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.
Thanks to Carrie Brown for the westward view of our Saturday night sunset. The high today hit 68 at the airport – eight degrees above normal – but nowhere near the record for this date, which was 89 degrees back in 2016. The forecast suggests two more days of partly sunny, almost-70-degree weather, before the chance of rain returns.
CHICAGO (AP) — The struggling New York Mets placed former Seattle Mariners second baseman/designated hitter Jorge Polanco on the 10-day injured list on Saturday with a right wrist contusion.
Mariners Injury Update: Latest on Robles, Vargas and more
The move was made retroactive to Wednesday, a day after Polanco went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts in a 2-1 loss at the Los Angeles Dodgers. The 32-year-old Polanco is batting .179 (10 for 56) with a homer and two RBIs in his first season with New York, which has lost nine straight.
“When doctors first took a look at him, it looked like he got hit by a pitch when he didn’t,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “In talking to him, it was just a couple of swings that he took that night. … He didn’t think much of it, but just got worse the following day.
“So you just got to let it calm down a little bit and then we’ll go from there. But we don’t have a timetable for how long this is going to last.”
Polanco, who signed a two-year, $40 million contract with the Mets in December, also has been dealing with an ankle issue.
“He was trending in the right direction,” Mendoza said of the ankle injury. “It’s definitely going to help, obviously now with him being shut down. But the biggest thing now is that we’ve got to take care of that wrist.”
Polanco spent the previous two seasons with the Mariners, who acquired him in a February 2024 trade with the Minnesota Twins.
Polanco struggled during his first season with Seattle in 2024, hitting just .213 with 16 homers in 118 games while playing through a knee injury that didn’t become public knowledge until after the season.
But after the Mariners somewhat surprisingly brought him back for a one-year contract in 2025, Polanco rebounded to hit .265 with 26 homers and an .821 OPS in 138 games last season. He then added three homers during Seattle’s playoff run, along with a 15th-inning walkoff single in Game 5 of the American League Division Series that sent the Mariners to their first ALCS in 24 years.
Seattle Sports staff made additions to this post.
Mariners RHP Bryce Miller to begin rehab assignment
Seattle, WA
Brandon Nimmo hits leadoff homer, Jacob deGrom works 4 scoreless as Rangers beat Seattle Mariners 5-0
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON – APRIL 17: Corey Seager #5 of the Texas Rangers tags out Dominic Canzone #8 of the Seattle Mariners during the fourth inning at T-Mobile Park on April 17, 2026 in Seattle, Washington. (Steph Chambers / Getty Images)
SEATTLE – Brandon Nimmo hit a leadoff home run, Jacob deGrom threw four shutout innings and Gavin Collyer earned his first career win as the Texas Rangers beat the Seattle Mariners 5-0 on Friday night.
Seattle lost its fourth straight game, and was shut out for the fourth time in 21 games, falling to 8-13. The Mariners were shut out six times during the 2025 season. Texas won its third straight game.
Nimmo led off the game with a 372-foot shot to right field off Mariners starter Logan Gilbert (1-3). It was Nimmo’s 16th career leadoff homer and second of the season. He also hit a leadoff home run on April 11 in a 6-3 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
DeGrom effectively maneuvered through Seattle’s lineup, and worked out of a one out, bases-loaded jam in the first inning. The two-time Cy Young Award winner recorded two of his three strikeouts after walking Josh Naylor to load the bases. Randy Arozarena fanned on a curveball, and Luke Raley swung through a fastball.
Texas added to its lead after Nimmo’s homer. Wyatt Langford’s single to left scored Corey Seager, who led off the third inning with a double. The Rangers stretched the lead to 3-0 on an RBI single from Jake Burger in the seventh.
The Mariners’ best scoring chance came in the sixth after Collyer (1-0), who worked 1 1/3 scoreless innings, left the game.
J.P. Crawford singled to left off Tyler Alexander with two out, and Mariners third base coach Carlos Cardoza sent Naylor from second base, but he was thrown out by Langford.
Texas added two more runs in the ninth on a sacrifice fly by Andrew McCutchen and an RBI double by Josh Jung.
Seattle third baseman Brendan Donovan left the game early due to a left hip issue.
Mariners right-hander Bryce Miller, who started the year on the injured list with a left oblique injury, was at T-Mobile Park for the first time this season. He will begin a rehab assignment with Triple-A Tacoma on Saturday.
Up next
Mariners RHP George Kirby (2-2, 3.25) will face Rangers righty Nathan Eovaldi (2-2, 5.40) on Saturday afternoon.
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