All the best that Oregon has to offer will be highlighted at a celebratory event booked at the Oregon Convention Center following the completion of its extensive expansion.
Oregon’s Big Bash, slated for April 18 and 19, 2003, will commemorate the completion of the facility’s 25-month expansion and celebrate all things Oregonian.
The $115 million expansion, which broke ground in February 2001, will make the Oregon Convention Center the largest convention center in the Pacific Northwest. When completed, the convention center will increase in size by 60 percent and total 907,500 square feet.
Expansive windows and skylights that flood the interior with natural light will continue to be the facility’s hallmark as it was in the original convention center.
“The newly expanded facility is worth celebrating,” said Jeff Blosser, OCC director. “It will afford Oregon new opportunities that will boost the economy. It’s truly a facility that Oregonians can be proud of.”
Oregon’s Big Bash will be a two-day, free event open to the public. A huge tradeshow with over 400 booths will showcase Oregon’s best companies, services and products.
A beer and wine festival will entertain the masses along with an array of performances by local and national musicians.
Other proposed events include a $35,000 hole-in-one golf challenge benefiting the Portland Interscholastic League’s golf program, which recently had its funding cut.
A local artist will be commissioned to design an Oregon theme T-shirt, to be sold at retail outlets around the city in the weeks before the event. Each shirt will be sequentially numbered and those who purchase one can send in a card with their contact information and associated shirt number.
The cards will be drawn in a contest where the final prize is a new sport utility vehicle. Organizers are still searching for a sponsor for the T-shirt promotion. Whoever donates the car as the prize will have the choice of which charity the drawing will benefit.
There will also be a large Children’s Activity Center where kids can run through a huge maze, make crafts, and watch clowns and magicians perform.
For more information on tradeshow or sponsorship opportunities at Oregon’s Big Bash, contact M & M Productions Inc., a Portland-based event production and management company, at 503-335-3336.

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As the Tigard-based accounting firm of Pittman and Brooks has evolved and grown over the years, so has the company’s need for more space.
That need became evident several years ago when owner Randa Brooks started her own family. Many employees of the now 16-member firm had also begun their own families and the staff itself was increasing.
That’s when Brooks decided, not only did the firm’s building need interior upgrades and more elbow room, but also a daycare facility.
Now the company’s building, located at 15255 S.W. 72nd Ave., is in the final stage of a three-phase upgrade and remodeling project.
Portland’s Sundeleaf + Associates Inc., a commercial space planning, design and facilities management firm, was selected as the project interior designer. Brooks’ husband Randy, also an owner of Pittman and Brooks, is the project general contractor and architect Jim Andrew designed the shell.
The project includes interior upgrades to the 4,000-square-foot existing building with new finishes in the lobby and waiting area, main conference room and president’s office, a new daycare center, and a new lobby and office space addition.
Sundeleaf + Associates already had an established working relationship with the accounting firm.
“We have worked with this client for quite a few years on various projects,” said Kerrie Sundeleaf, president of Sundeleaf + Associates. “We try to understand our clients’ culture and their preferences and we typically maintain that relationship over time.”
The first portion of the project included interior upgrades such as new carpet, paint, lighting, furniture and artwork.
The project’s second phase involved building the daycare center. Although material shortages and missed dates promised by vendors delayed the construction schedule slightly, the daycare center is now complete.
Added to the south side of the existing building, the center is about 1,000 square feet and serves children from infants to about age six.
Sundeleaf + Associates’ project manager Mary Iverson was asked to create an inviting and happy space for the children.
The design concept was to use shapes and colors to define the space, which includes a kitchen, two sinks, appliances and a pass through into a play area.
Iverson also helped Pittman and Brooks get the needed certification from the state of Oregon to open the daycare.
In order to receive certification, Iverson had to tweak the center’s original design.
“We had to further define the space because of different activities with different age groups,” she explained.
Further defining space in the daycare meant adding walls into the existing design, a challenge Iverson tackled successfully.
One area of the daycare was designed with hard surface flooring so that messier activities could be done in that space. While the different flooring partially defined the space, it was not enough for the state to grant certification.
“So we added a curved half wall that follows the curve of the flooring,” said Iverson. “It was enough to add definition and separate the groups while keeping the space open.”
Additional storage in the daycare facility also had to be added to meet the state’s specifications.
Construction on the project’s third phase is underway and includes a 1,500-square-foot addition on the building’s north side, which will add additional office space and a new lobby and reception area.
Code issues were a challenge in designing the lobby and office space addition, said Iverson, particularly in finding a location for the reception desk.
The original design had the desk located directly in front of the conference room doors.
Iverson preferred to have the reception desk in a different location so that the conference room doors could open up into the lobby space.
“There was an elevator and machine room planned for where I wanted the desk to be,” explained Iverson.
The elevator was required because of the building’s square footage, so the owner decided to remove a deck area so that the building’s square footage would fall under the requirement for an elevator and the elevator and machine room could be deleted from the plans.
Working around the accounting firm’s busy tax season from January through April also provided challenges for Sundeleaf + Associates.
“They work seven days a week during that time,” said Sundeleaf. “We did the design work but we couldn’t do much construction.”
While the project has offered its share of hurdles, Sundeleaf is confident the extensive, three-stage project will finish on schedule. They are aiming for a mid-December completion date.
Pre-tax season, of course.

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Portland is at the forefront of an effort to maintain a sense of the natural world in urban areas. Green building, sustainable business principles and protection of parks, open spaces and wildlife habitats are practices commonly incorporated into construction projects in the city.
But are those practices frequent enough or widespread enough to make a difference? How can new construction be planned to minimize the loss of natural spaces inside existing metropolitan areas?
Tackling that question is Dr. Rutherford H. Platt, a geographer and lawyer in the Department of Geosciences at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. Platt is developing a program called the Ecological Cities Project, a research and outreach effort that seeks to promote the sharing of knowledge among cities regarding new approaches to the creation and management of green spaces in an urban setting.
Platt will be in Portland next week to deliver a presentation titled “Ecological Cities: No Longer an Oxymoron.”
That title, though, is not quite true yet, said Mike Houck, an urban naturalist with the Audubon Society of Portland and a member of Platt’s national steering committee for Ecological Cities.
“It still is an oxymoron to some planners, elected officials and the business community,” said Houck.
“But,” he added, “efforts are afoot to make the title a truism.”
Platt’s message will likely vary for the different audiences he will speak to including Metro Council members, Portland State University faculty and students, and the city of Portland’s Office of Sustainable Development.
When addressing Metro and the city, Platt will likely focus on certain efforts by Portland’s governments to maintain green spaces, such as Metro’s urban growth boundary and Portland’s green building and clean rivers initiatives.
At PSU, Platt may discuss the university’s role in assisting the city and the region in becoming more ecologically focused in planning, surmised Houck.
“The whole point behind this is to get information out to the general public, academics and planners regarding efforts underway in Portland and other cities in America to achieve the ideals of an ecological city by integrating the natural with the built environment,” said Houck.
Houck added that he hopes building industry professionals attend Platt’s lectures because those are the people who really need to hear about this concept.
“There are some folks in the building community that get it and understand that the economy and the environment around their developments are totally intertwined,” said Houck.
Others show an ongoing antipathy toward environmentally friendly development, which Houck said he finds perplexing.
“We ought to be really strong allies,” he said.
The beginning of Platt’s Ecological Cities dates back to the 1990 Sustainable Cities Symposium in Chicago, which spurred the award-winning book, “The Ecological City: Preserving and Restoring Urban Biodiversity”.
After the book, the Ecological Cities Project was initiated with a line of funding from the U.S. Forest Service Urban Forestry Program. The project involves research, teaching and outreach on efforts to promote ecological friendly development in cities.
Ecological Cities has held two regional conferences at Boston College in 2000 and the University of South Carolina in 2001.
In June 2002, Platt organized a two-day conference at the New York University Law School complex called The Humane Metropolis: People and Nature in the 21st Century City. A book on the conference, The Humane Metropolis, is in the works.
Currently, the Ecological Cities Project is working on a national study of new approaches to urban watershed and estuary management, funded by a National Science Foundation grant.
Details on the project can be found at http://www.umass.edu/ecological cities.
Platt has scheduled four presentations next Thursday and Friday in Portland.

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Salem’s Pence/Kelly Construction Inc. will have a firmer grasp on the Portland market now that it has partnered with LCG Co., formerly a subsidiary of The Kelly Group, to create LCG Pence general contractors.
Because of the economic slowdown, The Kelly Group was interested in scaling back, which opened up the opportunity for LCG owner Terry Loerke to purchase LCG from The Kelly Group.
Loerke went looking for a partner in the purchase and found Pence/Kelly owner Curt Pence interested.
The two firms’ combined experience and expertise were a natural fit.
A full-service general construction company, LCG has been in business since 1923. The company recently moved its offices to Vancouver, Wash., but with the formation of LCG Pence, the firm has moved back to its Portland office at 16427 N.E. Airport Way.
Established in 1949, Pence/Kelly has a long history of experience in commercial, retail, industrial and institutional construction. Recent projects include Hermiston High School in Hermiston and the new Food Services of America facility in Woodburn.
“We come from the same background and we just seemed to talk the same language,” said Loerke of Curt Pence.
Partnering with LCG seemed to fit in with Pence/Kelly’s business plan as well.
“Pence/Kelly was trying to do some strategic planning and break into the Portland market,” said Terry Simmons, business development manager for LCG Pence. “And LCG has a lot of great relationships we could build on.”
LCG also capitalized on Pence/Kelly’s 50-year history and strong business relationships in Salem and the southern and mid-Willamette Valley regions.
“I have strong relationships in the northern valley, so we complimented each other well,” said Loerke.
Loerke will serve as LCG Pence’s president and Pence will be the firm’s chief executive officer.
Pence/Kelly will remain its own entity and will continue its general contractor services with more emphasis on complex concrete construction.
Pence will also remain president and owner of Pence/Kelly along with co-owners Wes McWhorter, vice president of construction, Bob Hill, vice president of finance, and Dave Hays, vice president of operations.
Simmons said McWhorter, Hill and Hays will also be principals in LCG Pence.
Merging the two firms into LCG Pence will combine the specific talents of each company.
“We have a greater depth in project management and also in project supervision by joining with Pence than we did with just LCG,” said Loerke. “With their expertise and personnel we’ll be able to perform larger and more diverse projects and have the experience and staff to perform them well.”
Paperwork finalizing the merger was finished last week and projects are already underway including the Helen Gordon Child Development Center at Portland State University and a remodel of the county courthouse in Tillamook.
LCG Pence plans to continue developing its general contracting business in Oregon and over the long term, slowly expand into Washington, California and Idaho, said Loerke.
“The short-term goal is to make it through the slow times here and we’re fairly well-positioned to do that,” said Loerke. “We have some very good clients that are loyal to us and as the economy gets better, they will start expanding and we will have great opportunities with them.”

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Predicting the future is no easy task.
When economist Bill Conerly of Conerly Consulting stood in front of a gathering of Associated General Contractors Oregon-Columbia chapter members one year ago, he predicted a gloomy 2002 that would turn around by the end of the year.
As Oregonians know, that gloom has yet to break in this state although the national economy has been expanding for the past four quarters.
Conerly once again looked into his crystal ball and made a prediction for the coming year at an AGC Issues Forum Thursday. This year, Conerly was joined by economists Ken Simonson of AGC of America and Art Ayre with the Oregon Employment Department.
So why is Oregon’s economy remaining sluggish even with the country showing signs of recovery?
While consumer spending is pushing the economy forward, capital goods remain weak because companies are still tightening their belts. That affects Oregon and the Pacific Northwest particularly because of the large amount of capital goods manufacturing done here, said Conerly.
Even the increase in government spending, specifically on defense, is not a huge plus for Oregon because of the lack of military bases in the state. And a possible war in Iraq could mean several things for the economy.
“War is not always good for the economy,” said Conerly.
Negative effects of war, such as failing consumer confidence, nervous investors and higher oil prices, are already apparent in anticipation of war, he said.
They could continue or even worsen if war does occur. Once the uncertainty of war goes away, some of those negative effects may dissipate also. The results depend on the length and depth of the conflict, he said.
Nationally, signs of improvement should continue.
“The national economy will be slowly edging forward next year,” Conerly predicted.
In Oregon, people are still moving into the state, he said, which is a good sign. He forecast gains in the state’s employment in 2003 and 2004.
Preliminary unemployment figures for October in Oregon show an unemployment rate of 7 percent, according to the Oregon Employment Department.
Oregon was the third worst state in the nation with an unemployment rate of 6.8 percent in September, just behind Washington and Alaska.
The Oregon workforce appears to be stabilizing for now, said Employment Department economist Ayre.
“Job growth has been slower this decade than the last,” he said. “This is especially true for construction.”
A 12 percent net growth in jobs in Oregon is expected between 2000 and 2010 equaling over 200,000 additional jobs. That’s not including about 380,000 expected job openings in that time frame from people leaving occupations, retirements and deaths.
“Portland and Southern Oregon will grow faster than the statewide average,” said Ayre.
Locally, construction employment was a tad higher in September than the low point in July, but nearly 15 percent below the peak reached in December 2000, according to AGC economist Simonson.
In September, the Portland, Salem and Eugene areas each had the lowest construction employment totals since 1995, he added.
The recent construction job loss in the state is mild compared to losses in the early 1980s, said Ayre. Most of the job openings in the construction field are due to people leaving the occupation, he added.
As far as construction activity nationally is concerned, activity in both residential and nonresidential sectors varies, said Simonson.
He said the picture with private nonresidential construction is mixed.
“Overall, the office market will be weak,” said Simonson.
Warehouse space will also not be seeing any growth, particularly with more companies using just-in-time inventory.
Construction of factories, lodging, shopping malls and shopping centers is also down.
However, because spending is up on homes, autos and health related items, construction on structures such as health care facilities, building supply stores and auto sales facilities have shown increases.
Low interest rates may help the residential market stay strong, particularly with single-family home construction, said Simonson.
Meanwhile, multi-family residential construction will likely slow as more people buy homes and vacancy rates rise.
Construction costs are expected to remain flat, including wages, said Simonson, except insurance. Premiums for all types of insurance have increased by an average of 30 percent coupled with reductions in coverage.
Overall, both nationally and locally, the economists said construction would remain uneven for several months. Business-related construction will pick up gradually in the second half of 2003 and public projects will likely diminish, predicted Simonson.

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Washington recently nabbed its first gold.
The first project in the state to receive the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design gold certification is IslandWood, a 55,000-square-foot, 255-acre learning facility on Bainbridge Island.
Designed by Seattle’s Mithun Architects, three of the site’s 40 structures earned the LEED gold stamp. The project was first entered into USGBC’s initial LEED pilot program several years ago and received certification this year after the buildings were completed.
The remainder of the buildings were all designed with green principles in mind and are on track for the highest rating with Kitsap County’s Built Green program.
“We were committed to building a learning center that practiced what we teach,” said Debbi Brainerd, IslandWood founder and board president.
School children in fourth and fifth grade attend IslandWood in a program held Monday through Thursday, which helps satisfy a state-required environmental education course. Adult and family activities are also offered at the learning facility.
The campus has overnight facilities in three lodges, plus a main campus with supplemental buildings and structures such as wetland and bird viewing sites.
“IslandWood’s mission is helping kids become stewards by linking ecology, technology and the arts,” said Bert Gregory, president of Mithun.
Designed to help satisfy that mission, IslandWood’s main center, dining hall and educational studio buildings earned the LEED gold seal.
A welcome center is located in the main center building along with a great hall for lectures and plays, and administration office space.
A 120-year-old salvaged wood beam serves as a major design element in the primary roof truss of the main center and the flooring throughout the building is made from salvaged wood.
The dining hall uses solar-heated water for use in the kitchen, restrooms and laundry operations. Photovoltaic roof panels provide 50 percent of the lighting and electrical needs for the educational studio building, which features an interactive Sustainability Classroom where students can electronically monitor their energy and water consumption.
Water usage and consumption was a key element in the project’s design given that the campus sits on a watershed.
IslandWood wanted to use that as an educational opportunity for the kids to learn about the cycle of water.
“We designed a biological wastewater treatment system that has a tertiary treatment level, which is cleaner than most sanitary treatment plants,” said Gregory.
The system recycles wastewater and reuses it onsite through landscape irrigation and low-flow toilets.
Green and recycled materials were used throughout the campus’ construction.
The Forest Stewardship Council certified half of the wood used in all the buildings, most of which are wood-framed. Plywood and oriented strandboard were used throughout, along with wood taken from the site.
“The trees that had to be cut down to create the campus were shipped off to a mill, came back and were used for trim inside the buildings,” said Gregory.
About 50 percent of the buildings’ exterior siding came from trees cut down on site as well.
Most of the flooring throughout the campus buildings is concrete mixed with fly ash. In some areas, floors are made of cork, bamboo, recycled tires or other salvaged wood.
The kids also had a say in what they wanted to see at IslandWood.
Architects worked with children during workshops to help generate ideas for the campus design.
“One of the things they wanted was an outdoor floating classroom,” said Gregory. “So out on the pond there’s a classroom that floats, where the kids can do water quality testing and other projects.”
A suspension bridge and a treehouse, two other student-generated ideas, are also on campus or in the works, said Gregory.
Contractors on the project included Rafn Co., Drury Construction, Woodside Construction and Sahale Trails.
Construction on IslandWood began in 2000 and is nearly complete. More information is available at http://www.pselc.org.
Portland’s Jean Vollum Natural Capital Center was the Pacific Northwest’s first LEED gold-certified project.

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In one of his last official duties as Metro’s Executive Officer, Mike Burton made his final urban growth boundary recommendation Tuesday to Metro Council’s Community Planning Committee.
Burton made two recommendations earlier this year. This third recommendation is his last to Metro Council, which will make the final UGB decision in December.
Based on information he has received from the region’s cities and Metro’s advisory committees over the past several months, Burton’s final UGB recommendation includes additional land for parks and schools inside the urban area.
“Local officials from throughout the region clearly want more land set aside for future parks and schools,” said Burton.
The Metro Policy Advisory Committee also recommended that more acreage be dedicated for schools and parks.
Burton concurred with MPAC’s recommendation of adding 200 acres for schools and 1,200 acres for parks.
Acreage in the Boring area, which Burton originally recommended, was not included in this recommendation. He believes that further study of the area is necessary for proper planning. Burton also eliminated a portion of an area in Oregon City at the city’s request.
Burton said that increasing land inside the UGB used for schools and parks, plus his recommended eliminations, require the UGB to expand more than he had originally recommended to accommodate needs for housing and jobs.
To provide for residential units, Burton has recommended the Stafford Basin be brought into the UGB. This area includes about 10,000 acres located east of Interstate 5 and north of Interstate 205. Portions of the area lie in Tualatin, Lake Oswego, Rosemont and West Linn.
“Clackamas County wants a long-term plan for that area,” said Burton.
Burton believes one portion of the Stafford Basin area could be used as a new town center and another portion could assist in the completion of the West Linn town center.
Burton’s recommendation includes about 200 additional acres for housing near Sherwood and approximately 350 housing acres in the Bethany area, which is north of U.S. Highway 26 in Washington County.
Additional employment land in Burton’s latest recommendation includes areas east of Highway 26 to support Gresham’s Springwater development, 166 acres in the Stafford Basin area, portions west of Tualatin and land near the city of Cornelius, which Burton proposes be planned with adjacent farmland in mind.
The executive officer’s final recommendation brings his total UGB recommendation to 21,506 acres for future residential development and 2,778 acres for new jobs.
Those numbers slightly exceed the region’s need for housing but fall short on employment land needs by about 1,500 acres.
That employment land shortage was about 2,500 acres after Burton’s last recommendation in early October, but is now less because the council passed an amendment last month that restricted the poaching of industrial land for commercial purposes, thereby reducing the amount of industrial land the region will need over the next 20 years.
Meeting that 1,500 acres of employment land shortfall, Burton said, is a task left up to the council, who must send a final UGB decision to the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development by the end of December.
“A lot of these things I would prefer not to be recommending,” added Burton, who advocated for comprehensive planning of large areas rather than snippets of land here and there around the boundary.
A lack of sense in some areas of state law make Metro’s UGB decisions very difficult, said Burton.
“Our artificial benchmark of calculating a 20-year land supply every five years is not only insignificant, it’s an insult to this wonderful place,” he said.
Burton challenged the council to take up the task of outlining a new legislative strategy to help Metro develop the region while protecting its natural resources.
“The strategy should be ready to go for the first legislative session in January,” challenged Burton.
Council Presiding Officer Carl Hosticka agreed that the legal land-use system needs reform.
“(The legal system) forces us to know things we really don’t know,” he said.
Hosticka advocates a conservative approach to changing the system, acting cautiously so nothing is done that can’t be undone.
Burton’s position as executive officer has been eliminated and he will leave Metro in January. David Bragdon, Metro councilor, won the seat of Metro president on Tuesday over challenger Kate Schiele. The new office of Metro president was formed to combine the agency’s legislative and executive leadership into one position.

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When Bruce Cummings formed his general contracting firm B.J. Cummings, he didn’t have a lot of money or connections, but he wanted to be a commercial contractor. So he found a niche by doing small jobs and gaining loyal clients by offering ongoing construction services.
This year, B.J. Cummings is celebrating its 40th anniversary.
Born and raised in Portland, Cummings grew up in what he calls a “carpenter’s” household. So when he attended Parkrose High School, he joined the school’s carpenter apprenticeship program.
While in the program Cummings worked for Gus Minden, owner of Minden Construction Co., who was known for his expert church building.
“I was fortunate enough to be apprenticed to a person with a strong sense of quality and a tremendous reputation for integrity,” said Cummings.
After working with Minden for nine years, Cummings decided it was time to go into business for himself and established B.J. Cummings in 1962.
“Basically I looked around and it came to me that the only way I was going to make it was to convince people with ongoing needs for construction services,” said Cummings.
He first started working with banks by doing small repair jobs. Over the years, he began to build branches and formed strong relationships with local institutions like U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo (formerly First National).
“Bruce has done work with the bank for about 30 years,” said Joe Weber, regional manager of corporate properties at Wells Fargo. “He’s always been our go-to guy when it comes to our properties in Oregon and Southwest Washington.”
Whether it is drywall, metal studwork, plastering or interior finishes, Cummings does a variety of jobs, while subcontracting out little work. The company, which employees about 30 people, even has its own high-end cabinet shop.
“We swim upstream,” said Cummings. “More of our work is actually done with our own payroll people.”
By using mostly his own employees, Cummings feels that he has more control and can meet demanding schedules easier.
“Some subcontractors may have never heard of us but we successfully work with some of the largest corporations in the Northwest,” said Cummings.
That includes PacifiCorp, where Bob Zahler, a recently retired facilities manager, worked directly with Cummings.
Their business relationship started back in the early 1980s.
“We use him everywhere because of his quality of work, professionalism, ethics and the fact that he uses master craftsmen in his work,” said Zahler. “He is very attentive to the customer’s needs. Twenty-four hours a day he is available.”
Cummings’ flexibility has proved beneficial in his work with banks as well, where construction must be done at night and on weekends when customers aren’t present.
“He’s always looking out for the bank,” said Weber. “His number one priority is what’s the best solution for the bank. He appreciates and understands how we maintain our buildings.”
Zahler believes Cummings is one of the best contractors in the city of Portland and his longtime, loyal employees and customer service make him an ideal contractor for a company like PacifiCorp.
“He puts the bow on the package,” said Zahler. “Not too many people do that these days.”
Cummings said he is not interested in the big $15 million jobs, instead he plans to keep his business focused on what it does best.
“We have found a niche where we can be productive and contribute to the Portland market,” said Cummings. “We make a living and are able to do work in the quality fashion that we have over the years.”

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Portland Relief Nursery’s new 16,500-square-foot building in Portland’s St. Johns neighborhood is a big change from the cramped church basement in North Portland, where the group had been located since it opened in 2001.
The child abuse prevention organization that serves high-risk children from birth to three and their families will now be able to serve over 100 children at its new facility.
“This is a community we already knew needed us,” said Sheila Hale, executive director at Portland Relief Nursery. “There’s already a long waiting list to get in.”
The organization moved into the building in September and a grand opening celebration was held in mid-October.
The relief nursery will have to bring on more staff before they are at full capacity, added Hale, which may take some time because of the large expense involved.
In the meantime, the children, staff and parents are adjusting to the new surroundings.
Having daylight in the space has made a world of difference, said Hale.
“We even feel a difference with the parents coming in and being able to feel the nurturing sense of the building,” she said.
Located at 8425 N. Lombard St., the building was designed by Robertson Merryman Barnes Architects.
The facility is solid, and shows that the organization is legitimate, said Hale.
Construction first began about a year ago with McCarthy Building Co. as the general contractor. But when the construction company shut down its Northwest division last December, the relief nursery was left without a builder.
“When McCarthy left, we had no roof,” said Hale, which in December equated to having a swimming pool instead of a home. “It was not pleasant to have to dry out the building.”
The project went out for bid again and O’Brien Constructors, formerly OTKM Construction Inc., began working as the project general contractor in March.
“I cannot sing the praises of O’Brien Constructors more,” said Hale.
The firm was able to keep on schedule despite the nonprofit being uncertain about funding.
“They really bought into the mission and you could feel it from every subcontractor that was here,” said Hale. “Every person at O’Brien has given with their heart, talent and time.”
Carpenters, masonry and cement unions donated time and materials during the building’s construction. Other subcontractors made in-kind gifts as well.
The project’s total cost came to $3.2 million.
“It really was a collaborative effort,” said Hale. “We couldn’t have done it without the donations.”
Now Hale calls herself the czarina of the building and says she needs a scooter to get her from point to point in the large new facility.
All of the additional space will allow the relief nursery to expand its programs in several ways.
A room in the new building was designated for an occupational therapy group from Oregon City to offer services to the community and conduct therapy with the children.
Early Head Start and Oregon pre-kindergarten will hold classes in the building as well.
A new conference room will be open for the community to use for meetings or other purposes and two parent facility rooms will be dedicated to doing a parent connection group program through the relief nursery.
Another room has been designated a resource room for parents. It will be home to classes such as quilting and scrapbooking as a way to introduce parents to the relief nursery’s program, explained Hale.
Services provided by the organization at no cost include therapeutic classrooms, play therapy, parenting skills classes, respite care, home visits, mental health services, referrals to drug and alcohol counseling support services, and a crisis telephone hotline.
“Research shows that comprehensive early intervention programs like ours can reduce child abuse by 80 percent,” said Deb McCabe, board chairwoman for the Portland Relief Nursery. “Early intervention is the best social investment we can make.”

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A 27-acre project in the Gresham-Barlow School District was no easy task for project general contractor Andersen Construction.
Multiple architects, a fast track schedule, wet weather, contaminated soils and a large number of subcontractors combined for one tough project.
Palmquist School Campus Project, located on Southeast Fleming Avenue in Gresham, brings three district operations together onto one site. The new Springwater Trial High School, Hogan Cedars Elementary School and the district’s operations and maintenance facility were included in the $14.8 million project. Construction began in August 2001 and was finished in time for the start of the 2002-2003 school year.
Andersen bid all three buildings separately, which brought the total number of contractors that worked on the project to over 120.
“The owner was able to realize the best cost savings in the bidding process,” said Dan Bott, project superintendent for Andersen.
The project consisted of more than just building three schools; the site work was considered a project by itself.
A new public street, four parking lots, three bioswales, a double baseball field, basketball courts, playgrounds and landscaping were required on the site.
Dull Olson Weekes Architecture did the design work for the site and the elementary school.
Built to serve over 500 students, the new wood-framed 68,000-square-foot Hogan Cedar Elementary School has an enrollment of 432 students for its inaugural year. It’s the district’s 11th elementary school.
Also on the site, the new alternative Springwater Trail High School was designed by LSW Architects to serve about 250 students.
The new high school was constructed to combine services for two other area alternative schools under one roof.
“It’s mainly for students who just don’t function well in a large group setting,” explained Michelle Granger-Moore, chief financial officer for the school district. “High schools with 1,800 students are pretty overwhelming to some children.”
Students with specialized needs and problems will also attend the school.
The 28,000-square-foot high school was a “tough little building to build,” said Bott, because of the connections that had to be made between the building’s wood frame, concrete masonry units and steel structure.
To expedite construction, both schools were built with panelized walls that were prefabricated in a plant and shipped to the job site. Nails with heads of a certain color that identify the type of nail in the wall helped speed up the city inspection process.
Once the buildings were framed and work could be done inside where it was dry, crews worked a lot of weekends and late evenings, said Bott.
In late January, Andersen received the building permit for the 14,000-square-foot operations and maintenance building, which was also designed by LSW. Because the school district wanted to move into the building in June, construction had to move quickly.
After the foundation was in, it was a fast structure to build, commented Bott, mainly because it was built with vertical metal siding.
“Once we framed in the walls we were able to complete the interior office spaces,” said Bott.
As the main operations and maintenance facility for the entire district, nearly half of the building is a large warehouse. Maintenance areas make up most of the building’s other half and a small portion houses office space, a conference area and cafeteria.
The fast-track timeline, combined with site challenges provided stumbling blocks that made working with so many contractors a huge feat for Andersen.
“We had such a tight schedule and things did get a little heated at times,” said Bott.
One such challenge occurred when crews were putting in a sanitary sewer line adjacent to the property and contaminated soil was uncovered.
Because the sewer line was to be maintained by the city of Gresham, but the property is owned by Multnomah County, a dispute arose over who would pay for the soil cleanup.
An old well and an abandoned oil tank were also found underneath the site and both had to be decommissioned and removed properly.
Another challenge surfaced while building the new public road. Workers were getting ready to take down some power poles when Portland General Electric discovered one of the lines that was to be removed actually controlled traffic signals all over the area.
“The biggest challenge was the weather,” said Bott. “We got the permits in the fall when it was starting to rain and the site was all clay so it was a real tough site to build on in wet weather.”
Despite the roadblocks, all buildings were up and running for the beginning of the school year. A dedication ceremony was held last week.
“The schools seem to be operating full steam ahead,” said Granger-Moore. “The testimony I’ve heard is that students and staff are loving the schools.”
Other team members for the entire Palmquist campus project included: Milstead & Associates, owner’s representative; SJO Engineers, civil engineering; G2 Associates Inc., environmental and soils engineering; Percival & Shapiro, landscape architecture; Conlee Engineers Inc., structural engineering; Interface Engineering Inc., mechanical engineering; MKE & Associates, electrical engineering; James G. Pierson Inc., structural engineering; CBG Consulting engineers, mechanical and electrical engineering.

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