Lacey’s SCJ Alliance keeps busy with engineering work locally, nationally

A decade ago this month, colleagues Perry Shea, Jean Carr and Bob Jewell, decided to go into business for themselves and open what would become SCJ Alliance, a civil engineering, transportation planning and design firm.

The business today occupies 17,000 square feet of office space in Lacey, as well as offices in Wenatchee, Denver, Vancouver, Washington, and Seattle. Employment stands at about 70 and they do business, not only in the region, but across the country.

“We’re definitely on a growth spurt right now,” said co-founder Carr, 47, whose background is in environmental and land-use planning.

When they started the business, it was 2006, the peak of the pre-recession economy. The early years were good as the majority of their business came from the private sector. After the crash, the firm shifted gears and now 60 percent of its business comes from the public sector. Despite the recession, the new approach allowed them to grow.

Along the way, they made key hires and have acquired four businesses, including Jeffrey B. Glander & Associates, a landscape design and architecture business. That acquisition was announced earlier this month.

When it comes to acquisitions, SCJ Alliance looks for businesses with similar values and the right cultural fit, said Carr. They also look at how they conduct business, co-founder Shea said, adding that they spend a lot of time integrating the new business into SCJ.

SCJ isn’t a male-dominated engineering firm. The business is set to be recognized as a woman-owned operation because women own 51 percent of the business, Carr said.

Carr and Shea, 53, are majority owners of the business, but they also have eight stockholders and a leadership transition plan. SCJ, too, has been recognized as a best place to work by a company called the Zweig Group.

Some of SCJ’s current and former work:

▪ The Denver office, specializing in ropeway transportation such as gondolas and trams, was hired to do the annual inspection of gondolas in Portland that run between waterfront condos and Oregon Health & Science University. The same office also is studying the feasability of a tram across the Potomac River in Washington, D.C.

▪ SCJ Alliance is managing the consultant team working to improve an 8-mile stretch of Interstate 5 that largely serves Joint Base Lewis-McChord. The $490 million project is set to break ground in 2018.

▪ The continuing build-out of Briggs Village, the planned community in Olympia near Henderson Boulevard and Yelm Highway.

▪ The new Toyota dealership that is relocating along Interstate 5 in Tumwater from Olympia.

Shea and Carr also have worked on Lacey Gateway, the mixed-use project in northeast Lacey.

This story was originally published May 14, 2016 at 3:57 PM with the headline "Lacey’s SCJ Alliance keeps busy with engineering work locally, nationally."