Franklin High School was built in the heart of Southeast Portland in 1915. The school was extensively remodeled in the 1980s, but eventually ended up in need of upgrades and modernization.

The 2012 Portland Public Schools bond was the result of community involvement with the goal of improving schools in the district along a broad range of criteria. At Franklin, part of the modernization aimed to reconfigure and update the facility with a focus on environmental quality, sustainability and historic preservation.

More than 1,700 students currently attend Franklin, but that number is expected to grow. So the modernization project was tackled in a way that could accommodate a future increase in enrollment. The redesign also aimed to address changing needs of both students and the changing face of the educational curriculum. A new feature at the school, courtesy of the modernization project, for example, is a culinary arts learning space, where students can learn about nutrition while also learning how to prepare meals.

The $113 million Franklin modernization also included a new performing and fine arts center, a two-story entry lobby that doubles as a commons area, realignment of an existing outdoor athletic track by 90 degrees to accommodate a new gym and educational facility, repurposing the original auditorium as a media center, full seismic reinforcement, and fully integrating ADA access throughout the campus. Traditional lighting was replaced with LEDs and rooftop solar panels were installed to generate power for the school.

Submitted by: CBRE/Heery

Location: Portland, Oregon

Project cost: $113 million

Start date: June 2015

Completion date: August 2017

Owner/developer: Portland Public Schools

Project/construction management: CBRE/Heery

Architect: DOWA/IBI Group, SERA

Landscape architect: Mayer/Reed

Engineers: KPFF Consulting Engineers (civil, structural), PAE (plumbing), Reyes Engineering (electrical)

General contractor: Skanska USA Building Inc.

Other associates: KELSAY, Morrison-Herschfield, Pla Designs Inc., Scheduling and Information Services Inc., The Greenbush Group

The post Education – 3rd place: Franklin High School Modernization appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

Skanska USA Building teamed with SRG Partnership and Behnisch Architekten to complete a 147,000-square-foot refurbishment of Portland State University’s existing Graduate School of Education and School of Business Administration in downtown Portland.

The $50.223 million project included renovations to the Karl Miller Center as well as a new 36,000-square-foot pavilion. A visually captivating glass atrium connects the two.

The project targeted LEED Platinum certification. The Karl Miller Center features a modern, cantilever design, the complexity of which posed plenty of challenges for the project team. Close collaboration and strong communication allowed the project team to successfully complete the project, despite having to conduct construction while classes were in session. Unusually harsh winter conditions also required Skanska and its subcontractors to turn to innovation and get creative in order to deal with unusually heavy rains and freezing temperatures.

A close working relationship also allowed the project team to help PSU reach its goals for sustainability. Features such as a green roof and a series of filtering planters and high-performance walls and windows resulted in the project earning LEED Platinum status.

The project was completed in time for the beginning of the fall 2017 term, earning praise from administrators from PSU’s business school.

“Even with a myriad of challenges, the construction crew and subcontractors were professional and attentive … no small feat as the building was also occupied with over 4,000 students on the last day of the project,” Cliff Allen, dean of the business school, wrote in a letter of recommendation for the project.

Submitted by: Skanska USA Building

Location: Portland, Oregon

Project cost: $50.223 million

Start date: August 2015

Completion date: September 2017

Owner/developer: Portland State University

Architect: Behnisch Architekten, SRG Partnership

Engineer: Catena Consulting Engineers

General contractor: Skaska USA Building Inc.

The post Education – 2nd place: Portland State University School of Business—Karl Miller Center appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

A Portland community-impact organization will use a monetary award from Bank of America to expand a training program used to help students enter careers in construction and manufacturing.

Earlier this month, All Hands Raised was selected as the recipient of Bank of America’s 2018 Neighborhood Builder award. Each year, the bank donates $200,000 to a Portland nonprofit geared to provide leadership training.

All Hands Raised aims to support children in Multnomah County. The program focuses on the educational experience, including kindergarten transition, K-12 attendance, ninth grade transition, and post-secondary access and completion. Also, funding is provided to high schools as part of the Pathways to Construction and Manufacturing Careers program.

All Hands Raised will use a portion of the money from the award to build upon the Pathways to Construction and Manufacturing Careers program partnership and collectively serve nearly 12,000 students. The initial partnership with two schools, Reynolds High and Centennial High, will expand to incorporate four more schools with active construction trades and manufacturing programs. The program also will receive support from the Pacific Northwest Carpenters Institute.

Jeanie-Marie Price, vice president of communication for All Hands Raised, sees the money from the award as an investment.

“Over the next 10 years, 30,000-plus construction and manufacturing jobs will be added to our region and our community,” Price said. “With this significant grant from Bank of America, All Hands Raised will focus on ensuring our high school students are aware of the opportunities that exist in the trades, connecting high schools, community colleges and increasing overall awareness of these high-wage jobs.”

Dan Ryan, CEO of All Hands Raised, recognizes that there are gaps in the pathways to those careers. His organization seeks to fill those gaps, partnering with teachers and local employers to inform students of options both in direct trades training and continuing education at community or traditional four-year colleges.

“This well-timed investment by Bank of America will allow our local partnership to develop a stronger awareness among educators of the living-wage job opportunities in our community,” Ryan said, “and will truly be a game-changer for our local high school students and their families.”

Since inception of Bank of America’s Neighborhood Builders program in 2004, it has invested more than $220 million in training across the country.

The post Grant will help Portland organization expand career training program appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

At an open house held at Bridge Meadows in Beaverton earlier this month, city officials and designers answered questions about the $35 million Public Safety Center planned at the corner of Southwest Allen Street and Hall Boulevard.

The city’s police and emergency response facilities currently operate in the same building as the Beaverton Municipal Court on Southwest Griffith Drive. As far back as 15 years ago, Beaverton officials recognized inherent problems with the building that would drive the need for a new one. A sizable earthquake would have disastrous effects on the city, so a protected emergency response facility is considered critical. But the Griffith Drive building isn’t up to those standards.

Also, the existing building has space and logistics issues. They include difficulty moving prisoners in public spaces, witnesses and victims being interviewed in public view, minors being held in separate cells but areas shared with adults, archaic cell doors and other security issues, property and evidence being stored off-site, and outdated report writing areas that could be described as reminiscent of the old “Barney Miller” squad room.

Police Capt. Eric Oathes is his department’s lead representative for the project.

“The holding areas are just for detention, a maximum of four hours, but those areas still need to be more efficient and more secure, so that’s part of what we’re including,” he said. “Teaming up with Emergency Management is important too, because we share a lot of information.

“The new building will be able to withstand a serious earthquake and still function. There will be redundant systems to avoid technical problems, and the facility will be able to generate some of its own power. There’ll be a connection where a water truck can connect to the building and fill an internal 500-gallon tank so that we can continue to function if a serious event happens and we lose power and water.”

The new building will be designed to fit into the new Allen Boulevard District Plan, a revitalization of several blocks in the city, according to Beaverton Police Chief Jim Monger.

“It’s important that this building fit into the community,” he said. “We want this to be a welcoming building, a landmark.”

Anderson Krygier Inc. is providing landscape architecture services for the project. Its plan calls for trees with bioremediation capabilities to offset some of the contaminants remaining on the property from when it was a gas station many years ago.

“Gasoline and oil are carbon-based, so it’s actually easier for plants to sequester that excess carbon over time than to remove a lot of dirt and infill,” said Michael Yun, an Anderson Krygier associate principal.

The plan also includes aesthetic appeal and minimal maintenance.

FFA Architecture and Interiors was awarded its contract in August 2017. Designs are about 80 percent complete. The primary issues are interior design and spatial use, foot traffic flow, and access to secure areas that will be determined after receiving extensive input from police personnel. Oathes expects most full-time staffers to offer their ideas. The process should result in completed, finalized plans by late spring, when site preparation is slated to begin. Construction is expected to start by December; completion is tentatively scheduled for 2020.

Ian Gelbrich is FFA’s lead architect and Richard Grace is its lead designer for the project.

“Beaverton is a very diverse community; the design theme, both inside and out, will reflect that,” Grace said. “We’ll integrate a lot of different textures and materials that work together to create the impression of a diverse community working together. That includes the way we’ll work with light. There will be a lot of natural light that plays on patterns of texture and shadow.”

One of the biggest challenges will be working out a finalized design and building plan that works with the available budget, according to Troy Ainsworth, a principal at FFA.

“Civic projects have funding set in stone, so we have to look at what the client wants and stay within the scope of the budget to produce that,” he said. “Functionality is specific on this project, but it’s also a chance to set a new design standard for public buildings. The city wants to bring an advanced concept of function and design that fits with the Allen Boulevard project.”

In the event of a major earthquake, Beaverton could have to contend with loss of electrical power, water and cell phone towers. Bridges and roads in some areas could be severely damaged or even impassable. Officials would need the Public Safety Center to not only survive the quake, but also function afterward. Mike Mumaw, emergency manager for the mayor’s office, sees great potential in the new facility.

“It will work well with CERT (Community Emergency Response Team),” Mumaw said. “Police, fire and ambulance will have their hands full. We currently have about 500 active or reserve members of the program. Their efforts will be coordinated out of this facility, so it’s like an auxiliary or a reserve group of responders.”

The post $35M Beaverton project addresses emergency responsiveness appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

Residents on the Oregon coast from Depoe Bay and Toledo to Waldport and Yachats are closer to gaining a new hospital to serve their medical and health-related needs.

At 126,000 square feet, the new $57 million Samaritan Pacific Communities Hospital under construction in Newport will offer 22 departments and a wider scope of services than the 25-bed hospital it’s replacing. The project is being paid for with money from a property tax bond measure passed by voters in 2015. Crews broke ground in May 2017 and are on track to finish by summer 2020.

Pacific Communities Health District is the project owner, and Samaritan Health Services will operate the hospital. It was designed by The Neenan Company, which also is serving as lead general contractor – in partnership with 50-year-old, Corvallis-based Gerding Builders.

The project is being handled in three phases via a method Neenan Co. calls “Archistruction.” The company adopted the approach, which combines architecture and construction rather than separating them out in the bid process, after realizing how concepts of design-build could help move forward more smoothly the types of health care projects upon which Neenan Co. has built its reputation.

“The key components of Archistruction are in line with design-build,” Neenan Co. project manager Jason Brown said. “There’s more efficient communication and better input at all levels, so the designs are more in tune with the client’s needs.”

The approach meshes well with Gerding Builders’ previous experience working on approximately 20 other major health care facilities, including several for Samaritan Health Services, according to Ryan McAlister, a pre-construction manager and project executive for Gerding Builders

“(Archistruction) is a great process; we figure it all out together,” he said. “This project has been an ongoing conversation and dialogue … We get to know each other, get a better idea of how to work together.”

Much of that dialogue included the people who would be working in the hospital, from doctors and nurses to “the people who keep the floors clean,” Brown said. Together, the project team and the hospital staff collaborated on a floor plan. That plan was then used to create mock-ups of several rooms so that everyone could see how the designs and layouts would work in a real-world situation.

“We brought in beds, wheelchairs, equipment, mops – pretty much anything they would use – and we discussed what worked and where we could improve on things before construction started,” Brown said.

Hospital administrators say the project team’s willingness to create an inclusive environment in the areas of planning, design and construction has helped drum up an extremely high level of buy-in from hospital staff that might not have been possible otherwise.

“If you ask the employees, it’s their hospital,” Samaritan Pacific Communities Hospital CEO Lesley Ogden said. “They feel invested in it.”

The project was placed in seismic design zone categorized ‘F’ – largely because of the location near a major fault and occupants’ vulnerability – so Neenan Co. had to develop strategic designs and construction plans to meet stringent building standards.

The hospital that previously served the community was built in 1988. It will be renovated to accommodate administrative and secondary support uses.

Samaritan Health Services is a not-for-profit network of five hospitals, 80 clinics and additional health service facilities that serve residents of the mid-Willamette Valley and central Oregon coast.

Samaritan Pacific Communities Hospital

Location: Newport

Size: 126,000 square feet

Architect: The Neenan Company

General contractors: The Neenan Company and Gerding Builders

Construction start: May 2017

Anticipated completion: summer 2020

The post New hospital on the rise in Newport appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

In downtown Beaverton, at the corner of Southwest Millikan Way and Rose Biggi Avenue, a nearly half acre of land that formerly served as an informal parking area is becoming the home of a new food and entertainment attraction.

The BG Food Cartel, located near Beaverton City Hall and The Round, will feature 31 food carts, a covered outdoor dining area and an indoor beer and wine bar able to accommodate live music performances.

The idea for a public space anchored by food carts has long been floated by city officials. The Biggi family, which owns the property being developed, teamed with WALEN Construction (formerly LCD) and Scott | Edwards Architecture to develop a proposal for the food cartel concept, which won a city-sponsored contest.

“The idea for a food cart pod has been around for a while, but it really didn’t come together until Denny Doyle was elected mayor (of Beaverton),” Dominic Biggi said. “He came in with a new vision for a gathering spot downtown.”

The Biggi family is a staple in the Beaverton business community. The family’s primary company is Beaverton Foods, founded by Dominic’s grandmother Rose Biggi in 1929. The firm now makes and sells worldwide more than 70 kinds of condiments, including specialty mustards and horseradish.

Becoming involved in an effort to bring a food cart pod to Beaverton seemed like a perfect fit for the Biggi family, Dominic Biggi said. In addition to serving the community at large, the food cart pod will present one more option for employees at City Hall or residents at The Round.

“It’s designed to function throughout the day: breakfast, lunch and at night after work,” Biggi said. “There’s a large deck, indoor and outdoor bar, and really just a cool set-up. Once you cross inside you become part of the experience.”

The $2.4 million project got off the ground with a $25,000 grant from the city of Beaverton as a result of winning the contest. That money along with support from the city of Beaverton has made a tremendous difference in bringing the project from a dream to reality, according to Biggi.

“I really want to give credit to some of the people who were instrumental in making this happen,” he said. “Janiene Lambert with the city of Beaverton got us through the permitting process, the grants, fee structures and contacts. The (city) had to draft a new code for food carts. We had a lot of cooperation and help from Steve Regner at (the city).”

In addition to WALEN Construction and Scott | Edwards Architecture, the project team includes DOWL, whose involvement was led by Jeff Shoemaker as senior project manager. Eric Wenzel served as project lead for Scott | Edwards.

WALEN is in the process of wrapping up concrete work at the site, said Tyler Mildren, the company’s director of construction. The project is on track for a soft opening in February; a grand opening is slated for the spring.

While food and fun are the main focuses, the project also was designed and built with sustainability in mind. Benches are being constructed from recycled wood while the fencing will be locally sourced cedar. Indoor areas feature an abundance of glass to encourage natural lighting. An existing building on the site was renovated to house the indoor-outdoor bar.

The post Beaverton takes a step closer to food cart pod appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

Sometimes excellence comes in a flash of inspiration. Other times, it requires decades to take a concrete shape.

More than 40 years from idea to conception, the Peter Courtney Minto Island Bridge may fit solidly into the latter category. But now that the Salem structure is a reality, it’s winning accolades and attracting positive attention.

The most recent recognition came from the American Public Works Association‘s Oregon chapter, which named the bridge its 2017 Project of the Year for projects in the $5 million to $25 million range.

Courtney, now Oregon Senate president, was a member of the Salem City Council in 1975 when he suggested building a bridge to link downtown Salem with Minto Island and Minto-Brown Island Park.

The idea languished for the next two decades until development of Salem’s Riverfront Park, a project that restarted conversations about the bridge. Several years later, the 2009 completion of the conversion of the Union Street Railroad Bridge to suit pedestrians and bicyclists spurred formation of a nonprofit called Friends of Two Bridges (F2B) – a group dedicated to bringing Courtney’s ideas to fruition.

As fundraising for the Minto Island bridge began in earnest, Aaron Kimsey stepped into the role of senior project manager for the city.

“It took another three years to get funding,” Kimsey said.

Working with an estimate that the bridge would cost $10 million, money raised by F2B was added to dollars from state and local sources including the Oregon Department of Transportation, Oregon Parks & Recreation, Business Oregon, the Salem Keizer Area Transportation Study and Salem’s Urban Renewal Agency Board.

“Through that process, the (Salem) City Council selected a design.” Kimsey and.

Guy Hakanson, vice president of technical services and chief engineer at OBEC Consulting Engineers, and senior project manager Bob Goodrich, OBEC division manager of bridges and structures, turned the design concept into reality.

“It was fascinating from a structural engineering perspective – very elegant,” Hakanson said.

The arches of the 305-foot-long, tied-arch bridge bow out from center. The resulting linear flow becomes almost visually weightless, as though the bridge were floating. Lighting is attached to the arches in a linear manner that follows the form of the structure so that it becomes even more ethereal at night.

“It’s visually deceptive … (and) very unique,” Hakanson said. “The weight of the deck actually holds the arches in dynamic tension. The idea is about connections. This is the final link that (along with the Union Street Railroad Bridge) connects three parts of one community. The bridges are a reiteration of that. I’ve been privileged to work at OBEC for 31 years and this is the coolest (bridge) I’ve worked on.”

Construction of the bridge, which spans the Willamette River, was handled by Stayton-based Legacy Contracting and began in 2015. Before ground was broken, though, more than a dozen permits had to be obtained. A slew of agencies, including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Coast Guard, had to approve elements of the design and the construction plan to make sure there would be no negative effects on the environment or boat traffic. Work was confined to designated periods so as not to obstruct or affect river traffic or migrating fish runs. Care also had to be taken to protect wetlands surrounding Minto Island, much of which is in the floodplain and critical wildlife habitat.

The official opening of the Minto Island bridge earlier this year created the final link in more than 30 miles of off-street trails over nearly 1,400 acres of parks – a total area greater than New York’s Central Park. Each day, approximately 2,000 people use the bridge, Kimsey said.

“The response has been overwhelming,” Hakanson said. “I think it will forever change the skyline of downtown Salem – the lights, the shape – and don’t forget that Minto Island is a park. There’s really nothing there but green space, wildlife and trails, so it’s a destination and not just a thoroughfare. People love the lights too. It’s already an iconic part of Salem.”

The post Group names Salem bridge its Project of the Year appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

Richard DeWolf’s Portland-based company, Versatile Wood Products, specializes in the restoration and remodel of historical doors, windows and cabinetry. In the course of a single year, that work produces a significant amount of wood waste and sawdust, to the tune of about 100 total tons per year.

DeWolf wanted to find a sustainable way to get rid of those excess materials. So he teamed up with another Portland firm, Wisewood Energy, to design and install a biomass boiler system that takes what would have been dumped in a landfill and turns it into fuel to heat Versatile Wood Products’ 40,000-square-foot facility in North Portland.

Wisewood Energy, which specializes in biomass energy systems, has been in business since 2011 and has handled projects in Alaska and Oregon. The biomass boiler system it created for DeWolf’s company uses a firebox to burn the wood scraps and sawdust to heat water, which is then piped to multiple Modine air-handling units. A forced-air system distributes the warm air throughout the facility to heat the entire building.

The cost for DeWolf to install the $250,000 system was offset by an Oregon Department of Energy commercial thermal tax credit and a support grant from Energy Trust of Oregon.

The system is expected to conserve 11,600 therms of natural gas and 8,600 kilowatt-hours of electricity annually. Cost savings for DeWolf’s company could be as much as $20,000 per year, compared to the previous heating system used in the building.

The system also is expected to reduce the facility’s annual carbon emissions by 71 tons per year and eliminate an estimated 24 truckloads of wood debris that Versatile Wood Products previously had to send to landfills each year.

“The technology originated in Austria,” Wisewood Energy President Andrew Haden said. “Burning waste wood in an efficient way is just an intuitive solution to heating. We took that technology and designed a system for this client that turns their waste into a usable product. This is a state-of-the-art system … a showcase project.”

Haden added that he is encouraged by what he sees from both the city of Portland and the state as increasing support of – and interest in – biomass as an alternative, energy-efficient heating method that contributes to carbon sequestration.

The post Unique Portland system converts wood waste into energy appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

Maurice Rahming came up through the trades. He started his apprenticeship in 1988, worked his way up to journeyman, and then went on to earn his commercial inspector’s license and additional certifications.

In 1998, he and his wife, Ali O’Neill, decided to go into business for themselves. The company initially focused on electrical contracting. But after partnering on projects with Walsh Construction to gain general contracting experience in 2011 and acquiring Howard Jacobs Masonry in 2014, the company expanded its reach into the construction sector.

The company has grown to more than 60 employees and its portfolio contains a long list of projects that are impressive for both complexity and an inclination toward public service. Those projects include the John Day fish ladders; a Veterans Administration facility in Walla Walla, Washington; a U.S. Forest Service laboratory in Corvallis Oregon; and Tilikum Crossing – Bridge of the People in Portland. The firm’s client list also includes Portland Community College, the city of Portland, TransCore and TriMet

“There was a series of projects that had us rethink how we do things,” Rahming said. “City of Portland and state jobs required certified payroll information, and it got us thinking about managing and tracking our people. We became better at cost projections and that made us more competitive, more precise in our project estimations. What some firms see as a problem, we actually turned into a benefit.”

The firm is also very invested in the community. They’re involved with Metropolitan Alliance for Workforce Equity (MAWE-Portland), Portland Youth Builders, the Asian-Pacific American Chamber of Commerce, Enhabit Portland, All Hands Raised, Oregon Tradeswomen and several other non-profit and professional development organizations.

They’ve won a 2015 City of Portland “Making A Difference” award and a 2017 Rose Community Development “Outstanding Business Partner” award. The firm’s activities in the region are directly applied to its business practices.

“Our approach is based on my experience,” Rahming said. “I came up through the industry and when I had an opportunity to enter the trades I saw it as my pathway out of poverty. That’s very powerful — to offer a way for people to escape poverty. I feel I have a responsibility to open that door for others. It isn’t just checking off a (MWESB) box; it’s about success for people.”

The post 2017 Building Diversity Awards: O’Neill Construction Group Inc. appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

Almost every enclosed structure requires electrical wiring and products. With that in mind, the building boom in the Pacific Northwest – and in the Portland area in particular – has afforded ongoing opportunities for Mark Adams as a small, but active electrical contractor.

Adams, a former U.S. Navy Seabee (construction battalion), established his company in 2004 armed with deep experience as a licensed journeyman electrician. The business was beginning to find its footing just as Oregon’s building industry became mired in a recession. Unwilling to give up, Adams realized that by focusing on maintenance and renovation projects, he could keep his firm afloat.

The recession didn’t last, but the reputation for quality and dependability that Adams established did. In the years since the recession ended, his company has grown to 22 employees and has a long list of customers and repeat business.

Bread-and-butter projects like Walgreens, Wendy’s, Zoup!, Mod Pizza, several locations of Sonic and seven locations of Buffalo Wild Wings stand alongside more individualized projects, including a Department of Motor Vehicles location in Gresham; the Mount Hood Ear, Nose & Throat Clinic; and a New Seasons Market.

More recently, Adam’s company handled work for the Oregon Zoo Education Center, which he considers a pivotal project for his business. In addition to showcasing his company’s commitment to its clients – at one point a job foreman came in during his off time in order to be a part of a critical inspection that had to be rescheduled due to snow – the project also helped Adams and his crew expand their skills sets.

“We had challenges on that job that we hadn’t seen before — new technologies and integrated systems that provide interactive experiences for people who visit. For us, it was a real opportunity for growth,” Adams said.

Adams and his staff are active in ways that benefit both the community and the trades.

The company donates money to the math department at Clackamas High School, the Area 1 Electrical JACT for its annual “Wire Off” event, and Veteran’s Assistance at the University of Oregon. Company employees also volunteered time to renovate a basement at Eastridge Church in Clackamas. In addition, Mark Adams Electric is a member of the Independent Electrical Contractors of Oregon and the Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee (JATC) Oregon.

The post 2017 Building Diversity Awards: Mark Adams Electric Inc. appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.