A Portland Trail Blazers executive said Thursday that the threat of litigation is casting a pall over negotiations with the city of Portland on paying for Moda Center renovations.

The Trail Blazers have attacked a provision in their current lease that would allow the city of Portland to sue the team for the cost of renovating the Moda Center if the team were to leave the arena when the lease ends in 2030.

Dewayne Hankins, the Trail Blazers president of business operations, decried the “threat of litigation hanging over these negotiations.”

The provision “has been wielded as a weapon, chilling our negotiations,” Hankins said.

Trail Blazers officials and city councilors held a work session Thursday that functioned as a temperature check on negotiations over arena upgrades. The two sides appeared far apart on any agreement to renovate the nearly 31-year-old Moda Center, which the city took ownership of in 2025.

They couldn’t even agree on whether the Trail Blazers were negotiating.

“It sounds like you have walked away from the table a bit,” Councilor Loretta Smith said.

Zandria Conyers, the Trail Blazers’ general counsel, disputed that characterization.

“We’re still at the table,” she said. “We have not walked away from the table.”

Conyers said the draft term sheet the city has circulated is a “nonstarter.”

“It is just not even a document we can respond to,” she added.

The Trail Blazers’ executives ceded little ground, instead taking a maximalist position in council chambers. Hankins reiterated that the team’s ownership group, led by Tom Dundon, would not agree to spend any money to renovate Moda Center.

“Going forward, in order for this deal to make economic sense, the contribution needs to come from the public sector,” Hankins said.

Hankins said the Trail Blazers should get credit for spending nearly $1 billion in the past 30 years on previous Moda Center upgrades and maintenance — even though that spending came under previous ownership.

Councilor Angelita Morillo, who has been a vocal critic of the Blazers’ recent statements, said the team had “moved the goalposts” after the city published a draft term sheet. She also dismissed the Blazers’ fear of litigation.

“They are only sued if they choose to move the team according to the bridge lease,” Morillo said.

A Trail Blazers representative said they had had discussions with potential architects and contractors to renovate the Moda Center. The team has identified $600 million in needed upgrades.

“We have architects and general contractors that we are excited to get to work with,” Hankins said. “We, in fact, had interviews with the city and state by our sides to have those, to pick those and select those, but until we have the funds to pay those architects, we don’t have plans to show you.”

The Oregon Legislature in its previous session passed a bill to supply $365 million in bond funding for Moda Center upgrades. The city has surveyed voters on potentially spending $120 million on the project. Multnomah County is also weighing its contribution.

The City Council is moving forward with public hearings on Wednesday and Thursday, with a vote on the term sheet to follow on Aug. 12. The council plans to vote on a lease agreement in December before bonds can be issued — if the city and the Trail Blazers can play ball.

The post Trail Blazers, city clash over Moda Center renovation funding appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

The four partnering agencies behind a 10-story project tentatively called 4th and Montgomery are in the early stages of exploring the use of mass timber.

The proposed idea was confirmed Wednesday by Alisa Kane, the city of Portland‘s green building manager. Joining the city to develop the project are Portland State University, Oregon Health and Sciences University, and Portland Community College.

The building is planned for a site near PSU known as the Jasmine Block and will feature some retail and commercial space along the classrooms and offices. PSU is leading the project and will be the anchor tenant.

The site was once proposed as the site for the Oregon Sustainability Center, an ambitious high-rise that would have showcased Oregon’s green industry.

The city is a tenant and owner of one floor of the project. Its Bureau of Planning and Sustainability will relocate to the building upon completion.

The project is in the planning stage until May. Move-in is scheduled for fall 2020

The post Mass timber considered for 10-story project appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

The city of Portland will give its next procurement officer greater authority to approve construction and professional services contracts, a move intended to save projects a time-consuming trip to City Council.

The council voted Thursday to increase the value of contracts that can be approved without a council vote as a pilot program scheduled to end December 2018. Construction contracts of $1 million or less, and professional and technical service contracts of $500,000 or less, may now be approved administratively.

A review of the past 17 months found that the new rule would have applied to 95 contracts valued at $9.5 million. Several of these contracts were amended at council, but not rejected.

City code requires contracts of certain dollar amounts receive council approval prior to the issuance of a notice to proceed.

The rule change is intended to speed the execution of permits for developers and lighten the load of council, according to Jen Clodius, spokeswoman for the Office of Management and Finance. The wait to be scheduled for a council hearing is approximately two months, she said.

Mayor Ted Wheeler and his predecessor, Charlie Hales, came under fire for not acting fast enough in response to the growing wave of housing unaffordability.

“Conceptually, I think this is a good idea,” said Wheeler, who introduced the ordinance. “It’s been my observation over seven months that a lot come to the council, and few get pulled.”

The position of chief procurement officer is currently vacant. Larry Pelatt has been filling in until a replacement for previous procurement officer Christine Moody, who recently started at a similar position at the Port of Portland.

The authorization change is happening now because the procurement officer position is currently vacant and Chief Financial Officer Ken Rust is nearing retirement, Clodius said.

The next procurement officer will be authorized to solicit and execute contracts for construction projects valued under $1 million, with permission from the bureau initiating the project. Contracts for the purchase or lease of goods and services are also now capped at $1 million.

It passed as an emergency ordinance and thus doesn’t require a second reading at council. Clodius said this was done with speed in mind.

“It’s like, let’s just get this done,” she said by phone Thursday.

Construction contracts represent a far smaller number of the total contracts the city enters into with vendors – 6.7 percent of 1,258. However, at $245 million of $375 million total, their value is by far higher than goods, services, and professional and technical contracts.

Approximately 35 people work under the chief procurement officer.

The post City Council expands powers of procurement officer appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

The post City of Portland: Parks Sr. Facilities Maintenance & Repair Manager appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

The post City Of Portland: Housing Administrative Specialist Sr. appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

The post City of Portland: SDC Program Manager appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

The post City of Portland: Structural Engineer appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

If you want to gauge the vitality of building activity in Portland, the city’s Bureau of Development Services is a good place to start.

During the recession, as construction ground to a halt, the bureau found itself facing a serious financial shortfall. A lack of projects meant that the permit fees that make up about 95 percent of the bureau’s operating budget dried up. As a result, the BDS was forced to trim its staff numbers from 315 to 145, according to Paul Scarlett, the bureau’s director.

Last year, though, developers and building industry professionals rejoiced when construction cranes began to rise once again against the city’s skyline, and the bureau announced that with the help of City Commissioner Amanda Fritz, it had received approval to begin refilling some of the empty positions.

Some of the recent BDS hires are former bureau employees who had been lost to layoffs. Others are new faces. But they all have one thing in common in addition to their ease with blueprints and development codes.

“Since the recession, we’ve really put a lot of emphasis on hiring people who not only know the technical portion of their jobs, but who also focus on customer service, the working relationships,” Scarlett said.

Scarlett understands the value of filling the department with good people.

“We survived (the impact of the recession) in part because of the compassion and high level of commitment of our employees,” he said.

Even though the number of employees is increasing, Scarlett says the bureau is still looking at ways to continue efforts started during the recession to streamline processes.

The bureau recently conducted an internal survey that will be used to help find out what is and what isn’t working, especially for new employees. Even something as simple as creating a suggestion box can make a big difference, Scarlett said.

There are also strides being made to implement a high-tech system for tracking permits that will give customers around-the-clock access to forms and permits while saving money and reducing a reliance on paper.

The bureau also is in a good place financially.

“The funding is very strong, and we have a healthy reserve,” Scarlett said. “We have reserve goals in some cases of 30 to 35 percent. We have pretty much wiped out deficits in those that we’ve had over the past years.”

The post 2015 Newsmakers: City of Portland Bureau of Development Services appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

The Portland Bureau of Development Services is seeking candidates to fill 22 new positions.

The bureau this week started accepting applications for some of the positions, which include building and electrical inspectors, geotechnical and mechanical engineers, and planners, agency spokesman Ross Caron said. Online applications for more openings will be accepted later this month and next month.

The hiring process is expected to take about 14 weeks, and BDS officials hope to have the new employees on board in time to respond to next summer’s building season, Caron said. In addition to the 22 new positions, seven temporary positions were converted to permanent ones to help keep pace with the increasing number of permit requests associated with a building boom in Portland, he said.

For each of the positions that will open this month and next month, city officials will host lunchtime and evening information sessions to provide more details and help potential applicants navigate the online application process, Caron said. People can learn more about each position, how to apply and details about the information sessions at .

The post City has openings for inspectors, engineers, planners appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

The post City of Portland is seeking a FT Construction Manager. appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.