The Powells: A Family of Builders

The story of PowellsWood actually begins over a century ago. For four generations, the Powell family has invested love and personal care in all the things they’ve done: raising families, creating and managing some of the finest homes in the Northwest, giving back to the community. When you’re a family, it’s just the way you do things—the way you’d want it done if it were being done for you. And one of the things Monte and Diane Powell have always loved is a good garden.

So how did PowellsWood come about? And how did the Powells find themselves in a position to bestow their emerald jewel upon Federal Way?

A Square Deal

In 1893, Monte’s grandfather H. H. Benton boarded a train in Boston and headed for a “land of promise and prosperity” called Seattle. He came to peddle his legal services, but when he got here, he found lawyers were “a dime a dozen,” says Monte.

By 1909, however, Benton was able to found what is known today as Powell Homes. It was a moment in time when the business of America was peace, prosperity, and progress. At the turn of the century, Benton was a believer, like most Americans, in President “Teddy” Roosevelt’s “Square Deal”—an honest and fair transaction. Home owners in Seattle’s Ravenna neighborhood found they could always trust builder Benton for a square deal.

When newspaper man Cecil Powell married Benton’s daughter, Dorothy, Benton convinced him to join the family business. That also seemed like a square deal! Beginning in 1945, together they built hundreds of homes and apartments from Snohomish to Tacoma, with an honesty like Roosevelt’s as one of the driving values of the business. The Powell Construction Company eventually built the Barton Square Apartments, the Normandy Duke Apartments and hundreds of single family homes. Today, the Powell Companies are several building and property management companies under the ownership and supervision of the Powell family.

But Benton was not just about business, and neither was Powell. Part of the square deal, they believed, is giving back to the community. Des Moines’ Cecil Powell Neighborhood Park at South 250th Street and 13th Place South was built on property donated to the city by the Powells. “This is indicative of the kind of stuff Cecil did, nice affordable housing,” Monte’s son Wes said of his grandfather. “This is a family street, and Des Moines is a family-oriented city. It’s a nice way to meet that need.” One-time city manager Greg Prothman hailed the park as a “marvelous opportunity” for public and private cooperation. In a day and age when developers are blamed for everything from wetlands destruction to traffic congestion, Prothman said the gesture spoke well of community spirit—“something many developers are not known for.”

So Monte learned a great deal from his father. During summer vacations from Principia College in Illinois where he was earning a degree in economics, Monte returned to the Puget Sound and became an apprentice carpenter. He helped his father and grandfather build houses.

Even though his father encouraged him to be whatever he wanted to be, Monte joined the family business in 1959 and built his own home in Marine Hills. Following graduation from the University of Washington, Monte built many single family homes, but his special interest was retirement housing for seniors.

For the Next Generation

In 1961, Monte Powell and his father Cecil stood among a grove of fir trees in Federal Way, and shook hands while admiring the slope and location of the land they were about to purchase. “Cecil insisted the land stay in the family,” says Monte. “We were to build on it. If he and I didn’t build on it in our lifetime, then the children were to build on it.” The dream would not be realized until decades later.

In 1967, with his special interest in mind, Monte located another 65 acre tract of land in Des Moines. He developed this former hayfield and a mink farm into what is known today as Huntington Park, a nationally-acclaimed retirement village which preserves the natural environment with walking trails and greenbelts. The project was fully under way by the early 1970s. A decade later, he built Daystar Retirement Village in West Seattle, 110 apartments for seniors who need additional services and medical care.

Village Green was finally developed on the Federal Way parcel in the 1990s. The property is a model of Monte’s dedication to quality of life, and working with city planners for the benefit of the environment—implementing flood control for local wetlands, and minimizing the use of harmful chemicals and pesticides.

“The thing that motivates me most,” Monte said recently, “is the feeling I get when an elderly man or woman comes up to me in supermarket and says, “I just want you to know how much the home you built has meant to me and my family.’” He stops to smile. “People deserve to be treated well.”

It’s a family thing, indeed. Today, children Brooks, Todd, and Heidi are also involved in the family business.

“Do It.”

The children acquired their taste for the business naturally. “With scraps of lumber our dad brought home from jobsites,” says Todd, “we built our dream forts—elaborate forts, thirty feet high in trees with rope swings, forts with basements, and even one with a hollow log for an entrance.” When the kids were old enough to help out on home construction during summer vacations, trips to job sites became teaching opportunities for Monte. “Dad explained what it took to create a home, not just a house,” Todd continues. “He talked about the time and energy needed to take a raw piece of land and create a lot where a home could be built for a new homeowner.”

What it takes is a daily dedication to bring value to each and every thing the Powell family touches. It takes treating every person they see each day as they would want to be treated.

Monte encouraged his five children to follow their own career paths. For each, though, a major portion of the journey has been in Monte’s footsteps. Daughter Laurie and son Wes have also contributed years to the family effort. “What makes it work is that we genuinely like each other,” says Heidi. “And that we have the same core set of values,” adds Brooks—“the key ingredient we got from Monte and Cecil. That is—if you say you are going to do something, do it.”