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A major project to upgrade the Oregon Convention Center is under way and on pace for completion at the end of this year to coincide with the opening of the 600-room Hyatt Regency hotel one block to the north.

The $39 million renovation will modernize public areas of the 30-year-old structure, providing an enhanced guest experience while establishing better connections to entries and improving wayfinding for hotel guests and transit users disembarking from the adjacent MAX platform.

The $27 million contract awarded by Metro to Colas Construction to serve as construction manager-general contractor is the largest public contract in Oregon history to go to a minority-owned business. Raimore Construction, also a minority-owned firm, is heavily involved in the project, and handling most of the exterior work.

Work on the three-phase project began last fall with renovations of a lobby, pre-function areas, exhibit halls and meeting rooms at the building’s northern end. The southern end was re-carpeted, while demolition work was conducted on the exterior plaza at the property’s northeastern end.

A second phase that began earlier this month includes demolition of structural canopy and erection of new cantilevered canopy at the main entrance along Northeast Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard. The MLK lobby, a pre-function hall and concourse are all being renovated as workers continue to update the northeast plaza and improve pedestrian connections and wayfinding.

Work will commence this spring on the project’s third phase, which will include the renovation of the main ballroom and a pre-function area serving the space. A structural upgrade to the ballroom will include new steel beams with pick points that will expand the capacity for rigging.

According to Alex Colas, project manager with Colas Construction, the biggest challenge of the project has been working around the venue’s busy programming schedule. The contractor has created a sound calendar to identify days when noise must be limited, and has worked to get buy-in from subcontractors while holding weekly meetings with the center’s events staff to coordinate schedules.

The landmark contract is a chance to prove what is possible to young minorities coming up in the trades, Colas said. The firm has utilized upwards of 50 percent minority subcontractors on the project to date.

鈥淥ur focus is to bring people together and build a pipeline and a future so that other minority contractors can have these kind of opportunities, and not get looked at with a stigma that in the past you’ve generally seen,鈥� he said.

The renovations were designed by Seattle-based LMN Architects. Merryman Barnes Architects is the associate architect, and Mayer/Reed is the landscape architect and environmental graphics designer. Glumac is the MEP engineer, Seattle-based Magnusson Klemencic Associates is the structural engineer, and KPFF is the civil engineer.