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During the pandemic, construction is continuing across Portland’s city center. This includes property on Southwest Alder Street, between 15th and 16th avenues 鈥� a few blocks east of Providence Park. There, general contractor Andersen Construction is steadily adding floors to the Alta Art Tower.

鈥淲e just poured level eight last Thursday, so right now we’re four down and eight up,鈥� Andersen Construction Superintendent Glenn Whitefield said, in reference to four levels of below-grade parking. 鈥淲e’re 21 floors plus the roof 鈥� so we’re a third of the way up.鈥�

Designed by Ankrom Moisan Architects for the Portland office of Atlanta-based Wood Partners, the mixed-use Alta Art Tower will occupy a half-block site next to the Artists Repertory Theatre. The building will feature 314 apartment units over ground-floor commercial space and a unique lobby space that will contain a performance stage and art gallery.

Additional amenities will include a rooftop club room with two outdoor terraces, co-working and meeting space and a fitness studio.

Each apartment will feature quartz kitchen countertops, stainless-steel Energy Star appliances, a gas range, vinyl-wood flooring and more.

The project received the Portland Design Commission‘s approval in November 2018, and crews broke ground in July 2019. Completion is expected sometime next year.

All 21 stories of commercial and residential space are being built with post-tensioned concrete decks and columns.

Right now, companies representing a full slate of trades are on site working from the ground up. Andersen Structural Inc., Andersen Construction’s in-house concrete and carpentry unit, is performing all structural concrete work. Also, Bergelectric is carrying out all interior electrical work, Viking Automatic Sprinkler Company is installing fire protection systems, and Ocean Park Mechanical is handling HVAC systems. Further, Eastern Steel Erectors is performing structural steel work and Vancouver, Washington-based Bratton Masonry is installing concrete masonry. Tapani Plumbing also is working on the building.

Western Partitions Inc. recently started installing more than 1,500 prefabricated wall panels that incorporate everything from steel-stud framing to a rain-screen fa莽ade system designed specifically for buildings as tall as the Alta Art Tower.

鈥淭he exterior is all prefab, so WPI is pre-building all the panels off-site,鈥� Whitefield said. 鈥淭hey’re waterproofed, and then there’s a system called Corium over the top of it. When it comes out, the panel is 100 percent done.鈥�

Despite some delayed shipments from Germany of the thin brick product used on the exterior, the panel installation schedule has largely remained on track.

鈥淭hey’re installed in place and then we’ll start on the windows,鈥� Whitefield said. 鈥淲e’ll start on the windows right behind them 鈥� and then we’ll just chase up the building.鈥�

Not only does this method save significant time and on-site storage space, it heightens safety for workers, Whitefield said.

鈥淭he other nice thing is we don’t have to get on the outside of the building,鈥� he said. 鈥淣ormally we’d have to put up scaffolding or put up Fracos on the outside of the building. Doing it in this way we don’t have to get on the outside, which is a huge money-saver and time-saver too.鈥�

It’s a similar arrangement to the one being used for the high-rise project Andersen is building at 140 S.W. Columbia St.

Once the Alta Art Tower is completed, Andersen Construction plans to explore the possibility of converting the mockup into a full tiny home for donation to the Kenton Women’s Village in North Portland.

For now, Whitefield and his crew are just happy to still be working and sticking to the schedule, despite ongoing difficulties in securing needed materials.

鈥淥ne thing that just came up not too long ago was a PVC conduit,鈥� he said. 鈥淣ormally you can get that off the shelf pretty much at any point. But now we had to order it five to six weeks in advance 鈥� never before. Everything is being impacted to a point.鈥�

Still, there are always work-arounds and solutions.

鈥淚t just takes more effort on our part to find ways to re-sequence and redo things,鈥� Whitefield said. 鈥淥r we have to order things ahead of time and figure out ways to store it on site so that we actually have it on time. It’s been a struggle.鈥�