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Carl Coffman has built houses, renovated a signature historic property and led the excavation work on some of Portland’s biggest projects. But he hesitates when asked what led him to pursue a career as a developer.

“I still haven’t figured out what I want to do. I always knew I didn’t want to work for anybody else, though,” said Coffman, president of Norway Development.

A native Oregonian, Coffman was born in 1954 in Myrtle Point. He had a bucolic, small-town childhood in which he was second to youngest – and the only boy – in a family of five kids. At Myrtle Point High School, he served as vice president and president of the student body. He discovered that he enjoyed the politics of it, but didn’t excel at every presidential duty.

“I think I did the worst job ever on homecoming,” he said.

After graduating, Coffman journeyed to Bend to learn how to ski before moving to Portland in 1974 to study business administration at Portland State University. He worked as a homebuilder while going to school, and in 1979 launched Coffman Excavation. Three years ago, after hitting his goal of a $50-million year, he transferred three-fourths of the company’s ownership to his employees.

“I’m probably proudest of that than anything I did with that company. I wanted to reward the people who helped it grow,” he said. “Now they tell me what’s going on, and I get out of their hair and let them do it.”

Seeking a new venture, Coffman learned that the 103-year-old building that once housed the Calumet Hotel and, more recently, the Brasserie Montmartre restaurant, was in dire need of either demolition or restoration. Developer Tom Kemper encouraged Coffman to restore the Park Avenue structure.

“He told me, ‘You’re saving an important Portland landmark,’ and he gave me the conviction to keep on going, so to say,” Coffman said.

There were plenty of reasons it would have been easier to call in a wrecking ball. While the building sat vacant, thieves snuck in one night and hammered away at a brick wall in an attempt to break into jewelry store safe next door. And six months into the renovation, the building suffered a partial collapse that nearly ended the endeavor to save it. Demolition debris totaled about 200 truckloads, much of it hauled out by hand.

Designed for LEED gold certification, the renamed Esquire on Park Avenue building now features five stories of apartments above the ground-level restaurant. The Brasserie’s new incarnation boasts several familiar features, including framed drawings created by patrons back when the restaurant held coloring contests. Coffman also framed the damaged section of brick wall – exposed rebar and all – the jewelry thieves left behind.

“It’s a great conversation piece,” he said.

Coffman, who raised his two sons, now in college, as a single dad for the last 12 years, said he feels privileged to have had the opportunity to preserve a historic treasure that holds good memories for so many Portlanders.

“After my kids, this building is probably the thing I’m most proud of.”

Who was a mentor who helped shape you into the person you are today? What did that person teach you?

“An old friend of mine in Roseburg named Noel King. In terms of values and spiritual influence, he was the guy who made me think of being true to myself and my community. Integrity means everything to me, especially as I get older.”

Tell us something about yourself that most people might not know.

“I like playing Scrabble.”