CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. — “What is going on at the old school on Queen Street?” is a question developer Vern McKissick has encountered frequently on social media.

Behind the grand white columns that front the neoclassical building in the heart of Chambersburg, the project known as Live and Work @ Central has been in the works for the better part of a decade.

It is a sister development to Rose Rent Lofts, the town’s original high-school-turned-apartment-building that opened in the fall of 2020. The history is a bit complicated, because both buildings were constructed decades apart before being combined in 1958 into a massive city-block structure — a school known as Central Junior High. After closing in 1986, it sat vacant for four decades until McKissick presented a vision to peel back layers of history and redevelop the structure as downtown housing.

After significant time was spent removing asbestos and addressing other environmental hazards, the classrooms, bathrooms, hallways and most other spaces in the school at the corner of Queen and Third streets have been divided up into residential units. A recent tour of the maze of steel and drywall revealed glimpses of original elements, such as the tiled bathroom floors and hardwood hallways that run side by side through some units.

If all goes to McKissick’s plan, Live and Work @ Central will be finished before the end of the year at a cost of about $10 million.

As a “destination live-work” complex, it’s geared toward professionals who want to work where they live but desire a separate environment where they can focus.

Most of the 18 residential units are loft-style apartments that will be leased to tenants who live there full-time. There are studios, one-bedroom units and potential two-bedroom units (if a loft is used as a room). The nature of the redevelopment means that no two are alike.

Live and Work @ Central will also offer four corporate apartments for short-term lease. Looking out from the front of the building, each unit ranging from 1,200 to 2,500 square feet will have a fully furnished living space connected by a spiral staircase to a professional office space.

“We’re definitely targeting destination office, which in this day and age is about people that are small operations, but they have a lot of folks working from home,” said Kristen McKissick, Vern’s wife and an interior designer. “But they need to bring everybody together occasionally.”

She said they first learned about the live-work concept in San Francisco, which was “trying to cultivate more affordable ways for businesses to come into neighborhoods.”

“So, the concept was that if you lived where you worked, your business had a lease but that you were living and using the business’ heat and their utilities and so on, so you were able to afford a lot of those living expenses tax-free because they’re under the business expense,” she said. “And then you’re sort of sub-renting your own personal living area from your own business. And that would be enough of a break on your expenses to keep you going through the ups and downs and whatnot.”

With Chambersburg located in a “hub zone,” the McKissicks hope the units will attract federal contractors and other professionals from Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C.

“We’re hoping some of the people frustrated with Virginia price tags and taxes will come up and enjoy it here,” Kristen McKissick added. “We’ll have a lot of urban features. We’ll have fiber, probably an EV charger.”

The plan for Live and Work @ Central always included a live-work element, but interest in corporate apartments at Rose Rent Lofts showed the McKissicks they had dug into a local gold mine.

“It’s the executives from Volvo and doctors that are here part-time from WellSpan Health, surgeons and oncologists, and things like that, that Chambersburg (Hospital) borrows part-time or brings here to train because they’re the corporate headquarters,” Kristen McKissick said.

Some units have been unofficially leased out, and the McKissicks estimate the residential phase will be done in June. Attention will immediately turn to transforming the old auditorium into the “business columns.”

The layout will include a few conference rooms, including a sunken one in the former orchestra pit and one surrounded by soundproof “smart glass.”

“So, if you’re looking at the stage, that conference room would be soundproof and it would have the smart glass in it, so you could have the privacy if you needed,” Kristen McKissick said. “It could be signed out by tenants.”

The space will stay big and bright, with giant curved windows looking out onto Queen Street. Vern McKissick also plans to keep some of the historic design elements visible under plexiglass or something similar.

“We’re probably going to leave some of the ruin, clean it, seal it and let it show what 100 years of patina looks like,” he said.

Live and Work @ Central will also have a green roof, and a cafe tentatively called “Act III on Main.”

“A place for adults” that is not a bar and offers a quiet environment conducive to conversation, Vern McKissick said.

It will have a theater theme, and design elements will be changed out every six months or so to represent a new “show,” Kristen McKissick explained.

The timeline and tilt of the project have changed in the years since ground was broken in 2017. The project that is now Live and Work @ Central was once supposed to have classrooms and other spaces that organizations and businesses could use, according to reporting in the Public Opinion in 2019. A cafe built on the stage in the auditorium was once supposed to be the first part finished.

The COVD-19 pandemic changed that.

“Originally we thought that the commercial part would be the biggest and first in demand,” Kristen McKissick said. “When COVID came along, we made sure that almost all the suites could be converted to residential if things didn’t come back, and that we could make sure that we could lease them separately. On the other hand, we didn’t really back away from the commercial piece. We just were trying to make sure we had a plan that it didn’t have to go all commercial.”

Editor’s note: This article first appeared in the Chambersburg Public Opinion and then was distributed on the USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect.

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EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I. — In the steel shell of a former dormitory (more recently, a nursing home), water collects in buckets as construction crews hammer, drill, saw and weld, and heavy machinery is used to cover a series of underground water retention systems.

Next door, the masonry elevator shaft rises three stories above construction crews working on the first floor of a new building.

The two buildings are becoming 95 units of income-restricted housing. One Neighborhood Builders is tackling the project in partnership with Family Service of Rhode Island, Crossroads Rhode Island and Foster Forward. Units are expected to be ready for occupancy by February 2027.

Foster Forward clients, young adults aging out of the foster care system, are eligible for a few of the new apartments. They often struggle to secure housing because few landlords will accept any vouchers when demand is so high.

Forty percent of the units will be for people making 30 percent of the area median income or less, while the remaining 60 percent will be for people making 80 percent of AMI or less.

Work is expected to be done on the two buildings by January 2027. The project’s final phase would see construction of a third building with 49 additional units. A request has been submitted to the state for funding in the next round of income-restricted housing loans and grants. Those awards are expected to be announced in April 2026.

The hope is that the third phase receives funding before the general contractor is done with the first two buildings. If so, that would yield huge cost savings over having to bring in another general contractor later, Director of Real Estate Development Michelle Bleau said.

Site work started in March 2025, and then major construction began in December. Some of the work included creation of the underground water retention systems, with catch basins running the length of the parking lot. They’re designed for a 100-year flood capacity.

“These are basically anywhere where they could fit one in,” Pezzuco Construction Superintendent Douglas Valcourt said.

One of the last portions of construction will be vehicle parking: 145 spaces.

The plan was always for construction of two new buildings and renovation of an old one — a former Johnson & Wales University dormitory that was later turned into a nursing home.

“We cleared everything out — all the old walls, all the wiring, the mechanicals,” One Neighborhood Builders Senior Project Manager Stephen Kearns said.

Inside the old building, only the stairwells were left intact.

“You’re trying to reinvent what you can with what you have,” Valcourt said. “There’s a lot of trying to restore it back to a blank slate and then move forward.”

Crews then had to seal up the holes in the floor where various building systems had been.

“They ran everything differently 40 years ago when this building was built,” Valcourt said.

A dormitory or nursing home, with one massive heating and cooling system, is far different from an apartment complex with individual temperature controls. Apartments will be heated and cooled with Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) systems, based on heat pump technology — essentially mini-splits, Valcourt said.

That means holes don’t need to be cut in the walls between units that are supposed to have hefty individual fire ratings.

The whole building is electric, with plans for rooftop solar panels and heat-pump water heaters.

The old building still needs its new roof. Windows from Latvia that weigh twice as much as typical American ones will be much more efficient.

Once the building envelope is done, along with the roof and the siding (masonry exterior finishes were kept), the building will look complete. However, inside is where work still must be done.

Currently, the inside of the old building has been turned from a blank slate to a labyrinth of framing for apartments (including bedrooms, bathrooms and closets), storage rooms, and the electrical room.

Each unit will have blocking installed so that it can become accessible, allowing for a maintenance person to install railings in the shower or swap out the counters with those accessible to a person in a wheelchair, Valcourt said.

The building will have a mix of large studios and one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments. One studio configuration offers a combined kitchen and living room with a bedroom off to the side but without a door. Another apartment configuration comes with a “bonus room” — one the size of a bedroom but without a window or closet that would legally make it such.

“It’s a funky building setup,” Valcourt said. “So, how do you use the middle of the H? Because the building’s a big H. So, how do you use that? You take a little bit from the sides for the units and a little bit from the side from you and you get left with a long, narrow unit. It’s kind of broken up. You got some columns.”

The first floor of the old building will have a few residential units but mostly offices.

Editor’s note: This article first appeared in The Providence Journal and then was distributed on the USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect.

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Glass House Coffee Bar can feel more like a greenhouse at times. Huge windows make up about 60 percent of the plant-filled coffee shop, where pothos vines cascade down from the ceilings and succulents bloom in seemingly every corner. Indie hits play softly over hidden speakers, and the smell of espresso beans is sharp in the air, adding to the cozy atmosphere.

It’s hard to imagine the space used to be the Whiteaker Police Station. A Register-Guard article from 2002 paints a picture of a Whiteaker neighborhood filled with “[h]ookers, drug dealers, and assorted small-time thugs” ruling the streets. This situation caused some residents to plead for more police presence in the area.

The police station, with a staff of two full-time patrol officers, two community service officers and two agents from the Lane County parole and probation office, was said to have decreased drug crimes in the area.

The address 530 Blair Blvd. was first listed in The Register-Guard in 1948 as a three-bedroom home in “a dandy location” available to rent. It later appeared as General Sign Co. in the 1960s, a Peterbilt manufacturing and selling location in the 1980s, and as the aforementioned police station in the 1990s. Now it holds a Tacovore restaurant; Glass House Coffee Bar operates next door, at 520 Blair Blvd.

“There’s a picture in Tacovore from the 1950s that looks like these two buildings used to be a tire shop,” Glass House owner and operator Alex Newton said. “Other people who have been in the neighborhood for over 30 years say they remember when this was a cop shop.”

Newton joined the business in 2019 and took over in 2020. He had worked in coffee before he came to Glass House but hated how corporate the business could be. He grew up in the suburbs of Houston, where locally owned businesses were rare. His first visit to Glass House as a customer kindled his love for small, local coffee shops. He decided to apply for a job as a barista.

“I was working on the producer side of food service at the time, on small local farms like Camas Swale and Dake Family Farms,” Newton said. “But when I decided that I wanted to dedicate myself to Glass House, I knew I wanted to do the business right.”

When Newton took over Glass House, he started using the Tacovore kitchen to make breakfast and pastries for the coffee shop. He loved the community that Glass House had already built and wanted to offer more to his customers. He also began sourcing his coffee from farmers directly.

Glass House is small for a coffee shop, around 500 square feet, which creates unique problems for Newton and his team. There is little space to work, especially when three baristas are crammed behind the bar during a rush. If Glass House didn’t have access to the Tacovore prep kitchen, staffers wouldn’t be able to bake anything in-house.

“A lot of times when people come in and see our pastries, they don’t believe that we bake them here,” Newton said. “But we do — it just doesn’t happen in this building … we barely have enough room to prep coffee!”

On a busy weekend, sometimes Newton has a hard time keeping up with a stream of customers. There are only 12 seats in the shop, so people can struggle to find a place to sit on rainy days when they don’t want to be outside.

“We don’t really even have a space in here where you can get in line,” Newton said. “You’re either blocking the cream station or squishing someone sitting on a stool.”

Another problem arises primarily in summertime. When windows let in sunlight on hot days, Newton said it’s a challenge to keep temperatures in the shop below 90 degrees Fahrenheit. He’s installed two fans, but when temperatures start to climb, he closes the doors and blasts the air conditioning.

But without the windows, Glass House wouldn’t have its signature and healthy collection of plants. Customers love the atmosphere, Newton said, even in the middle of winter.

“Jeffery, our huge pothos, definitely pulls his weight in the space,” he said. “He’s one of the most treasured staff members.”

Yet a tiny shop does have advantages. The smaller space is more manageable and takes less time to clean. Regular customers seem to like the laid-back nature of the bar seating, which can lead to more conversations with strangers and a general community feel.

“On a Saturday, when it’s busy in here, it feels like New York City or something,” Newton said. “It’s loud, people are crammed together, talking, and there’s a certain energy that’s very cool that I think people come here for.”

That energy is something Newton tries to foster. He and his employees prioritize serving people well at Glass House and making them feel welcome in the space, even though it’s small.

“Our mission statement is to foster community through intentional actions and care-oriented service,” Newton said. “I want this to be a place where people can come, meet, talk, share ideas, make friends, and bring friends and family when they’re in town.”

Glass House is open from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sundays.

Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in The Register-Guard and then was distributed on the USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect.

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A vampiric restaurant and nightclub could be the first new business at Centennial Mills, a defunct former flour mill in Northwest Portland.

An early assistance application for Lestat Nightclub to operate at 1362 N.W. Naito Parkway was submitted to Portland Permitting & Development on Nov. 21.

The commercial concept is the latest twist for Centennial Mills, a 4.4-acre riverfront parcel that has long resisted redevelopment schemes.

The nightclub would reside in an existing building that was vacated by the Portland Police Bureau‘s Mounted Patrol in 2017, according to city documents.

That raises questions about the fate of a sweeping redevelopment plan for Centennial Mills that was approved by the Portland Design Commission in October. SERA Architects‘ design for the project, which was officially valued at $80 million, called for three new buildings encompassing 272 residential units and four retail spaces.

The two-story ex-Mounted Patrol building was not part of the plan presented to the Design Commission and would have to be demolished to make way for the new buildings.

Representatives of Lindquist Development, the site’s owner and developer, did not respond to messages seeking comment.

Ryan Wilson, a Vancouver architect who is designing the Lestat Nightclub, said the restaurant-nightclub idea is preliminary.

“At this point, it’s a very conceptual idea,” he said.

No lease has been signed for the nightclub, Wilson added.

Members of the Pearl District Neighborhood Association were unaware of the Lestat Nightclub proposal, said Stan Penkin, a former PDNA chairman and Pearl District resident.

“It’s news to us,” he said.

Penkin said it was concerning to see a different, much-scaled-down plan after the Design Commission approved a major redevelopment.

“It makes me wonder if the developer of the apartments is backing off, which would be extremely disappointing, as you might imagine,” he said.

The parcel is located across Northwest Naito Parkway from Fields Park in the North Pearl District.

The ex-Mounted Patrol building has approximately 38,000 square feet, divided between two floors. The change of use for the restaurant and nightclub would likely trigger a required seismic upgrade, Wilson wrote to Permitting & Development officials in a Nov. 11 letter.

The project would also require new shear walls, and roof and floor diaphragm upgrades, Wilson wrote.

Lestat is the name of Tom Cruise’s character in the film “Interview with the Vampire,” and the Anne Rice novels that inspired the film and TV series.

For more than 20 years, city officials sought to redevelop Centennial Mills. A series of private developers investigated building on the property before backing out of negotiations with the Portland Development Commission and its successor agency, Prosper Portland.

In September 2024, Prosper Portland sold the property to MLR Ventures, controlled by the Ralston family, for $1.25 million. The Ralstons then conveyed the property to an entity linked to Lindquist Development.

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Nine projects in Oregon have been recognized by Restore Oregon with DeMuro Awards for excellence in historic preservation. The projects were selected by a jury of professionals in the field of historic preservation and related disciplines, including architecture, planning, and engineering.

The 2025 DeMuro Award honorees are:

• The Benson Polytechnic High School modernization in Portland was completed last year. The $269 million project, spanning over 379,000 square feet, has preserved and seismically upgraded four landmark buildings while introducing four new academic and CTE buildings organized around secure outdoor courtyards and a central commons. The project team included Bassetti Architects, Portland Public Schools, KPFF Consulting Engineers, Andersen Construction, Mayer Reed, PAE Consulting Engineers, and others.
• For an update of the Merchant Block in Dayton, three vintage buildings were rehabilitated. The $16.5 million project was completed this year. The project team included Paul M. Falsetto Architect LLC, Twin Towers LLC, TM Rippey Consulting Engineers, R&H Construction, IDEA, and others.
• The Joyce in Portland was rehabilitated and upgraded so that it can continue to serve as Permanent Supportive Housing. The $14.1 million project was completed in 2023. The project team included Carleton Hart Architecture, Community Partners for Affordable Housing, Bremik Construction, DCI Engineers, Vega Civil Engineering, and others.
• The adaptive reuse of the John Gumm Building in St. Helens was completed last year. In a $10.5 million project an elementary school was converted into a vibrant civic hub, symbolizing thoughtful preservation, innovation, and public stewardship, Restore Oregon stated. The project team included Bremik Construction, Emerick Architects, Columbia County, Schutte Consulting Engineers, Lower Columbia Engineering, and others.
• The $5 million restoration of the historic Brooklyn Railroad Roundhouse Turntable in Portland was completed last year. After 75 years of operation, the turntable was decommissioned in 1999, and the roundhouse was demolished in 2012. However, the turntable was preserved and donated to the Oregon Rail Heritage Foundation, which undertook the project. The team included Roger L. Woehl, Hennebery Eddy Architects, the Oregon Rail Heritage Foundation, KPFF, Omega Morgan, and others.

• Milwaukie City Hall in Milwaukie was transformed this year via a $5 million adaptive reuse project. The historic building of the Works Progress Administration era is now a commercial and cultural hub. The project team included GTO Development, Brett Schulz Architect PC, City Hall Holdings LLC, Kurt Fischer Structural Engineering, Owen Gabbert LLC, and others.
• The $5 million restoration of the Holly Theatre in Medford finished last year. The venue stands as a living symbol of Medford’s past and future, hosting concerts, film screenings, and civic events that draw thousands, according to Restore Oregon. The project team included Outlier Construction, Oregon Architecture, JRP Foundation, Firestop Co., Cannon Management, and others.
• The Oregon State University Rehearsal Classroom Building in Corvallis received a $4.8 million adaptive reuse project last year. The building, originally a heat plant and later a firing range, was preserved in conjunction with the construction of an adjacent performing arts center. The project team included Holst Architecture, Oregon State University, Froelich Engineers, Acoustic Design Studio, Hoffman Construction, and others.

• The 1879 Mark Prairie Schoolhouse in Canby is in better shape now. After two large oak trees fell on the building in 2021, a recovery and restoration project was launched to create a cultural destination offering historical, indigenous, and natural resource interpretation for both locals and visitors, according to Restore Oregon. The $850,000 project wrapped up this year. The project team included the Mark Prairie Historical Society, JE Design & Construction, Froelich Engineers, and Emerick Construction.

The award-winning projects will be celebrated from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Oct. 24 at the Redd in Southeast Portland. Tickets are available on Restore Oregon’s website, at .

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MONTREAL — On a Friday night, families danced under pink and purple neon lights to the beat of an African band playing where the altar used to stand at a Catholic church in Montreal.

Notre-Dame-du-Perpetuel-Secours, built from 1914 to 1920, was renovated in 2014 to become Theatre Paradox. The concert hall has hosted meditation, Zumba lessons, and even a fetish party that organizers touted as “Montreal’s most kinky, freaky and sexy Halloween event.”

In the once Catholic-dominated province of Quebec, that ex-church is just one of many that have been deconsecrated and transformed into everything from gyms, restaurants and museums to luxury apartments, auction houses and a university reading room.

For most of Quebec’s history, the Catholic Church was the most powerful force in the French-speaking province, with a firm grip over schools, health care and politics. But its influence faded during the so-called Quiet Revolution of the 1960s, when the provincial government took control as part of a campaign to reduce the church’s power.

The rate of regular church attendance among Quebec’s Catholics plunged from one of the highest in Canada to the one of the lowest. That happened to Notre-Dame-du-Perpetuel-Secours.

Over the course of a century, thousands of worshippers filled its pews. But attendance had dwindled to a few when the event management company Groupe Paradoxe bought it in 2010, said its director, Gérald St-Georges. He believes that even in a deconsecrated secular setting, the former church continues what he describes as a sacred mission.

Today, it offers training and paid work for young adults, including those with prior addiction issues and juvenile records, in theater and stage management to help them land jobs in the entertainment industry.

“When I started the project, I said to myself, ‘That’s the kind of work the church should do, not only Mass,’” said St-Georges, who is a Catholic. “I practice my faith with what I do every day — helping people.”

Wood from the pews was used to build a bar. On a recent summer day, concertgoers ordered cold beers in front of stained glass illuminated by neon lights under a silver disco ball that hung from its soaring ceilings.

In the historic neighborhood of Old Montreal, tourists formed a snaking line outside the Gothic-style Notre-Dame Basilica — Montreal’s still-active mother church that also hosts secular events — to attend a popular show that uses projectors and lasers to illuminate the building.

Mateus Vassalo, a Brazilian tourist who visited the show with his family, said it’s an incredible opportunity for believers and nonbelievers to gather in such a setting outside of worship services.

“You see people from other religions — Muslims, people who sometimes don’t even believe in God — coming here to the church,” he said in Portuguese.

“Even if they come specifically for the show, they end up having a contact,” he said. “And who knows? Maybe there’s a door for God to enter. There’s curiosity. There’s questioning.”

Just a few miles north, in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve neighborhood, the sky is dotted with crosses atop church steeples, many of them unused or repurposed.

For decades, factory and port workers worshipped at Saint-Mathias-Apotre Church. Today it’s a restaurant that serves affordable meals daily for up to 600 residents.

The manager of Le Chic Resto Pop also grew up Catholic and, like many of his staff, now identifies as religiously unaffiliated. But he still feels close to core values of Catholicism that he tries to extol at the nonprofit restaurant that keeps the original wooden doors and even the confessional booths.

“There’s less faith, but the values are really much the same,” Marc-André Simard said during a lunch break, sitting near what used to be the altar. “It’s values of respect, values of well-being, of wanting to help each other.

“There’s still space to be together, to have some sort of communion, but it’s around food, not around faith.”

“I vote for you!” Marie-Frédérik Gagnon, one of the restaurant employees, said laughingly next to him. She also grew up Catholic but is now part of the so-called “nones” — people who are religiously unaffiliated.

Today, she values how Quebec grants people the right to live free from religious impositions, while protecting the right to religious freedom.

“In the restaurant, we have a bunch of people that are Spanish speakers, that come from African countries, and they’re still big believers, and everybody sits at the same tables,” Gagnon said. “There’s a big acceptance of all.

“It’s such a beautiful place. People are very calm and quiet when they come here. The environment, all the lights, all the open space, I think it’s helping people to feel good. So, it’s nice to have the chance to work in an open-space environment like this.”

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Project name: University of Oregon (UO) Portland Multi-Building Campus ProjectLocation: Portland

Completion: September 2024

Size: 251,380 square feet

Owner/Developer: University of Oregon, Portland

Architects: Housing (27^th Avenue, 30^th Avenue) – Holst Architecture; Oregon House – Peter Meijer Architect; Library & Learning – SRG Partnership; Highland Hall – Lever Architecture; Portland Campus Center – Opsis Architecture; Innovation Building – TVA Architects; General Campus and Holman Apartments – Soderstrom Architects (exterior), PLACE (landscape architect)

Engineers: Housing (27^th Avenue, 30^th Avenue) – Interface Engineering; Oregon House – KPFF, ColeBreit Engineering; Library & Learning – Holmes, Interface Engineering, Samata Consulting Engineers; Highland Hall – Valar Consulting Engineering, Arris Consulting, Reyes Engineering; Portland Campus Center – Catena Consulting Engineers, Interface Engineering; Innovation Building – ABHT Structural Engineers, Interface Engineering, Capital Electric; General Campus – Capital Engineering & Consulting

General Contractor: Howard S. Wright, a Balfour Beatty company

Submitting Company: Howard S. Wright, a Balfour Beatty company

Other Associates/Key Consultants: General site – Sav A Tree; Highland Hall – O-LLC Lighting Designers, University of Oregon Energy Studies in Buildings Laboratory; Innovation Building – Jensen Hughes (code consultant), Tenor Engineering (acoustics), m.thrailkill.architect (specifications)

Subcontractors: A2 Fabrication, Allegion Access Technologies, Asbestos Abatement Contracting, Bell Hardware of Portland, Berrien Concrete, Brandsen Hardwood Floors, Bratcher Painting, Building Material Specialties, Chown, Clean World Maintenance, Columbia River Painting, Concrete Inspection Services, Culver Glass, Curtis Restaurant Equipment, Dallas Glass, Davidson’s Masonry, DeaMor Associates, Detailed Touch Painting, Diverse Works, EC Company, Excalibur & Associates, Faustrollean Fixture, Finish Line Concrete Cutting, Floor Solutions, Flynn BEC, Fred Shearer & Sons, Funax Cleaning Services, Gibson Door & Millwork, Harlen’s Drywall, Hermanson, Interior-Exterior Specialist, J.S. Perrott & Co., Janelle Waltz, Johnson Controls, Lanz Cabinet Shop, Legend Custom Woodworking, Linear Floor Installers, Matrix Industries, McDonald & Wetle, McKinstry, Metro Access Control, Michael’s Precast Concrete, Mid Valley Glass & Millwork, Ness & Campbell Crane, NW Construction Services, OEG, Paragon Tile & Stone, Pavement Maintenance, PBS Supply, Pdx Pressurewash, PDX Refinishers, Performance Contracting, Pioneer Sheet Metal, Pioneer Waterproofing, Prestige Tile & Stone, Pure Safety Group, Pye-Baker Fire & Safety, RDH Building Sciences, Refa Erection, Reyes Engineering, Rubenstein’s Contract Carpet, Savatree, Sawtooth Caulking, SDB Contracting Services, Sharon Maxwell, SI Contracting, Skyline Construction Services, Spectrum Custom Interiors, Streimer Sheet Metal Works, Superior Interiors, Super Metal Fab, T Gerding Construction, Teufel Nursery, The Johnson Collective, Thermobond Buildings, Town & Country Fence Co. of Oregon, Valley Shades, WH Cress, Weitman Excavation, Western Partitions, Western States Fire Protection, WFJ Janitorial Services, Zeeland

The University of Oregon has breathed new life into the former Concordia College campus in Northeast Portland through a comprehensive project that reimagines the historic property for modern educational needs.

Howard S. Wright partnered with UO on the transformative initiative spanning more than 14 separate refresh projects, working alongside 23 different architects and designers to create contemporary residential, educational, research and administrative facilities. There were more than 500 craftworkers onsite, with craftperson hours totaling 122,964.

At the heart of the renovation is the UO Portland Campus Center, originally constructed in 1953. Opsis Architecture led a dramatic transformation that removed solid walls from previous additions to visually connect formerly disconnected spaces. The team replaced a concrete bearing wall with steel columns and relocated networking systems to a prefabricated concrete shelter to ensure campus resilience during seismic events.

The Innovation Building, designed by TVA Architects, represents a sustainable approach that retained much of the existing structure while creating naturally lit corridors flanking open design studios. The former chapel now serves as Innovation Commons, featuring custom pivoting steel frame walls that transform the space from intimate presentation areas to a large event hall. A key feature of the space is the platform, which functions as both a stage and a backdrop for storage.

Perhaps most distinctive is Highland Hall’s transformation from a former gymnasium into the new home for the Department of Architecture. Lever Architecture preserved the building’s historical significance while incorporating innovative sustainability features. Highland Hall’s new entry vestibules, two new seminar rooms and partial height dividing walls between studios are constructed from 7-inch-thick mass plywood panels reclaimed from a test structure at the TallWood Institute’s A.A. “Red” Emmerson Advanced Wood Products Laboratory at Oregon State University. The project team noted that this is the first project they are aware of to reuse mass plywood panels at this scale. The renovation also included extensive envelope upgrades exceeding current energy codes.

All projects were completed with minimal disruption to campus operations, ensuring students could occupy housing buildings ahead of academic years 2023 and 2024.

The university emphasized exceeding minority, women and emerging small business participation goals by enhancing accessibility to bid packages and tailoring them to accommodate smaller firms’ needs. The team more than doubled the goal, with an average of 19 percent MWESB participation.

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Project name: The Heist Bar & Food Carts

Location: Portland

Completion: November 2024

Size: 6,330 square feet

Owner/Developer: Michael Shall

Architect: Brett Schulz Architect

Interior Designer: Amato Design

Engineers: Froelich Engineers, DCI Engineers

General Contractor: Built Environments Northwest

Submitting Company: Brett Schulz Architect

Other Key Participants: Owen Gabbert (Phase 1 food cart pod general contractor)

Subcontractors: A Better Door, A-Line Concrete Cutting, Als Concrete, Bartel Contracting, Baxter & Flaming, Carlson Testing, Cojon, Contract Flooring Consultants, D&R Masonry, Evolution Plumbing, Express Fire, McDonald & Wetle, Prime Electrical, Rack Attack, Second Mile, VZ Excavation, Viking Heating & Sheetmetal, WH Cress

A 1950s bank building that once experienced a real-life heist has been transformed into one of Portland’s most distinctive dining destinations.

The Heist Bar & Food Carts, which completed its indoor space renovation in November 2024 following the May 2023 opening of its outdoor food cart pod, represents a creative approach to adaptive reuse that preserves the building’s mid-century character while creating an interactive community gathering space.

The project team wanted to take the typical food cart pod one step further and create an experience where community, food and art combined for a stellar experience. The Heist  features a large indoor seating area that is a higher end experience and shakes up the preconceived notions of what a food cart pod looks and feels like.

The renovation embraces the building’s banking history throughout its design. The original bank vault has been converted into an interactive art room, the ATM window now serves as an order window for a coffee shop, and safety deposit boxes have been repurposed for the bar and “The Heist” wall sign. The original check writing counter was used to create a seating element. Custom design elements further the banking theme, including penny flooring in the vestibule, railings featuring currency symbols from around the world, and deposit box signage on the walls.

The project faced significant structural challenges, requiring full seismic upgrades to the unreinforced masonry building that had a heavy timber roof structure. Designers implemented a solution using concrete shear walls with large footings and an endoskeleton of steel columns and ceiling rods.

Another challenge involved keeping the outdoor food cart pod operational during construction of the main building. This required comprehensive safety protocols including strategic barriers, controlled access points and scheduling high-risk tasks during off-hours.

The completed facility features space for 21 food carts outside, plus indoor amenities including a bar, coffee shop, arcade, and ample seating. Family-friendly elements include an interactive vault, game room and aquarium. The property is also notably pet-friendly, with water stations throughout.

Built Environments Northwest served as general contractor for the privately funded project, with Brett Schulz Architect handling design and Amato Designs managing interior elements. Owner Michael Shall developed the initial vision for the project.

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Project name: Columbia County – John Gumm Building Adaptive Reuse

Location: St. Helens

Completion: September 2024

Size: 28,400 square feet

Cost: $10,589,883

Owner/Developer: Columbia County

Architect: Emerick Architects

Engineers: Shutte Consulting Engineers, Lower Columbia Engineering, System Design Consultants

General Contractor: Bremik Construction

Submitting Company: Bremik Construction

Other Associates/Key Consultants: Ameresco, Mike DeRoia (building inspector), Meritus Consulting, Columbia Economic Team, Columbia-Pacific Economic Development District, Columbia County Small Business Development Center, Columbia County Historical Society and Museum

Subcontractors: A-Line Concrete Cutting, All In One Mobility, Authority Dock & Door, B & B Tile Masonry, Brandsen Hardwood Floors, Brightservice Cleaning, Building Material Specialties, Cedar Landscape, Chosen Wood Window Maintenance, COSCO Fire Protection, Culver Glass, Custom Source Woodworking, District Painting, Duke Construction and Excavation, Eagle Striping Services, Elite Steel Products, Floor Factors, Huntco Supply, Interior Technology, IRS Environmental of Portland, MB Structures, McDonald & Wetle, Northwest Masonry Restoration, OEG, Pioneer Sheetmetal, Portland Millwork, RC Building Specialties, Scaffold Erectors, Sign Wizards, Stewart Mechanical, T.F.T. Construction, Western Partitions, Zavala

After sitting vacant for more than two decades, the historic John Gumm Building has been transformed into a vibrant community hub through an ambitious 16-month restoration project.

Originally built in 1919 as St. Helens Elementary School, the nearly century-old structure required extensive work to address unique structural challenges. The building was discovered to be sitting directly on a bedrock shelf with no footing, a common condition for buildings of that era. However, it was constructed on two different shelf levels, creating a 2-foot elevation difference in the basement floor. One of the most unusual conditions was the retaining wall footing at the back of the building. When excavation hit a bedrock shelf, preventing the footing from reaching correct elevation, contractors had to epoxy 204 dowels into the bedrock to anchor the new footing – a rare and complex engineering solution that required significant planning and collaboration.

Fitting a new elevator into the existing structure also posed a major challenge. The historical layout did not accommodate ADA and headroom clearance requirements, necessitating precise adjustments while preserving structural stability.

The renovation team, led by Bremik Construction, focused on preserving key historical elements while implementing modern upgrades. Original wood casement windows were repaired, the front entry door and relights were reused, and the auditorium was restored to its original state by removing an added balcony and repositioning the stage.

Seismic retrofitting was a critical component, incorporating steel braces, shear walls and reinforced concrete foundations to ensure the building could withstand seismic activity without compromising its architectural character.

The project also faced challenges integrating modern systems into the historic framework. In one instance, the project team had to install a large HVAC unit in the basement through a concrete wall with only half-inch clearance on each side, then maneuver it over a 4-foot-deep pit and lower it into place using approved shoring and support systems.

The newly revitalized building now serves multiple community functions. The first floor features a 1,700-square-foot auditorium for public meetings, a catering kitchen, office space for economic organizations and a new 1,400-square-foot museum. The basement and upper floors house Columbia County departments.

By balancing preservation with modernization, the John Gumm Building has been successfully transformed into a functional, accessible space while preserving its historical essence for future generations, once again standing as a cornerstone of the St. Helens community.

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Pooja Kashyap Apple and Brian Apple co-founded Curious Architects in 2022 to help communities foster a sense of identity, empowerment and connectedness through design.

“We wanted to practice architecture differently. We developed a design process that through curiosity and technology is more inclusive, with ecological principles at its core,” Pooja said.

The COBID-certified firm provides full architectural services for commercial, communal and cultural properties. These include multifamily and affordable housing, retail, office, mixed-use and education spaces. It also does renovations, additions, new construction and adaptive reuse.

“We love meeting business owners and entrepreneurs and walking through vacant space with them. Especially in a city like Portland, we meet people who are multicultural, creative and passionate. Oftentimes they are growing their business with family or close friends. Not only is it fun visioning with them, it’s rewarding to be part of their business journey,” she said.

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