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The Nature Conservancy in Oregon could have redeveloped its office property in Portland’s Buckman neighborhood. Going that route likely would have yielded a five-story, 75,000-square-foot office building. Or the conservation nonprofit could have sold the valuable real estate and moved elsewhere.

Instead, the organization opted to gut its existing 1970s office building and let developer Project^ and LEVER Architecture reimagine the space. The result is a thoroughgoing reinvention of the existing three-story, 12,462-square-foot building, and the addition of a single-story, 2,000-square-foot pavilion featuring cross-laminated timber.

Lease Crutcher Lewis is constructing the expansion and renovation at 821 S.E. 14th Ave. The building will be known as the Oregon Conservation Center.

鈥淭he building had become very outdated, and it was highly inefficient,鈥� said Jim Desmond, state director of The Nature Conservancy in Oregon. 鈥淚t was a 15,000-square-foot building that had five HVAC systems. We weren’t really walking our talk there.鈥�

When Tom Cody, managing partner at Project^, first evaluated the property, he quickly came to the conclusion that it would not be a teardown.

鈥淎t first glance you wouldn’t think it had any merit 鈥� but it had some integrity,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t was a very simple timber-frame building that we saw a future for.鈥�

Cody recommended The Nature Conservancy sell 10,000 square feet of the lot to finance the project rather than build a five-story project to the property lines.

鈥淭he most sustainable thing you can do is to reuse what you have versus demolish it,鈥� Cody said.

Reusing the existing building also will maintain its scale with the surrounding neighborhood, Desmond said.

鈥淲e’re the last building before it becomes entirely residential,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 was uncomfortable saddling a neighborhood that’s been good to us with a 75,000-square-foot building.

The project team is targeting a LEED gold rating from the U.S. Green Building Council. The existing building will gain a rain-screen facade made from weathering steel and larger windows with high-performance glazing. The pavilion will be topped by a rooftop deck planted with native flora.

The project is using regionally harvested Oregon juniper and cedar along with locally sourced boulders and river rock, and weathering steel manufactured locally. Some of the timber comes from land managed by The Nature Conservancy. The mass timber was certified for sustainability by the Forest Stewardship Council. Also, a new rooftop photovoltaic system will provide 25 percent of the building’s energy needs.

In addition to housing The Nature Conservancy, the Oregon Conservation Center will serve as an event space, conference center and venue for partner organizations. The space is designed to be flexibly used for board meetings or reconfigured into theater-style seating for events.

鈥淣obody’s doing anything alone anymore, and we wanted a space that was conducive to that,鈥� Desmond said.

The project team had no hesitation in using CLT from D.R. Johnson in Riddle, Desmond said. The southern Oregon manufacturer was linked to CLT panels that delaminated in March at Oregon State University‘s Peavy Hall project.

The team is confident the OSU incident was caused by a one-time error with a particular run of the material, Desmond said.

鈥淚 didn’t want to have this milled in British Columbia,鈥� he said.

CLT uses about 60 percent less carbon than concrete and steel construction, Desmond said. The frame has already been constructed.

鈥淚t’s in now, and it’s just fantastic,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t really looks great. It functions great.鈥�

Besides the Oregon Conservation Center, projects including Block 76 West at the Burnside bridgehead, District Office and the Flatiron building are all using CLT materials from D.R. Johnson.

The Oregon Conservation Center project team also includes KPFF Consulting Engineers, PAE Consulting Engineers, and Lando and Associates Landscape Architecture.

Construction is on track to finish around Feb. 1, Desmond said. The Nature Conservancy expects to spend several weeks getting systems up and running. For now, the nonprofit organization is using a temporary office at 1634 S.W. Alder St. The conservation group will move back in April, Desmond said.