Seattle Sun Newspaper - Vol. 7, Issue 2, February 2003

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Custom paver company benefits from hot housing market

By MATTHEW PREUSCH

It's been 20 years since Nigel Jones, the owner of Appian Construction, started his business in Lake City. Through the Seattle economy's booms and busts, Jones stayed put, slowly growing his custom paver company from just one truck and three employees to seven trucks and 30 people.

Appian's latest venture, though, has had less to do with pavers than it does with Lake City's profile. This summer, Appian will move into its new home at Villa Appia, a six-story multi-use development that is being built on the corner of 31st Avenue NE and NE 123rd Street, kitty-corner from the company's current location.

The Villa Appia building will join other new additions to downtown Lake City's modest-but-growing skyline: the Rekhi and Solaris buildings.

"I'm really bullish on Lake City," Jones said.

Jones has reason to be upbeat. Despite holding back on many big-ticket purchases, people are continuing to put money into their homes. 2002 has also proven to be a strong year for home sales, both locally and nationally, thanks in large part to low interest rates. In the Puget Sound area, home sales were up 11 percent this past December over the same month in 2001.

That means plenty of customers for Jones' paver products, which he describes as higher-end alternatives to poured concrete.

Appian installs a variety of pavers interlocking bricks or concrete blocks for driveways, patios and landscaping. In 2002, Jones says his company tallied about $4 million in sales.

But the majority of Appian's business, about 75 percent, is for commercial customers, who Jones says continue to place orders.

"We did more sales this past year, in 2002, than we did in 2001," he said. "The overall paving industry has grown; Appian has grown along with it."

Jones started got his start in the industry as a marketing representative for Westcon Pavers and Retaining Walls, a British Columbia firm whose product he still sells through Appian. Before that, in the early 1970s, he managed a number of restaurants, including the now-closed Hindquarter in Northgate. But food service couldn't provide the stability Jones was looking for.

"I wanted to get out of the restaurant business, just get more of a regular schedule," he said. One year later Jones got married and started a new career.

Now Jones and his wife, Teresa, have three children: Tiffani, 18, Duncan, 15, and Garrett, 12. Their two oldest attend Nathan Hale High School, while Garrett is at Eckstein Middle School.

Villa Appia is scheduled to open in July. It will have 55 one- and two-bedroom apartments, a parking lot for 75 cars, ground floor retail and a roof top garden. Most of the bottom level will be home to Appian's new offices.

In some good news for neighbors, Appian is planning to move its distribution center to Woodinville, which will mean no more large trucks on crowding the streets. The gravel lot will be turned into an outdoor display area for Appian products.