Seattle, WA
Architect Returns to Design Firm To Expand Seattle Office
Architect Doug Demers has had a diverse career that includes working as a business strategist and real estate executive, positions that helped him land a position at global design firm HKS managing its first Pacific Northwest office.
The job Demers started last year as principal and director of the new HKS office in Seattle is also a sort of homecoming. He started his career in the early 1980s working in the design firm’s Dallas headquarters.
“I graduated from the Rochester Institute of Technology, interviewed with the biggest firm in town which was HKS, and they hired me that afternoon,” Demers said in an interview. “I put all my stuff in the car, drove down to Dallas with my brother and started my new job.”
One of Demers’ first friends and coworkers in the industry, Dan Noble, eventually became one of HKS’ most prominent executives. Noble, who at the time worked in the studio next to Demer, also was just starting his career. Noble moved up the ranks to become president and CEO of HKS, one of the world’s largest architecture firms with 1,500 employees across 27 global offices.
“There were 10 of us that started within a month or two, and I became friends with Dan,” Demers said. It was a friendship that would turn out to help shape Noble’s later career.
Demers went on to work for other large design firms such as HOK, Perkins+Will and Callison, now CallisonRTKL, for the next 25 years before joining real estate brokerage Colliers. As a managing principal at Colliers, he founded the firm’s strategic planning and consulting practice in Seattle.
After several years in brokerage Demers returned to architecture in 2013, when he joined global firm B+H Architects in Seattle. A decade later, Demers, who had always stayed in touch with Noble, talked with the HKS executive about partnering with B+H on a couple of healthcare projects.
HKS had a number of longtime clients in the Pacific Northwest, despite not having a physical presence. The firm’s architects had designed several large projects in greater Seattle since the mid-1990s, including work for Seattle Children’s Hospital.
HKS had looked at several opportunities over the years to open an office in greater Seattle, home to Amazon, Microsoft and other large corporations, “but none of them fit quite right,” Demers said.
However, the Pacific Northwest was the only U.S. region where HKS didn’t have an office. That led to discussions with Noble about Demers rejoining HKS, the firm where both architects started their careers 40 years earlier.
“The right opportunity presented itself, and we simply couldn’t pass it up,” Noble said in a statement.
Architects Bryan Croeni, Christa Jansen and Joslyn Balzarini, who also worked for B+H, joined Demers in opening the new HKS Seattle office last summer.
“These were trusted relationships with people that made it easier for HKS to get their foot into the marketplace,” Demers said.
With 10 professionals in the new Seattle office and plans to add more, Demers expects the office to focus on hospitality, advanced manufacturing and mixed-use projects. He also plans to build the firm’s local portfolio with more projects in such growing real estate niches as health care, sports-related development, higher education and life science.
HKS is designing Lincoln Property’s proposed nine-story life science building at Fifth Avenue and John Street near Seattle Center. The firm also designed W Hotel Bellevue, a 245-room property on Lake Washington that opened in 2017.
SEATTLE (AP) — The Seattle Kraken acquired forward Mason Marchment in a trade with the Dallas Stars on Thursday for a 2025 fourth-round pick and a 2026 third-rounder.
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The 30-year-old Marchment — one of the NHL’s tallest players at 6-foot-5 — tied his career high with 22 goals last season and had 25 assists in 62 regular-season games.
“Mason adds an important skillset to our roster,” Kraken general manager Jason Botterill said in a statement. “He’s a veteran player who brings a combination of size, skill and toughness. Mason knows what it takes to win, having been part of deep postseason runs with the Stars. We’re excited to have him join our group.”
The Stars were eager to move Marchment in a salary-shedding move with the final year of his contract carrying a $4.5 million cap hit. Dallas is up against the cap, especially after signing trade-deadline acquisition Mikko Rantanen to an eight-year, $96 million contract.
Marchment has 76 goals and 113 assists in 302 regular-season games with the Stars, Florida Panthers and Toronto Maple Leafs. He has 11 goals and eight assists in 59 playoff games.
brb watching mush highlight videos on repeat ✌️ pic.twitter.com/kw1bVpekfB
— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) June 20, 2025
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The second season of the Mike Macdonald era starts with a chance for the Seattle Seahawks to make a statement.
The Seahawks open 2025 at home Sept. 7 against the division-rival San Francisco 49ers with a chance to gain the upper hand in the NFC West right away. The Seahawks won’t face the 49ers again until they travel to Levi’s Stadium for their final game of the season.
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That scheduling quirk is something that caught the attention of Seahawks Radio Network analyst and former NFL wide receiver Michael Bumpus for a good reason.
“I love that you get the Niners early and you get them late, because the last few years it felt like we played them like back-to-back weeks,” Bumpus said during his Four Down Territory segment on Seattle Sports’ Bump and Stacy.
Last season the Seahawks and 49ers had five weeks (three games and a bye week) between their matchups, and in 2023 it was just two weeks (one game).
“The reason why I like this (year’s schedule) is because you get a shot at a contender,” Bumpus said. “You guys get to match up early, see what you’re made of, go through the full season, people (get) hurt, you got to adjust, you got film on those guys, and then you end the season with the 49ers as well.”
Seattle also had just two weeks between games with the Arizona Cardinals last year. This year the Seahawks’ closest matchups with the same divisional foe is five weeks apart (at the Rams on Nov. 16 and home against the Rams on Dec. 18).
“Just spread the divisional opponents out a little bit,” Bumpus said. “Let us go through some other divisions and play those guys, and let’s be able to adjust and get better and work that way. I hate it when this so close. I’m like, ‘Come on. We’re playing the same team.’ There’s been no change. There’s been no real development going on.
“So I like that you got the Niners early, you got them late. It gives you a chance to grow and kind of see what they’re doing.”
Hear the full conversation at this link or in the audio player near the top of this story. Listen to Bump and Stacy weekdays from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.
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Refining a popular NFL adage, Seattle Seahawks outside linebacker Derick Hall said, “Pass rush wins championships.”
The former Auburn standout contributed eight sacks and 20 quarterback hits toward winning a title for Seattle last season, but the Seahawks finished tied for eighth in the NFL with 45 sacks and missed the playoffs despite a 10-7 record.
For 2025, Seattle returns its top four in sacks and signed four-time Pro Bowl defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence after he played 11 seasons with the Dallas Cowboys.
“They pay guys to sack quarterbacks,” Hall said during an appearance on KIRO-AM’s “Seattle Sports.” “And, I mean, I feel like if you do that, there’s no chance for the offense to be able to get going, so I think being disruptive at the front is huge. And I think that shows the importance of Coach Mike (Macdonald) and (defensive coordinator Aden Durde) and these guys here. I mean, they bring guys in for the front to be stout. I mean, from top to bottom, we have ones and twos who can go out and be a starter on a lot of teams across this league.”
A second-round draft pick from Auburn in 2023, Hall played in every game as a rookie, but he made more contributions on special teams than on defense. In 2023, Hall did not have any sacks and recorded three quarterback hits as he got on the field for 307 defensive snaps and 287 special-teams plays. Last season, Hall had 674 defensive snaps and 90 special-teams plays as he started 14 of Seattle’s 17 games.
“I think just knowing what to expect,” Hall said about the difference between Year 1 and Year 2. “Like, your rookie year, you’re coming to a new place. You don’t know what’s around. You don’t know nobody. You’re moving out by yourself. You got to find a home. Like, there’s just so much that go into a rookie season, so many challenges and different things that you have to face and then worry about playing ball and then worry about trying to meet the guys and then worry about trying to fit in and how this is going to go, how that’s going to go. You know, it’s a lot that’s on your plate.
“And I feel like you worry so much about trying to be in the present moment that you really forget what got you here, and that’s continue to do what you did every day to play the game. And I felt like there was a lot of struggles my rookie year from that, and then you also want to grow so fast. Come from being so successful in college and then getting here and not being so successful. You, like, wonder, like, ‘What am I doing wrong?’ It’s not what you’re doing wrong. It’s what you’re doing right to be able to continue to grow. And I feel like that’s what helped me out from Year 1 to Year 2 is just continue to come out, put my best foot forward every day, not worry about the mistakes, because mistakes are going to happen. Just continue to play fast, be team-oriented and continue to try to help this team grow. And I feel like that showed a lot.”
Hall registered his first NFL sack in the Seahawks’ 2024 season-opener, when he took down former Auburn teammate Bo Nix in a 26-20 victory over the Denver Broncos on Sept. 8.
Two weeks later, Hall made his first NFL start and recorded two sacks and four quarterback hits in a 24-3 victory over the Miami Dolphins.
“That was, like, my first true game where I’m like, ‘Wow, like, OK, I can truly do this. Yeah,’” Hall said. “And I feel like as a rookie, that’s the stuff you battle. Like, am I really good enough to play in this league?
“And coming into Year 2 and being able to put my best foot forward, going through preseason, having a great preseason, great training camp, getting into the season, first game against the Broncos, got my first sack. Boom. That’s off the board. You get to New England, have some really good rushes, playing good ball. Then Game 3, oh, you’re starting, by the way. Like, ‘Oh, OK.’ Just trying to take it all in, process it, being able to go out and just play ball, and I think that that’s the game that it really, really just broke open for me.”
The Seahawks have two days of mandatory minicamp remaining to finish their offseason program.
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.
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