When Bigger is Best

Being in the sign business for as long as we have, there are very few situations involving the design, fabrication, and installation of signage that we haven’t encountered. And although we treat every job as equally important, regardless of size, we will admit that we have our favorites. The projects that stand out for us are not necessarily the biggest, but the ones that bring out the best of our capabilities. These are the jobs that remind us of why we’re in the sign making business to begin with, and how far we’ve come in doing what we do.

A recent example of a Meyer Sign & Advertising “dream job” is Trestle Station in Lake Stevens (just down the road from the train trestle that inspired its name). To call it a gas station would be a bit like referring to the Sistine Chapel ceiling as a “wall mural”. The 6-acre plus site does offer a 76 gas station and car wash, but there are also stand alone retail venues that include a coffee bar, a growler bar with 30 beers on tap, a neighborhood market with produce and hard liquor sections, and an ice cream shop. Talk about taking “gas and go” to a new level, right?

The 18,000 square foot retail center is the brainchild of local real estate developer Matt Monahan, who was quoted in a recent interview explaining his personal connection to Trestle Station. “Being born and raised in the Lake Stevens community, I hope to add a quick, clean and convenient shopping option with one stop to satisfy any needs (and) wants”. His current project definitely takes to concept of “gas and go” to a whole new level.

What made Trestle Station such a great job for Meyer Sign & Advertising was the amount of project “ownership” that Matt gave us. Signage wise, Trestle Station was more like a small retail mall than a gas station. The project comprised three monument signs (one of which included an LED message center), illuminated channel letter signs for each of the retail properties, all the interior signage for each of those properties, and LED border tubes that gave the facades a more dramatic look at night. In fact, the only thing we didn’t fabricate was the LED message center. We even created the graphics on the gas pumps.

As you would expect from a project this big, our project proposal was subjected to the bidding process…and we’re proud to report that we came in close enough to the lowest bid to take price out of the final decision as to who would be rewarded. That said, it should be noted that a project of this scope weeds out the number of companies that could have competed for this project.

The biggest challenge of the Trestle Station project boiled down to getting every element of it built right and on time. “A project this big really backs up the shop,” said project manager Gregg Collins. “The fabrication time alone was two to three months. Everything had to fit perfectly, and when you’re dealing with components as costly as an LED message center, there’s really no margin for error, or you lose money.”

Completion of the Trestle Station project capped a year of robust business for Meyer Sign & Advertising, and it was a reminder that all the recent investments we’ve made in capital equipment, facilities, and talent have taken us to a level of capability that few other sign makers in Washington can match. Our best guess is that there are maybe only ten companies in the state that could have handled the Trestle Station project — and should we be accused of boasting, we would simply reply that “it ain’t braggin’ if you done it.” We’re rightfully proud of what we accomplished with Trestle Station, and we’re proud to be associated with a project that looks this good.