91视频’s latest Builder Breakfast, originally scheduled for Jan. 16, will now take place on Feb. 20. The Jan. 16 event was postponed due to inclement weather.

The topic of the Feb. 20 in-person Builder Breakfast will be “What’s in Store for 2024.”

The view the speakers, get tickets or for more information, visit djcoregon.com/event/builder-breakfast-whats-in-store-for-2024

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The construction industry is witnessing a paradigm shift in project delivery methods, with contractors and industry experts exploring alternative approaches to streamline processes, improve collaboration, and enhance project outcomes.

At Thursday’s virtual Builder Breakfast panel hosted by the Daily Journal of Commerce, experts discussed various alternative delivery, procurement and finance methods and their applications in both the public and private sectors with around 100 registered attendees.

The panel, moderated by Bill Ohle, shareholder at Schwabe, Williamson, and Wyatt, focused on understanding what alternative delivery methods entail and the types of projects they encompass. While traditional design-bid-build methods remain prevalent, many contractors are now turning to more innovative approaches to meet evolving project demands.

Trevor Wyckoff, vice president account manager for Skanska USA, detailed two notable alternatives commonly used in Oregon and Washington. The first, Construction Manager/General Contractor (CMGC), involves bringing a contractor on board during the preconstruction phase to facilitate project planning and budgeting, usually leading to a guaranteed maximum price. The second, Integrated Project Delivery (IPD), entails a three-party agreement between the owner, designer and contractor. The IPD model focuses on shared incentives to align all stakeholders with project goals.

The shift and rise in alternative delivery methods, Stephanie Coyle, vice president of Hoffman Construction, said occurred because everybody looked at the construction industry and said, 鈥楾here’s got to be a better way,鈥� to build and foster essential collaboration, especially with complex projects.

Coyle added that in Oregon, CMGC remains a popular choice for many projects. In contrast, Washington is recently leaning more toward progressive design-build methods. The preference for these methods is often influenced by factors such as the level of control owners want over design and the degree of collaboration desired, she said.

These alternative delivery methods, while becoming more popular with public work, face implementation challenges as public agencies are typically constrained by state laws, requiring extensive justification for deviating from traditional design-bid-build methods.

George Seaman, project manager at the Port of Portland, said in these cases adopting IPD might involve a more informal version, termed “IPD light,” which retains the collaborative essence of IPD while working within legal frameworks.

A recurring theme throughout the discussion was the importance of collaboration and alignment among all project stakeholders. Seaman said that a project’s success depended more on 鈥渞elational than contractual鈥� dynamics. For instance, in the Main Terminal Redevelopment project at Portland International Airport, the design and construction teams sat together in co-location trailers to enhance coordination and foster common goals, Seaman said.

Another increasingly common alternative delivery method is joint ventures (JV), which was used for the Main Terminal project. It involves two or more construction companies coming together to pool their resources and expertise on a specific project, offering several advantages in supporting local or smaller firms and building partnerships with disadvantaged contractors.

Seaman said that in the case of the $1.95 billion Main Terminal project, the Port received two joint venture proposals that matched the qualifications, ultimately selecting the Hoffman Skanska Joint Venture for the contract. However, the Port’s contracts were initially set up for single entities, not joint ventures, so adjustments were necessary in case the venture folded to ensure the parent companies remained responsible for delivering the project, he added.

Overall, the panel emphasized the industry’s shift toward alternative delivery methods driven by the need for improved collaboration, increased flexibility and alignment with broader project objectives. While public agencies often face regulatory constraints, private sector clients exhibit a higher level of comfort with tried-and-tested CMGC methods. However, the growing awareness of the benefits of alternatives may soon prompt further changes in the industry.

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The next Builder Breakfast event will discuss building material, technologies and techniques. It will be held at 8:30 a.m. Nov. 9, at the Sentinal. Register for the free event here.

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The need for affordable housing in the Portland-metro area continues to be great, and local industry professionals shared Thursday how new developments can best serve incoming tenants.

The Daily Journal of Commerce hosted a virtual Builder Breakfast event during which market leaders talked about the future of affordable housing.

A lack of such housing has persisted in the Portland-metro area. Around October 2020, there were approximately 54,000 low-income households in the Portland-Vancouver (Washington) metro area, . 鈥淔or every 100 of those households, there are 27 affordable units to choose from,鈥� the story stated.

Meanwhile, the days of cookie-cutter developments apparently are gone, according to speakers on Thursday. Instead, the focus is on serving the residential community 鈥� people who often are coming out of tough situations.

Creating a sense of place for the tenant population is important, Scott | Edwards Architecture associate Hayley Purdy said. If tenants don’t feel like they belong or have a home, they are more likely to abuse the property, she explained, and generate more maintenance for owners.

More affordable housing is being developed with tenants’ cultural and community needs as a factor. The primary focus is and should be addressing the 鈥渕assive inequities faced by low-income (people) and people of color,鈥� said Kevin Kellogg, director of real estate development at Hacienda Community Development Corp.

鈥淏y providing safe and healthy homes and neighborhoods where people can live without fear and enjoy the same opportunities that everyone else does,鈥� he added.

Hacienda was worked with a lot of Latinos, Kellogg said, and discovered that their spaces tend to be much more vibrant 鈥� encouraging group celebrations of important milestones 鈥� than those of other populations. Efforts to address this cultural need, he added, will affect the landscape, location, materials and the layout of the floor plan.

鈥淭here’s these subtle changes when we implement them (that) have a big impact on the success of the community,鈥� Kellogg said.

Another trend within affordable housing development is the inclusion of services within buildings. Tenants oftentimes deal with issues such as poverty, instability, mental illness, substance abuse, unemployment and more, said Jim Hlava, vice president of housing for Cascadia Behavioral Healthcare.

Hlava sees housing as a form of health care, and inclusion of services in or near the building helps the residents and adds a further connection to the place.

鈥淭he goal here is really to help people gain 鈥� better health and to be able (to) use that as a launching pad to move on in life,鈥� he said.

In Oregon, funding assistance for affordable housing is growing. Hacienda CDC primarily relies on low-income housing tax credits and tax-exempt bonds to pay for projects, Kellogg said, and then uses money from housing bonds to fill gaps.

More bond money 鈥� from Metro, the city of Portland and the state of Oregon 鈥� has become available. The Metro bond has already funded 2,045 housing units in 19 projects, and the Portland bond has funded 1,490 units in 12 projects.

鈥淚 think, especially over the next two years,鈥� Kellogg said, 鈥渨e will see substantial housing funding, along with 鈥� infrastructure transportation funding.鈥�

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The pipeline of health care projects is beginning to slow as hospitals experience dramatically reduced revenues, industry officials said Tuesday.

Hospitals have seen significant drops in revenue-producing elective procedures, leading many health care groups to put building projects on hold, an architect and construction manager who work in health care said.

鈥淪everal of our clients have had to just put capital projects on hold because they’re faced with extreme downturns in revenue,鈥� said Larry Parrett, a principal at NBBJ‘s Portland office.

Health care groups also face higher costs related to retrofitting existing facilities and providing personal protective equipment, he added. 鈥淲e have seen quite a few our projects put on hold, particularly if they’re in the design phase,鈥� Parrett said.

The comments came during a Builder Breakfast event held virtually Tuesday by the Daily Journal of Commerce. The discussion panel also included Trent Rehfeldt, health care market executive for Mortenson’s Portland office, and Doug Nelson, PeaceHealth’s system vice president for planning and development.

Some health care projects are still moving forward. Parrett said NBBJ continues to respond to requests for proposals for new patient towers, ambulatory care centers and medical office buildings. Urban 鈥渕icro-clinics鈥� are increasingly popular, as are in-office health care clinics at major corporate campuses such as Amazon and Microsoft.

Mortenson Construction is pricing subcontractors for a wellness center at Reed’s Crossing, the South Hillsboro mega-development. Mortenson plans to break ground in December, with delivery scheduled 15 months later, in early 2022, Rehfeldt said.

鈥淭his project, because of our delivery system, never paused, never stopped, so we’re excited to deliver the Reed’s Crossing project for Hillsboro,鈥� Rehfeldt said.

The wellness center will have two full stories and 108,000 square feet. The project combines a full medical clinic with a fitness facility, including an aquatic center, locker rooms, a childcare center and other amenities.

Mortenson is serving as developer and design-builder with Ankrom Moisan Architecture.

Broadly, the pandemic has led to a number of design changes. PeaceHealth, like other health care groups, is reworking patient rooms, Nelson said.

鈥淲e want to transition to single-patient rooms,鈥� he said. 鈥淧eaceHealth has a lot of shared patient rooms. We understand that’s not where health care is headed at all.鈥�

Anne Talcott, health care industry group leader at Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt, served as moderator for Tuesday’s event.

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As shutdowns triggered by the coronavirus pandemic drag on, building industry professionals are adapting to a new way of doing business by leaning on technology to foster communication with co-workers, build client bases and keep projects moving.

People working in the architecture and construction sectors, both of which have traditionally relied on the collaborative nature of face-to-face interaction, are utilizing various tools to continue working as well as discovering that productivity need not suffer as a result of social distancing.

鈥淚t’s pretty amazing how quickly we’ve all adapted to this new world,鈥� said Abby Dacey, a principal with Mahlum Architects.

Dacey spoke April 30 during a of the 91视频’s regular Builder Breakfast panel discussion. Panelists also included Bart Ricketts, CEO of Lease Crutcher Lewis, and Scott Rose, a senior manager with R&C Management Group. Darien Loiselle, a shareholder and construction attorney with Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt, served as the discussion’s moderator.

Because Mahlum has offices in Portland and Seattle, its employees are already used to working together while at a distance, and the firm had a lot of necessary infrastructure for doing so already in place. Still, Dacey said, having 95 people working cooperatively from their homes is a far cry from doing so between two offices.

鈥淎rchitecture is a hugely collaborative endeavor,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e’ve had to develop a number of workflows to keep us productive and to help us really stay creative.鈥�

Mahlum has erred on the side of overcommunicating with staff. Meetings are held daily to maintain connections between team members, identify any technical issues and plan the day’s work. Because they typically do a lot of broad thinking using whiteboards or sticky notes, employees are using a program called Miro that mimics such brainstorming methods in a virtual setting. Architects are uploading hand drawings and sketches using apps like Genius Scan to share design concepts, and using sketching apps with vector manipulation capabilities or using older programs like Vectorworks to create and share layered drawings.

Lease Crutcher Lewis also has offices in both Portland and Seattle, and was using various digital methods to conduct business before the coronavirus outbreak. According to Ricketts, hashing out the details of a quote in a virtual meeting with subcontractors or trade partners is business as usual.

What’s different, he said, is using the same technology to secure new work, which his team is learning to do successfully without the benefit of in-person meetings.

鈥淲e’ve won three jobs via remote interview in the last four weeks,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat’s pretty cool; that’s something that I never thought we would be doing. We’re getting skilled at it and figuring out ways to be really engaging when you’re on a screen, or sharing a screen or explaining to an owner why you’re the best fit for a job.鈥�

Part of the key to an effective virtual interview, Rose said, is working out the technology ahead of time so it doesn’t become an obstacle. Doing a dry run with somebody on another end is a good way to avoid potential snags.

鈥淢ake sure it’s working really well so that people get to see who you are,鈥� he said.

Figuring out how to make human connections without shaking a hand or relying on typical social cues is key to securing new work and maintaining existing client relationships virtually, Dacey said. One partner at Mahlum held a virtual lounge with higher education clients; another colleague, who typically holds a monthly breakfast meeting with district representatives, recently sent her biscuit recipe to attendees for the virtual version of the meeting.

鈥淲e’re using technology in as many creative ways as we can just to stay connected with folks,鈥� Dacey said.

For Mahlum, most of the innovations are coming out of projects in the beginning stages. A recent pre-proposal site walk-through was conducted virtually by a project manager walking around with a camera. For another project, the firm decided to not do pre-bid walk-throughs and instead make a point cloud scan of the site available to general contractors. Doing so, Dacey said, had the additional benefit of providing views of spaces not typically seen on a regular site walk-through.

All of the Lease Crutcher Lewis preconstruction collaboration is being done remotely. Meetings with clients and architects, sessions with engineers and trade partners 鈥� all are being conducted on a variety of virtual platforms. Remote work is changing how the firm administers its projects, and Ricketts anticipates that in the future it could be more acceptable for administrative work, and perhaps even some project engineering support services, to be conducted remotely.

鈥淵ou may have less of a head count at the job site and have some of those services more centrally located or working remotely, and it’s something that we should probably consider,鈥� he said.

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A survey of the Portland-area economy in the final days of 2019 reveals strong conditions much like those of the year prior.

鈥淚t’s been mostly 鈥楪roundhog Day,’鈥� said Mike Wilkerson, a senior economist with ECONorthwest, said during a Builder Breakfast panel event on Tuesday.

The area remains in uncharted territory in terms of expansion. Employment is strong, construction is growing 4 percent per year, and the manufacturing sector is doing very well. A year from now, however, that picture is likely to look very different, according to panelists, as the current boom cycle winds down. Despite industry-wide confidence as high as it’s ever been nationally, in Portland and within the state of Oregon, Wilkerson is less bullish.

鈥淲e see strength through the remainder of (next year) into 2021, but after that the questions are going to be what’s going to continue to fill the pipeline,鈥� he said.

Apartment construction is trending downward, with about 8,000 units under construction right now, as opposed to 12,000 last year. That number could dip to 6,000 by this point next year. The demand drivers don’t exist for hotels, which Wilkerson says have been overbuilt in the current cycle and will see much lower occupancy rates as more projects are delivered.

Similarly, he said, multiple factors will result in a dearth of office space. The region absorbed about 600,000 square feet of office space this year, and about 1.7 million square feet are in the pipeline. Employment is slowing down, and the sectors that continue to grow 鈥� logistics, manufacturing, construction 鈥� are not major office users.

By Wilkerson’s estimation, the largest tenant in town right now is the city of Portland, which has leased space throughout downtown while the Portland Building undergoes renovation. City workers are due to return to the building next spring, leaving a vast amount of vacant office space.

鈥淲ho’s going to take that hundreds of thousands of office feet, on top of what’s already in the pipeline?鈥� he asked.

The panel discussion, a 2020 outlook for the construction industry, was the Daily Journal of Commerce‘s fourth Builder Breakfast of the year, and also included panelists Kristina Thomsen, a partner with ZGF Architects, and Aaron Bouchane, a workforce and professional development manager with Associated General Contractors‘ Oregon-Columbia chapter. Stephanie Holmberg, leader of the real estate and construction industry group at Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt, served as moderator.

The skilled labor shortage persists here and throughout the U.S. An annual workforce survey conducted by the local AGC chapter showed members are overwhelmingly, and unsurprisingly, still having a hard time finding skilled workers. Only 2 percent of respondents think it will become easier to do so in 2020.

鈥淪o, not a lot of optimism where we sit currently or into the future, in terms of the skills gap or the workforce shortage,鈥� Bouchane said.

Some contractors say the skills gap is having little effect on them, and that they’re adapting as best as possible to make it through each day and quarter. On the other hand, many others are reporting that it is impacting budgets, lengthening timelines, and changing how they bid on projects. Contractors in areas like Medford, Klamath Falls and along the coast are having an especially hard time finding help. Despite the looming end of the current building boom, a worsening workforce shortage has the potential to impact builders even more severely than it already is.

One-third of construction workers within the Portland-metro area are older than 45, Bouchane said, and contractors are worried that once work slows down, those older skilled workers who have been hanging in and making good money during the boom years will decide the time is right to retire. Their exodus from the industry will not only drain the workforce from a numbers perspective, but also result in a widespread loss of institutional knowledge.

鈥淓ven if there is a bit of a slowdown and companies aren’t as busy as they were the last couple of years, the idea of retirement and baby boomers getting to the point of leaving the industry is something that we’re hearing more and more as an immediate and future concern,鈥� he said.

Efforts to stem the effects of the skills gap are helping, Bouchane said, citing the AGC’s increasingly popular educator externship program as well as Measure 98 funding for career and technical education programs.

Looking forward from a design perspective, Thomsen continues to worry about the effects of tariffs and trade wars on projects. One project, she said, suffered a six-figure price increase due to escalating rebar prices. Owners are responding by removing major components from projects, decreasing footprints, or not finishing shell space in order to keep costs down.

鈥淭hat keeps me up at night 鈥� just figuring out how to deal with this,鈥� she said.

Thomsen cited sustainability as a major concern, pointing toward the building industry’s heavy carbon footprint and emphasizing the responsibility of designers and builders in helping change that. Fortunately, she said, developers are more frequently trending toward energy efficiency as costs come down for sustainable building features. Owners are realizing better returns on investment via reduced operating costs and higher rent rates from tenants, who want to be in sustainable buildings that are demonstrated to benefit occupants.

As a health care design specialist, Thomsen is seeing that market segment begin to adapt as popular transportation modes change. Clients are planning for ride sharing and micro-mobility options like electric scooters to become more widely used, and the possibility of automated cars following suit. Health care clients in other parts of the country are building less parking, she said, and exploring options for converting parking garages into occupiable space further down the road.

鈥淐lients are really looking at it big-picture-wise, in terms of what they’re actually building,鈥� she said. 鈥淪o they know they need to build parking garages now, but what does it look like in the future, and how can they adapt their buildings to provide less parking in the future because someone’s arriving by autonomous vehicle or a scooter?鈥�

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The Daily Journal of Commerce held a Builder Breakfast event on Thursday morning at the Sentinel Hotel in downtown Portland. The presentation focused on south Hillsboro and Reed’s Crossing 鈥� a 463-acre master-planned community that will include large-scale residential and commercial development as well as parks, schools and infrastructure.

Over the course of the next 15 to 20 years, Reed’s Crossing will hold an estimated 20,000 people living in about 4,000 residences ranging from detached single-family housing to townhouses and apartments. Commercial development will encompass about 36 acres of the area, with 100 thousand square feet of planned retail space and 100 thousand additional square feet of office and medical space.

The area will also include an elementary school with capacity for 600 students; construction is anticipated to begin in 2021. Other sites within Reed’s Crossing could become home to additional elementary and middle schools. Over 50 acres of planned open space will include a greenway, two neighborhood parks, and miles of pedestrian walkways and bike paths.

Three panelists 鈥� David Brentlinger of Newland Communities, Dan Dias of the city of Hillsboro and Frank Angelo of Angelo Planning Group 鈥� spoke about the development and opportunities available at Reed’s Crossing. The discussion’s moderator was Stephanie Holmberg, leader of the real estate and construction group at Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt.

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Plans for affordable housing projects in the Portland area are advancing rapidly thanks to more than $900 million in voter-approved bond funding.

The money is a massive influx for the region’s affordable housing sector, which has long suffered from low levels of revenue driven mostly by federal vouchers.

The bonds will boost general contractors that have focused on affordable housing and have relationships with affordable housing developers and public agencies, affordable housing experts said at a panel event on Thursday.

When asked about encouraging signs in today’s market, Ross Cornelius, client services manager for Walsh Construction, had a simple answer: 鈥淪ix-hundred-and-fifty-three million dollars.鈥�

Cornelius was referring to Metro‘s $652.8 million regional affordable housing bond approved by voters in November 2018. That followed Portland’s $258.4 million bond passed in 2016.

Cornelius was a panelist for a Builder Breakfast event hosted by the Daily Journal of Commerce at the Sentinel Hotel. Joining him on the panel were Molly Rogers, deputy director of the Portland Housing Bureau; Emily Lieb, housing bond program manager for Metro; and Ben Sturtz, housing development project manager at REACH Community Development. Michael Robinson, a real estate and construction lawyer at Schwabe, Williamson and Wyatt, served as moderator.

Portland’s bond is beginning to go to work. In April, the Housing Bureau announced a $77 million bond solicitation, of which $70 million was generated by the 2016 ballot measure.

The Housing Bureau is planning to allocate some of the money for 鈥渄eeply affordable鈥� apartments to house people making 30 percent of area median income or less, Rogers said. The bureau plans to build up to 600 units of new housing with the bond dollars, she said.

Suburban cities such as Milwaukie and Hillsboro are more supportive of affordable housing than they were in the past, Lieb said. The municipalities are lobbying for their shares of the Metro bond.

鈥淲e are seeing in smaller jurisdictions efforts to eliminate barriers to affordable housing,鈥� she said.

REACH Community Development, a nonprofit housing developer, was able to build a 167-unit project at Orenco Station in Hillsboro in part by forming relationships with neighbors, Sturtz said. The public has been more supportive than in the past, he said.

鈥淭he political will, not necessarily from the elected officials but from the people, has been the most encouraging thing,鈥� he said.

There’s ample opportunity for contractors to work on smaller-scale projects, including single-family homes and rehabilitations, Sturtz said.

鈥淣ot everything we build is 200 units (of) new construction,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e try to meet up builders with the scale. We have enough of a pipeline that there’s usually something for everyone.鈥�

Affordable housing projects still face resistance from residents and prejudices, racial and otherwise, Cornelius said.

鈥淲e can’t afford that anymore,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e’ve got to make room for everybody.鈥�

Affordable housing is a long-term industry, the panelists said. The city is requiring units to be affordable for 99 years. The Housing Bureau is looking 30 years in the future in pro formas, Rogers said.

Developers and contractors place a special emphasis on durability in materials, so the buildings are cheaper to operate and maintain in the long term. That can be less of a concern for for-profit multifamily developers, who often look to sell soon after completion.

鈥淚f you’re going to get into affordable housing, you better plan to stay in it,鈥� Cornelius said. 鈥淚t’s a long-term play.鈥�

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Local opportunity zone investors are looking ahead at how to exit after a 10-year window to fully realize tax benefits.

Vanessa Sturgeon, who co-founded Sturgeon Development Partners‘ opportunity zone fund, said the plan is to have flexibility as to when properties are sold off.

鈥淎fter a 10-year period, we wonder if there’s going to be a huge amount of inventory on the market,鈥� she said.

Opportunity zone funds have until 2047 to sell their assets.

Sturgeon’s comments came Thursday during a hosted by the 91视频 at the Sentinel Hotel. Sturgeon was joined on the panel by Dan Eller, a tax attorney at Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt; and John Olivier, senior vice president of acquisitions and development at ScanlanKemperBard. Schwabe attorney Paige Spratt moderated the event.

Questions have swirled around opportunity zones since the federal tax law establishing them was enacted in December 2017. Oregon’s opportunity zones have gained national attention because they cover some of the state’s most expensive real estate, including in downtown Portland, the Pearl District and the Central Eastside.

While opportunity zones could be a boon to some investors, helping to defer, reduce and eventually eliminate capital gains tax, Eller said he’s been warning clients to be prepared to pay income tax in 2026 under the law’s provisions.

鈥淵ou have to have the ability to pay the tax,鈥� he said.

In some cases, Eller said, he has urged clients to use more familiar 1031 exchanges instead.

Sturgeon said opportunity zone investors should back only projects that make economic sense even without the new benefits.

鈥淲e’re looking at projects that have solid investment fundamentals no matter what,鈥� she said.

Olivier agreed, saying the tax incentives may not encourage new building on their own.

鈥淚 don’t know that it’s going to create a wave of development,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 don’t think we’ll see a lot of projects that people are doing just for the sake of doing projects.鈥�

Nevertheless, both Sturgeon and Olivier said their phones are ringing off the hook with calls from investors seeking opportunity zone projects. Investors are viewing opportunity zone funds as long-term vehicles that should outlast the next recession.

鈥淚f you capitalize your project correctly (and) not go too heavy on the debt side, you can ride out the correction to the investment horizon,鈥� Olivier said.

The breakfast panel was briefly interrupted by protesters from SEIU Local 49, who have objected to Sturgeon’s use of nonunion janitors at Park Avenue West. The protesters eventually left after being asked to do so.

Sturgeon cautioned investors to be aware of the underlying assumptions in opportunity zone projects, and to question the amount of fees. In some cases, Wall Street firms are charging up to 14 percent fees, she said.

鈥淭here’s no meat left on the bone for the investor,鈥� Sturgeon said.

Wall Street firms such as Goldman Sachs and Chase have started their own opportunity zone funds. Sturgeon said her fund is often competing against the fund launched by Anthony Scaramucci, a former White House communications director who served the Trump administration.

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The Daily Journal of Commerce held its fourth and final Builder Breakfast event of the year on Wednesday morning at the Sentinel Hotel in downtown Portland. Following up on the year’s previous Builder Breakfast events, which have focused on work opportunities in transportation, education, and work on the Vancouver Waterfront, this discussion took a wider view on the outlook for the upcoming year and beyond.

The event’s panelists were Michael Wilkerson, an economist and ECONorthwest project director and partner, and Mike Salsgiver, executive director of Associated General Contractors’ Oregon-Columbia chapter. Moderating the discussion was Stephanie Holmberg, co-leader of the real estate and construction practice group at Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt.

The panelists discussed topics including construction outlooks for various sectors in 2019, the labor shortage and workforce development, increasing construction costs, and taxes and regulations.

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