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A 27-acre project in the Gresham-Barlow School District was no easy task for project general contractor Andersen Construction.
Multiple architects, a fast track schedule, wet weather, contaminated soils and a large number of subcontractors combined for one tough project.
Palmquist School Campus Project, located on Southeast Fleming Avenue in Gresham, brings three district operations together onto one site. The new Springwater Trial High School, Hogan Cedars Elementary School and the district’s operations and maintenance facility were included in the $14.8 million project. Construction began in August 2001 and was finished in time for the start of the 2002-2003 school year.
Andersen bid all three buildings separately, which brought the total number of contractors that worked on the project to over 120.
“The owner was able to realize the best cost savings in the bidding process,” said Dan Bott, project superintendent for Andersen.
The project consisted of more than just building three schools; the site work was considered a project by itself.
A new public street, four parking lots, three bioswales, a double baseball field, basketball courts, playgrounds and landscaping were required on the site.
Dull Olson Weekes Architecture did the design work for the site and the elementary school.
Built to serve over 500 students, the new wood-framed 68,000-square-foot Hogan Cedar Elementary School has an enrollment of 432 students for its inaugural year. It’s the district’s 11th elementary school.
Also on the site, the new alternative Springwater Trail High School was designed by LSW Architects to serve about 250 students.
The new high school was constructed to combine services for two other area alternative schools under one roof.
“It’s mainly for students who just don’t function well in a large group setting,” explained Michelle Granger-Moore, chief financial officer for the school district. “High schools with 1,800 students are pretty overwhelming to some children.”
Students with specialized needs and problems will also attend the school.
The 28,000-square-foot high school was a “tough little building to build,” said Bott, because of the connections that had to be made between the building’s wood frame, concrete masonry units and steel structure.
To expedite construction, both schools were built with panelized walls that were prefabricated in a plant and shipped to the job site. Nails with heads of a certain color that identify the type of nail in the wall helped speed up the city inspection process.
Once the buildings were framed and work could be done inside where it was dry, crews worked a lot of weekends and late evenings, said Bott.
In late January, Andersen received the building permit for the 14,000-square-foot operations and maintenance building, which was also designed by LSW. Because the school district wanted to move into the building in June, construction had to move quickly.
After the foundation was in, it was a fast structure to build, commented Bott, mainly because it was built with vertical metal siding.
“Once we framed in the walls we were able to complete the interior office spaces,” said Bott.
As the main operations and maintenance facility for the entire district, nearly half of the building is a large warehouse. Maintenance areas make up most of the building’s other half and a small portion houses office space, a conference area and cafeteria.
The fast-track timeline, combined with site challenges provided stumbling blocks that made working with so many contractors a huge feat for Andersen.
“We had such a tight schedule and things did get a little heated at times,” said Bott.
One such challenge occurred when crews were putting in a sanitary sewer line adjacent to the property and contaminated soil was uncovered.
Because the sewer line was to be maintained by the city of Gresham, but the property is owned by Multnomah County, a dispute arose over who would pay for the soil cleanup.
An old well and an abandoned oil tank were also found underneath the site and both had to be decommissioned and removed properly.
Another challenge surfaced while building the new public road. Workers were getting ready to take down some power poles when Portland General Electric discovered one of the lines that was to be removed actually controlled traffic signals all over the area.
“The biggest challenge was the weather,” said Bott. “We got the permits in the fall when it was starting to rain and the site was all clay so it was a real tough site to build on in wet weather.”
Despite the roadblocks, all buildings were up and running for the beginning of the school year. A dedication ceremony was held last week.
“The schools seem to be operating full steam ahead,” said Granger-Moore. “The testimony I’ve heard is that students and staff are loving the schools.”
Other team members for the entire Palmquist campus project included: Milstead & Associates, owner’s representative; SJO Engineers, civil engineering; G2 Associates Inc., environmental and soils engineering; Percival & Shapiro, landscape architecture; Conlee Engineers Inc., structural engineering; Interface Engineering Inc., mechanical engineering; MKE & Associates, electrical engineering; James G. Pierson Inc., structural engineering; CBG Consulting engineers, mechanical and electrical engineering.