McKinstry CEO Dean Allen

Seattle construction giant McKinstry has played a key role in building some of the region's most recognizable structures, from Qwest Field to the Seattle Central Library to the Experience Music Project. But the 50-year-old firm, which employs 1,600 people and posted revenue of $400 million in 2008, actually is hoping to make just as big of an impact on the region (and possibly the world) through a new high-tech business incubator designed to help entrepreneurs get their clean tech ideas off the ground.

What's a construction firm doing incubating new clean energy and green businesses? Dean Allen, chief executive of McKinstry, says it is absolutely key if they want to stay on top of the trends that will be important to their clients in the years to come.

“We find ourselves in the business of needing to be a professional translator of the technologies that are in the marketplace and mapping that against the customer’s requirements," said Allen, speaking at Thursday's Zino Green Investment Forum.

As a result, McKinstry took the bold step of announcing last year that it planned to open a 24,000 square foot "innovation center" at its headquarters in Seattle's Georgetown neighborhood. The project is moving along, with the center slated to open in the coming months. At more than 20,000 square feet, the space has enough room to accomodate more than 20 new entrepreneurial projects, Allen said.

That's a mind-blowing number for Seattle's nascent clean tech sector. And it is a significant investment for McKinstry, which is spending $5 million to build out the facility.

Dean Allen talks with Cathi Hatch at the Zino Green Investment Forum in Seattle.

But Allen thinks it is the right bet, telling attendees of the Zino event that the company must become a resource for "the best and brightest ideas that are in the marketplace." McKinstry is known for an entrepreneurial culture, pushing the envelope when it comes to green building and energy efficiency in construction. (It is also a company that Barack Obama visited on campaign trail and which features a driving range on the roof and a wine bar near its lobby).

"We are proud that McKinstry people innovate and that they are generating a lot of ideas themselves. But in truth the entrepreneurs in America are the ones that are going to create a lot of the solutions," said Allen. "We thought, well, if we have a place for our own folks to ... innovate, and if we have a place to bring outsiders in, that that might really enliven our company and would be good for our staff, but also give us better visibility into the kind of things that are coming that our customers will want to know about and they will want us to be expert at. And what better way to be good at that than to catch them at the very start."

To date, Allen noted that the firm has taken a "ready, shoot, aim" approach to the business incubator. And, over the next year, he said they will most likely continue to figure out where they are aiming.

Moderator Cathi Hatch of the Zino Society noted that one clean tech business that presented at yesterday's event had already signed on for a portion of the new space.

Incubating entrepreneurial businesses can be tough, and track records of business incubators is somewhat mixed. That wasn't lost on Allen who said that working with entrepreneurs is "dynamic and fast moving." But he seems up for the challenge.

"We are thinking that it will be an interesting ride," said Allen, adding that they've had a "fantastically fun time talking to entrepreneurs."