practice. The office works with lenders and private equity providers that loan money for large commercial construction projects, providing customized up-front due diligence services as well as monthly site inspections and reporting.

To create sustainable, methodical processes for the construction-auditing piece of the business, Meadows needed to hire additional people. She also needed her team together in a dedicated workspace.

The high price tag to lease in Seattle, and the fact that most employees lived in the South Sound, led Meadows to Pierce County. In April, Currie & Brown opened a new office at 1201 Pacific in downtown Tacoma.

The Tacoma location checked all of Meadows’ boxes. “We found a lot of space for a lot less money,” she said. “Parking is less expensive, the location is convenient for all our staff and we were able to do tenant improvements to make the space our own.”

The office has a staff of seven, but Currie & Brown hopes to expand as the business grows. Their new space will help make that happen.

While Meadows did the footwork to find the site, it wasn’t until she connected with the EDB that she tapped in to resources in the business community. That door opened after a chance encounter at a networking event with Kari Scott, former EDB chair and Wells Fargo regional vice president and senior vice president for commercial banking. Scott extended a helping hand that Meadows found was reflective of the greater Tacoma-Pierce County business community. She connected Meadows with the EDB, which introduced her to other business resources including Gloria Fletcher, City of Tacoma business development manager

“We were on a tight deadline, and Gloria kept a close eye out for us as we went through the tenant improvement permitting process,” Meadows said. “It was such a positive experience.”

Meadows is eager to make more connections in Tacoma-Pierce County. An open house is slated for 4-7 p.m. July 10. Currie & Brown will showcase their construction expertise, and subject matter experts from several business lines will be on hand. The Currie & Brown estimating and benchmarking team will present current construction-cost data that should interest anyone working in real estate.

But you don’t have to wait. Feel free to contact Meadows at 253.740.6704 or [email protected].

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