Poulsbo’s Powder Hill development is home to BOXLIGHT, Paladin Data Systems, General Construction among other companies

Business is the only thing exploding today on Powder Hill in Poulsbo. For years used as a storage site for dynamite, this location is now home to the Powder Hill Corporate Center and a consortium of seven sophisticated corporate headquarters representing mega-millions of revenue.

Herb Myers had a dream. When he moved his firm, BOXLIGHT Corp. from Tiburon, Calif. in 1989 to the Liberty Bay Marina in Poulsbo, he envisioned huge buildings — 10,000 to 20,000 square feet in size — designed and constructed with Class A high tech office space for concerns operating on the West Coast and across the United States. He wanted a site with a view, where landscaping would make the place inviting and like no other corporate center.

It was 1995 before Myers purchased Powder Hill from two Poulsbo sisters and began making his dream come true. During the wait he had done extensive research on the project. The first million was spent preparing the land. A forest of second growth timber had to be logged off when it was realized that trees, like people, need good neighbors. Saving a few to stand alone would have required a replanting project prohibitive in price.

“We regretted having to clear the land, but it was the only practical way to move,” Myers explained. “With no environmental troubles other than this, plus the enthusiastic cooperation of the city of Poulsbo, we began the grading and installation of utility lines and optical fiber telephone cable throughout the property to provide broadband access.”

Seattle architects, Curtis Beattie and Associates, provided blue prints and individual designs for five buildings — each 11,000 square feet and two that were 20,000. Each of the structures on Powder Hill boasts brick veneer over siding and mirrored windows in addition to top-of-the-line insulation, interior decor, and spectacular views of the Sound and Olympic Mountains. Today, the first seven buildings are complete and the 11 acre site is completely landscaped except for one 10,000 square foot structure to be built on the corner at the entrance to the Center.

BOXLIGHT, the first to occupy a 20,000 square foot building for its headquarters as Corporate Head of the Center, moved from downtown Poulsbo in 1996. One of several corporations under Myers’ umbrella, BOXLIGHT itself was born of what its owner calls “serendipity.”

“I had been in the video business and happened to see an ad for liquid crystal television screens, which is what BOXLIGHT now manufactures and sells internationally,” he remarked. Liquid crystal display projectors are in layman’s vocabulary the high tech replacement of former slide projectors. LCDs will plug into a computer or VCR and display images on a wall. Eighty people work for BOXLIGHT in the Poulsbo location.

Paladin Data Systems Corp., the region’s largest Oracle system integrator, moved its headquarters into the Center in 1999. Founded by Jim Nall, President, Bob Johnston, David Streifel, and Gary Macy in 1994, the firm’s three bases of operation were in Poulsbo’s Central Market area, Old Town Silverdale, and Seattle. The company creates custom software for Fortune 100 companies, such as IBM, Starbucks, and Metropolitan Life Insurance, and provides comprehensive software support. With Paladin University, it both teaches and can certify its trainees.

“Our staff of 80 occupies one floor of one of the 20,000 square foot structures,” said Macy, executive vice-president of the corporation. “Steve Woods, the architect for these buildings designed a concentration of hi-tech infrastructure for just right for a business like ours.”

The design of each building in the Center is as varied as the corporate headquarters occupants. Two are large builders, General Construction, headed by Bill and Will Irvin, and Drury Construction, each firm differing in what they do.

“At General, we are engaged in marine heavy civil work... bridges, dams, etc., and industrial work ranging from a $45,000,000 carrier pier now under way in Bremerton to bridging the Snohomish River at Everett.” Robert Heeter reported. Heeter has been manager of purchasing and subcontractors for 20 years.

The firm is engaged in improving and installing marine facilities on the West Coast from Mexico to Alaska. It is now repairing the earthquake damaged bridge on Fourth street in Olympia and building a new container terminal in Oakland, where General has a branch office.

“We are a Union contractor with 165 on staff, while we sometimes hire up to 1000 for jobs as we move from place to place,” Heeter said. “We moved to Poulsbo with our headquarters because of the quality of life. Housing is reasonable and traffic less.”

Drury Construction, a corporation formed in 1977 by Don Drury, an engineer working in Seattle and Bainbridge Island, is busy with commercial construction of office buildings, banks, schools, libraries and churches. Drury is President and lives in Seabeck. Marty Sievertson of Bainbridge Island, and Rick Cadwell of Hansville, are vice-presidents. Bainbridge resident Gail Fleming is treasurer. All share in ownership of the corporation.

“We operate primarily in Washington State, though we have ventured as far as Fiji,” Fleming remarked. She has been with the company for 20 years. The firm occupies one of the larger buildings at the Center, has 50 on staff, and 15 projects underway. These include building the joint facility between Kitsap Fire and Water districts on Newberry Hill in Silverdale, Christ Memorial Church and the Nextel Customer Call Center in East Bremerton.

Active Life, with 30 employees and Brad Gleeson as President , specializes in wholesaling flat panel displays, such as hanging TV screens for commercial application. It has 30 employees and sells across the United States. Others on site are Olympic Resource Management which has 35 employees at the Center.

TRG, The Raymond Group, is also a headquarters occupant in the Center. Steve Woodworth, a Seattle native, has been president of the nationwide corporation for seven years. For 12 years prior to joining TRG, he was head of marketing for World Vision in Southern California. “With a spending budget of $30,000,000 which brought back $120,000,000.” he recalls.

The Raymond Group originated on Bainbridge Island in 1989. Partners in the firm are Tom Behrens, Administrator, and Pamela McCann, Executive Vice-President. They preferred the Poulsbo area because most of the corporation workers lived on this side of the Sound.

Clients are all from out of state. These include denominational groups such as the Southern Baptists and Assembly of God churches, the Christian and Missionary Alliance, relief organizations such as “Food for the Hungry” and the Union Rescue Mission, the largest homeless mission in L.A.

A three million dollar business, the corporation is hired to do creative work and develop marketing strategies for their clients.