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As a testament to the building boom Portland is experiencing, Perlo Construction, masters of fast-rising tilt-up construction, reports that last year its workforce grew by 50 percent and its revenue increased by 75 percent.

Perlo 鈥� a portmanteau of the surnames of owners Jeff Perala and Gayland Looney 鈥� has become the 13th-largest general contractor in the Portland area largely by working in market segments conducive to tilt-up 鈥� namely auto dealerships, distribution centers and warehouses (though it also has built wineries, cold-storage facilities and retail spaces). But it was able to raise revenue from $60 million to $139 million last year through a concerted entree into the health care sector.

Perlo began as 鈥淪ivers Construction鈥� when it was founded by Win Sivers in 1956. It became 鈥淢cCormack Sivers鈥� in 1979, 鈥淢cCormack Pacific鈥� in 1984, 鈥淧erlo McCormack Pacific鈥� in 2000 and finally Perlo in 2010. Perala and Looney met in college in the construction engineering program at Oregon State University. Perala started at the company as a summer intern.

In the past year Perlo established its first satellite office, in Tempe, Ariz. Now fully staffed, the office will begin work this year on an $8.5 million assisted living facility in nearby Surprise.

Former CEO Terry Edgar (with the company from 1980 to 2005) was known as the 鈥淜ing of Tilt-Up,鈥� and claimed responsibility for raising between 400 and 500 tilt-up buildings in the Portland area in his tenure. Interestingly, Edgar retired to Phoenix, Ariz. before Perlo established an office nearby. He has resumed working for the company, though in a reduced capacity, according to Vicki Menard, Perlo’s manager of corporate communications.

Menard, a former journalist, is part of a wave of new hires the firm began to keep up with its project load. Twenty people were added last year to a staff of 40. They include Perala’s daughter, Lainee, who was hired as a project manager.

Perala is this year’s president of Associated General Contractors‘ Oregon-Columbia chapter. Special Projects Manager Elissa Looney (Gayland’s daughter) is the current president of the Portland chapter of Commercial Real Estate for Women.

Some recent Perlo projects include:

VA Eugene Healthcare Center

Perlo’s largest project to date, a $37.6 million, 19-month job, concluded last month with a ribbon-cutting with federal lawmakers. The full-service outpatient care facility now serves the Eugene area’s growing number of military veterans with MRI, CT scan, X-ray, laboratory and pharmacy services. It’s five times larger than the previous facility.

Located at 3355 Chad Drive, the 127,000-square foot, site-cast concrete, two-story building replaces a barren lot. It has four elevators, a 鈥渉ealing garden,鈥� an atrium lobby with a brick-encased gas fireplace and a wooden staircase with terrazzo treads and glass guardrails.

The project team also included owner Moreland Development of Bakersfield, Calif. and Portland’s Soderstrom Architects.

Subaru of America distribution center

A Perlo crew is in the Port of Portland’s Gresham Vista Business Park building the largest single-occupant warehouse in the Portland-metro area. The master distribution center for the Japanese automaker will serve other U.S. distribution centers. The 600,000-square-foot facility was developed by Trammell Crow Company and the architect was Mildren Design Group.

The facility is expected to employ between 30 and 50 people. Completion is set for August.

Sunlight Supply headquarters

One of the biggest manufacturing centers to hit Vancouver, Wash., in years will consolidate five locations of the garden wholesaler under one roof. The two-story, 306,000-square-foot building was contracted for $26 million, with a total estimated cost of $32.6 million.

Sunlight Supply is 20 years old and employs about 250 people. Its future 85,000-square-foot corporate offices will feature five two-story build-outs with living interior plant walls, reclaimed wood stairs and executive office suites with private restrooms.

The project was designed by VLMK Engineering + Design. Construction began last month and is expected to conclude by January 2017.

J&D Cold Storage expansion

Wrapping up this month, the 33,962-square-foot adds to a 150,000-square-foot Clackamas facility that Perlo built in 2013. Work started in July 2015. The warehouse will provide expanded storage for dry, chilled and frozen foods using an energy-efficient refrigeration system, LED lighting, security and fire systems. VLMK is the project engineer.

Sunset Porsche auto center

The company in December on the 36,000-square-foot dealership showroom, customer service space and auto center at 4250 S.W. 139th Way in Beaverton. The building front will have a curved glass entry and metal panel finishes.

Designs had to account for siting in a 100-year flood plain. Designs by LRS Architects feature an elevated concrete slab built with hollow-core, precast concrete planks, and an open crawlspace under the slab.

Mid-Columbia Medical Center

Perlo is renovating the medical office in The Dalles built in 1992, reconfiguring exam and procedure rooms, a nurses’ station, labs, corridors, offices and patient check-in areas. Work began in November and is scheduled to conclude in April.

Builder’s Choice is a new 91视频 feature offering a look at the projects being tackled by local architecture, engineering and construction firms. To have your firm’s projects considered, contact 91视频 construction reporter Garrett Andrews at 503-802-7226 or [email protected].