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When Precision Images CEO Phil Guzie wanted to give the company a new look to match a shifting business model, he turned to long-time client Scott|Edwards Architecture.

“It was nice because they were a customer, and they were there all the time, so we were able to say, ‘Tell us what you want to see,’ ” Guzie said.

Precision Images, a Portland-based printing and graphics business, has traditionally served architecture, engineering and construction clients, but advances in digital technology have decreased industry demand for its services. As a result, the business is branching out from printing building plans. Expanded services include producing banners and signs for retailers.

“We were forced to look at other revenue streams,” Guzie said. “Today, our new clientele, our growing clientele, need more of a retail experience.”

Precision Images’ main office on Southeast Sandy Boulevard lacks a strong street presence and adequate lobby space to accommodate walk-in customers, Scott|Edwards Architecture principal Brian Mares said. The firm designed a remodel to the front end of the 20,000-square-foot building. Plans include creating a retail storefront with a canopy and large glass windows that allow passersby to glimpse the activity happening inside, he said.

“They’re kind of opening it up to a larger business model, and … they wanted to make their business and space more user-friendly,” Mares said. “The biggest thing was a sense of entrance. When you go there now, you don’t know where to go [in].”

The Precision Images redesign got a boost with a $15,000 grant through the Portland Development Commission’s Development Opportunity Services Program. The program can reimburse 80 percent of pre-development costs for exploring the feasibility of expanding a business, or redeveloping an underutilized site or building.

A second PDC grant will help pay for the construction of the storefront improvements.

The Development Opportunity Services grant paid for Scott|Edwards Architecture to issue a report studying design options and giving construction cost estimates for the project, Mares said.

“It’s a really great program where you take a really exhaustive look at building and their business model,” he said. “When you’re done, the building owner knows what he’s going to get and how much it’s going to cost.”

The grant funding allowed Precision Images to do more with the remodel, Guzie said.

“The design grant did allow us some flexibility,” he said. “It did escalate the project knowing that was available.”

The project is undergoing design review with the city of Portland, and Guzie said he hopes to start construction by the end of this year. Work is expected to last between six and 12 weeks. Beaverton-based Benting Construction will be the contractor.

Part of the remodel will involve better exposing the work that happens in the industrial printing portions of the business, Mares said.

“Originally, they were behind this solid wall,” Mares said. “It just ended up being perfect from the street to put them behind the glass.

“From our standpoint, it’s just making sure everybody knows that they’re there.”

The remodeled lobby space will be a more welcoming retail face, Scott|Edwards Architecture designer Ryan Yoshida said. One wall will serve as an interior billboard that Precision Images staffers can change periodically to highlight their large-scale graphics printing skills, he said.

This shift from an industrial to retail presence is an important part of Precision Images shifting business model, Guzie said.

“Today, anybody could use what we provide,” he said. “Everybody that drives by is a potential customer.”