In a booming city full of redesign and redevelopment, Capitol Hill design and architecture firm Board and Vellum has decided 15th Ave E is the place for it to grow, too.

“Board and Vellum has grown from a staff of one back in 2011 to just under 40 people today,” firm principal Jeff Pelletier tells CHS. “We have seen tremendous growth in our landscape architecture and interior design studios and being able to occupy the whole building will mean we have certainty of where we will work for years to come while accommodating any future growth in our staff size.”

That growth means Board and Vellum has undertaken two of its most important design projects yet.

(Images: Board and Vellum)

The first creates the vision for an upper level expansion for the company in the old credit union building B&V moved into in 2016 with new office and open work space for the growing business.

The second helped a friend make a new start. Longtime Hill nonprofit Seattle Area Support Groups is making way for the expansion and is already resident in its new home on Bellevue Ave. Pelletier says the nonprofit dedicated to building communities around specific HIV issues and other recovery assistance like addiction was also in growth mode.

“SASG was looking for additional square footage and so when they found a new location, we realized this would give us a chance to cement our presence in the neighborhood and accommodate our growth,” Pelletier said.

To help SASG make its new start, Board and Vellum designed and permitted its new location pro-bono, Pelletier said, in recognition of the “amazing work they have done in the neighborhood and the incredible services they provide.”

The new growth for SASG also includes a new vision for expanding its presence. The nonprofit is now known as Peer Seattle.

The expansion at Board and Vellum, meanwhile, is still working through the final phases of the permitting process before construction can begin.

It follows Board and Vellum’s recent work with the neighborhood around 15th Ave E to help shape design and community priorities before a coming wave of expected redevelopment on the street including a $400 million overhaul of the Kaiser Permanente campus, a new five-story mixed use development planned for the Hilltop Service Station property by Capitol Hill developer Hunters Capital, and the eventual redevelopment of the street’s QFC block, also a Hunters Capital property.

The work, Pelletier says, helped solidify Board and Vellum’s place on 15th Ave E.

“Having worked this past year with Environmental Works and the University of Washington on a pro-bono visioning plan for 15th Avenue East has helped us realize that 15th Avenue East is where our home is,” Pelletier said.

Board and Vellum is located at 115 15th Ave E. You can learn more at boardandvellum.com.

PLEASE HELP KEEP CHS PAYWALL-FREE!
Subscribe to CHS to help us pay writers and photographers to cover the neighborhood. CHS is a pay what you can community news site with no required sign-in or paywall. Become a subscriber to help us cover the neighborhood for as little as $5 a month.