Seattle Bouldering Project University District
Seattle, Washington
Specs: Bouldering Project (BP) is opening its 13th location in October, in the University District (U District) of Seattle. According to Kara Stone, the General Manager of Seattle Bouldering Project (SBP) U District, the employment team is already assembled, consisting of many students from the University of Washington—the college just blocks away from the gym. Stone noted some staff will travel between the other SBP locations—Fremont, Upper Walls, Poplar—in the city as well. Kevin Jorgeson, the Head of Product at BP, emphasized the role that the latter half of the gym developer’s name plays in the employment process: project. “We are unfinished. We are always evolving,” he said. “The idea of always being in the pursuit of what’s possible and what’s better is in the very nature of being unfinished. So, we really try to instill that in how we recruit and how we onboard and how we train and then the culture of how we operate.”
Part of putting that principle into practice will mean providing staff with ongoing learning opportunities on the job, while recognizing that students, especially, may be going through transitions professionally. Stone hopes that employees working at U District will learn a lot about communication, customer service, kindness and inclusivity during their time at the gym, however long that time ends up being. “We want [employees] to step up, we want them to stay with BP. We want to fulfill their aspirations, but at the same time, ultimately, I just want the work experience that they’re gaining from us to be a value to their future, regardless of what their future is,” she said.
According to Jorgeson, the U District gym was started in part to help with the traffic flow at the nearby Fremont location. “Fremont’s our busiest gym in the business, and that’s a high-quality problem to have,” he said. “[SBP U District] will open up capacity for new people to experience BP for the first time, but also expand choices for where to climb in that neighborhood.” Jorgeson also described the decision to expand in Seattle—as opposed to opening a gym in a new market for BP—as part of BP’s vision for serving the communities around its existing gyms even better. “When we looked around at where and how to grow next, we just saw so much passion for what we’re offering in Seattle that it seemed clear that it was time to add capacity in Seattle,” Jorgeson said. “We want to go deep rather than wide in the future into the markets that we’re in.” The new gym’s building became an obvious choice for the project, Jorgeson added, because it’s close to public transportation, in an urban neighborhood, and has a storied past.
The home of SBP U District is a 112-year-old former bank, which was fully operational for 106 years and then “shuttered alongside some other really important components of that corner…despite the fact that it has such thriving foot traffic and a light rail station across the street and a university that you can literally see,” Stone said of the corner on which the building resides. The team hopes to bring new life to that area, while combining the building’s historic elements with BP’s bouldering roots. For example, the building’s basement will feature a 2,000-square-foot yoga studio as well as a 200,000-pound vault that will host an infrared sauna and cold plunge, with safety deposit boxes still inside. The first floor—the former bank lobby—will showcase the building’s marble features, while offering a 1,500-square-foot fitness area, a co-working mezzanine and a couple of boulders. The second floor is all foam and bouldering, with wrap-around windows letting in natural light. “The building itself is just unbelievably beautiful,” Stone summarized.
To stay close to a climbing gym business’s original ethos while expanding, Jorgeson encourages owners to “find the right people who are bought into your mission, vision and values, and then trust them,” which he said hopefully creates a sense of buy-in, responsibility, connection and trust. In addition to trust, Stone added that focusing on empowerment, transparency, commitment and intentionality, as well, can be integral to maintaining a gym’s values as the business grows.
Walls: Owner/Contractor
Flooring: Owner/Contractor
CRM Software: Approach
Website: boulderingproject.com/u-district/
Instagram: @SeattleBoulderingProject
In Their Words: “This gym is most definitely what I would call a love letter to our existing members here in Seattle. We’ve been doing business here since 2010, and we wanted to add more bouldering terrain, more yoga classes, more co-working space, more of everything that makes our facilities magical and bigger than what they are. But also, opening up in this amazing neighborhood, U District, offers a distinct opportunity to serve the really young and diverse folks that call U District home.” – Kara Stone, SBP U District General Manager
Naomi is a personal trainer and a routesetter who has also worked at climbing gyms as a youth team coach. After starting college at Colorado State University in 2017, she wanted to make new friends and found climbing, fell in love, and now climbing dictates most of what she does. Naomi earned a bachelor’s degree in Ecosystem Science & Sustainability, and when not climbing she enjoys baking, gardening and crafting.
