We packed 'em in this morning (325 attendees) at Bisnow's Seattle Construction & Development Summit at the Four Seasons. Above, Seattle Convention Center CEO Jeff Blosser described major expansion plans for the city's current 210k SF facility, in our theater-in-the-round setting (which keeps some people expecting that Thai kickboxing will break out at any moment). Seattle considers itself the next San Francisco and is getting ready. We'll have full coverage of the summit in our next edition.

Event sponsors Riley Group, a geotech engineering firm, tells us that a rapidly emerging aspect of sustainable building involves the very ground structures are built on. The soil not only supports the foundation for the building, but can be used for other aspects of development, according to principal Paul Riley (snapped with principal Ricky Wang). Developers need to know, for example, whether the soil can be reused for structural fill. But other questions remain: Is the soil suitable for infiltration or other green designs in storm water management? Is it contaminated? Is it a dig-and-haul, or are cutting-edge remediation technologies an effective cleanup method?