Capstone Partners and Cairn Pacific have sold L.L. Hawkins and Slabtown Marketplace for $78 million to an institutional investment company, unloading the multifamily and retail assets that pioneered redevelopment in Northwest Portland’s Slabtown neighborhood.

L.L. Hawkins, 1515 NW 21st Ave., has 113 apartments in studio, one- and two-bedroom floor plans, along with 11,087 square feet of ground-floor retail spaces. Completed in 2015, the six-story project was the first apartment building in the area.

Slabtown Marketplace, which shares a block with L.L. Hawkins, is a renovated freight warehouse that was built in 1952 and made into a retail redevelopment, also in 2015. The 36,000-square-foot building at 2170 N.W. Raleigh St. hosts a New Seasons grocery store, Breakside Brewery and YogaSix.

L.L. Hawkins and Slabtown Marketplace were sold in a single transaction. The buyer declined to be identified, and the information was not yet available in Multnomah County records. Chris Nelson, principal of Capstone Partners, said the buyer was a “large institutional investor.”

The sale represents a successful exit for Capstone and Cairn Pacific, both local developers. “It was a good outcome, for sure,” Nelson said.

The projects jump-started the transformation of the Slabtown area from an industrial zone into a mixed-use neighborhood.

“It was kind of the first step in the evolution of a great neighborhood,” Nelson said.

Developers including Cairn, Prometheus and Guardian Real Estate Services have followed up with more projects that have begun to fill out the neighborhood. Greystar recently gained planning approval to build two multifamily structures totaling 363 apartments on Northwest Savier Street.

Capstone and Cairn Pacific partnered with a venture capital investor, who was not identified, on L.L. Hawkins and Slabtown Marketplace.

“It is bittersweet to sell this project,” Nelson added in an email. “The project was certainly a catalyst for the neighborhood, but we decided it was a good time to sell with the strong investor interest for core multifamily and grocery-anchored retail investments in A-plus locations.”

CBRE represented the sellers.

“L.L. Hawkins was the first multifamily property built in Slabtown and truly compliments one of the most desired locations within Portland,” Joe Nydahl, first vice president at CBRE’s Portland office, stated in a news release. “LL Hawkins is one of the highest-quality projects to trade in the Portland market, featuring desirable ground-floor retail as well as a pedestrian thoroughfare connecting Slabtown Marketplace, offering residents convenient access to high-quality retail including New Seasons Market.”

Nydahl, Phil Oester and Josh McDonald of CBRE’s Pacific Northwest Multifamily group and Philip Voorhees, Jimmy Slusher and Joseph Blatner of CBRE’s National Retail Partners – West group represented the seller in the transaction.

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The Portland Design Commission on Thursday unanimously approved a two-building multifamily proposal to add 363 apartments to the Slabtown neighborhood.

Greystar‘s development, designed by SERA Architects, includes a five-story, 149-unit building and a six- and seven-story, 214-unit building. The two structures will be split by Northwest Savier Street between Northwest 19th and 20th avenues.

The project, known as Slabtown Savier, on blocks 261 and 262, will neighbor U.S. Route 30 to the north and St. Patrick Catholic Church to the east.

Commissioners had seen the project in two previous design advice meetings and had few quibbles with the final design.

“The building’s looking great,” Commissioner Sam Rodriguez said. “From a public realm perspective, they nailed it. It’s a great infill building with very thoughtful articulation.”

Slabtown Savier is subject to the Con-way master plan, which was enacted in 2012. As such, the development is not required to provide rent-restricted inclusionary housing units.

Greystar and SERA worked with St. Patrick Catholic Church officials to ensure the development would not loom over the 130-year-old church, a landmark on the National Register of Historic Places and the oldest structure in the neighborhood. SERA did a “radical re-massing of the site to give St. Patrick Church more space and more breathing room,” principal Kurt Schultz said.

Slabtown Savier will be marked by a pocket park between Block 262 and the church, ground-level live-work units and front stoops. The brick exteriors will feature Juliet balconies on each side.

Some neighborhood residents had pushed for a taller building that would block views and noise from U.S. Route 30. But Chairwoman Julie Livingston said there’s nothing in guidelines to require that type of development. She called the project a “gigantic win for the neighborhood.”

“This development looks as if it really does have the potential to take back this street (Savier) and take back this neighborhood and restore some of the church’s dignity,” she said.

Greystar, based in Charleston, South Carolina, scooped up the property from Lennar Multifamily Communities, going under contract in March. Greystar’s Portland office most recently completed the Sawbuck Apartments next to Providence Park.

Slabtown Savier won exemptions from the Design Commission for building height, parking space widths and bicycle parking. Commissioners granted a modification for Block 262 to ascend to 83 feet, above the limit of 67 feet.

The project previously was the subject of two design advice hearings, in February and July.

Design commissioners praised the team of SERA’s Schultz and Lango Hansen Landscape Architects principal Kurt Lango.

“I would say Kurt and Kurt are the dream team,” Commissioner Zari Santner said.

Santner lauded the project team for “not just following, but listening and coming up with their own options to really respond to the core of the commission’s concerns.”

Doug Burges, Greystar’s director of development in Portland, said the firm wanted to honor the city’s process.

“We took the process seriously and used the process to better our design and get feedback along the way,” he said in an interview.

Greystar plans to break ground in October 2022, likely using its in-house construction arm, Burges said.

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A new apartment complex weaves into the Con-way master-planned area of Northwest Portland. The seven-story apartment building, planned for Block 291 east, will live adjacent to the neighborhood park.

“This park is meant to be the heart of the neighborhood,” Kurt Schultz, principal at SERA Architects, said.

Prometheus Real Estate Group and Cairn Pacific are the property owners. SERA Architects is the designer and R&H Construction Co. is the contractor.

Project Freewell‘s site has two buildings on it designed to respond to the park next to it. The stand-alone two-story pavilion building lends as a step stool for the 192-unit apartment complex down to the park.

The pavilion building will be constructed out of mass-timber wood and host a fitness studio, community room and a maker’s studio. It’ll also have an art gallery, which will be open to the public on the first Thursday of each month.

The design’s goal is to “let the park roll into the buildings,” Schultz said.

The apartment complex is a 5-2 with wood framing over concrete — the seventh-floor sets-back to open up to the park. The building is 235,000 square feet, including a 120-lot basement parking garage.

The complex’s ground floor will have retail spaces, a lobby, building amenities, and a few residential units. Live-work units will also be available facing the park.

Schultz said the challenge was creating a building that meshed with the park and addressed the neighborhood association’s needs.

The neighborhood association suggested that the two-story amenities building would give the park light and help keep the space open.

Construction on the project plans to start in December 2021 and will be finished by 2023.

“It’s really hard to create a new neighborhood from scratch but it’s a great opportunity,” Schultz said.

On the Boards is a 91��Ƶ feature offering a look at the projects in Oregon being tackled by local architecture firms. To have your firm’s projects considered, contact Alex Jensen at ajensen@djcoregon.com.

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Construction of Cairn Pacific‘s sizable mixed-use development for Prometheus Real Estate Group is moving along in Northwest Portland.

Saltwood, designed by SERA Architects, will be a pair of six-story buildings with ground-floor commercial space topped by five floors of apartments. The project will occupy space on Con-way master-planned property bounded by Northwest 20th and 21st avenues and Northwest Savier and Quimby streets.

General contractor Bremik Construction is working on Saltwood North, where crews recently poured the first post-tensioned concrete deck slab in the below-grade parking area.

Meanwhile, at Saltwood South, general contractor R&H Construction has completed the first of three planned foundation slab pours – one accounting for 1,200 cubic yards of concrete in one day.

Ground was broken on Saltwood North in August 2019, and then on Saltwood South in October.

“We’re just the one level below grade,” R&H Construction project manager Mitch Smith said. “On the north, obviously they’re two down. We’re one down and then five over one – the same going up. Schedule-wise, it will be interesting because they started two months before us, but we’ve always planned that we’ll catch them coming up. So we’ll probably start framing at the same time.”

Both buildings will be U-shaped, with a central courtyard opening to the south. Saltwood South will have an overall floor area of roughly 228,000 square feet, with 42,000 additional square feet in the basement, which is slightly larger than the overall building footprint.

Saltwood South’s exterior will feature primarily brick masonry with metal panel accents and a hint of wood.

“From what I can tell, in general they are very similar buildings,” Smith said. “It’s kind of a prototype that the owners like, with a nice, open courtyard. The courtyard is something that seems to be important to them, and with it they want to bring a lot of character to the building.”

At Saltwood South, ironworkers with R2M2 Rebar & Stressing are laying down the rebar for the building’s foundation slab and the first set of support columns. Meanwhile, carpenters with Marion Construction Co. are preparing formwork as waterproofers with Sawtooth Caulking install vapor barrier on the lagging walls that will serve as a form for the foundation walls.

Also, Konell Construction is performing excavation, and Bear Electric and Tapani Plumbing are preparing in-slab conduit and plumbing assemblies.

A second large foundation slab pour of roughly 1,000 cubic yards is in the works, Smith said.

“The concrete plants right now can’t get us enough mud during the weekdays to pull off a big pour like that locally, just because there are so many projects going on,” he said. “And it’s only going to get worse. That’s why Bremik did their pours on Saturdays, which is what we have to do as well.”

It’s about how many yards you can get down per hour, he added.

“When you have the larger pours, just do the math,” Smith said. “On ours you have a 1,200-cubic-yard pour the first one, and if they’re only going to give you 80 yards per hour it’s going to take you 15 hours to physically put the mud down and not even finish it or any of that. So that’s what’s really pushed us to move to Saturday pours.”

The project team is aiming to finish Saltwood South by August 2021.

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A new residential building and hotel could soon be constructed side by side in the Con-way master-planned area of Northwest Portland.

A pre-application conference is scheduled with Portland’s Bureau of Development Services on Dec. 19 for discussion of Trammell Crow Company‘s proposal for Blocks 261 and 262. City documents indicate the company intends to develop market-rate housing on Block 262 and a hotel on Block 261.

The two blocks are split by Northwest Savier Street, with Block 261 to the north of Block 262; both are bordered on the west by Northwest 20th Avenue. The hotel would take up virtually its entire block, and be bordered on the northeast corner by U.S. Route 30. The residential building would be L-shaped, and run the length of 20th Avenue between Savier and Raleigh Streets, but then abut St. Patrick Catholic Church at its east end. St. Patrick’s, which touts itself as the oldest Catholic church in Greater Portland, dates back to 1889, according to its website.

According to BDS documents, feedback is being sought on the process and feasibility of amending the Con-way Master Plan to allow hotel use on Block 261. Stormwater management details are to be submitted with a future design review application.

No changes to the Con-way Master Plan’s floor area ratio limits or building height limits are proposed or sought.

Trammell Crow, known mainly for its industrial projects, has developed over 5 million square feet of industrial space since 2005. But the firm also has been busy in residential and mixed-use sectors, and broke ground in April 2019 on the 206-unit Mercantile Village mixed-use project in Lake Oswego.

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A six-story multifamily development geared to serve retirees is planned for property in the Con-way master-planned area in Northwest Portland.

The latest infill project in the former industrial district is being designed by SERA Architects. It’s set to discuss the project with the Portland Bureau of Development Services at a pre-application conference on Dec. 10.

As proposed, the development would take up the eastern half of a superblock that stretches between Northwest 20th and 21st avenues and Northwest Raleigh and Savier streets. The building would feature six stories of above-grade construction and include 184 residential units as well as a single level of below-grade parking with approximately 100 vehicle spaces. Parking access would be maintained from Savier Street.

Type III design review is required for this project.

Prometheus Real Estate Group purchased the 2.59-acre parcel in December 2017 for slightly more than $39.3 million. The firm is backing the adjacent Saltwood North project that is under construction on the western half of the property. SERA Architects also designed that project, which features two levels of below-grade vehicle parking and six stories of mixed-use space. Bremik Construction is the general contractor for Saltwood North, while R&H Construction is the general contractor for Saltwood South – another mixed-use project being built one block to the south.

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The build-out of Northwest Portland is continuing apace, and general contractor Bremik Construction is doing its part for the six-story Saltwood North project.

The mixed-use development was designed by SERA Architects for half of a superblock in Portland’s Slabtown neighborhood. The six-story building will have 177 market-rate apartments above ground-floor retail space. There will be two levels of underground parking.

Bremik Construction is self-performing all structural concrete work, as well as installations of windows and wood siding.

Recently, LaRusso Concrete crews were at the site to assist with the largest single-day concrete pour Bremik Construction has carried out as a general contractor since it was founded in 2004. The pour of 1,700 cubic yards covered the first half of the building’s foundation slab; the second followed shortly thereafter.

“Kicking it off with the foundation obviously kicks off all of our vertical concrete and lets us go up instead of down,” Bremik Construction superintendent Josh Ring said.

Saltwood North is one half of the entire Saltwood project being developed by Cairn Pacific for owner Prometheus Real Estate Group on a Con-Way master-planned block bordered by Northwest 20th and 21st avenues, and Savier and Quimby streets. Saltwood South (with only one level of underground parking) is being constructed by general contractor R&H Construction and will rise on a nearly identical parcel.

In total, Saltwood will provide 354 new apartments and 17,000 square feet of commercial space. Saltwood North alone will feature a spa, a swimming pool, a steam room, a sauna and other amenities like a rooftop deck and a lounge.

Excavation and site work for Saltwood North began in August. Substantial completion is expected by winter 2021.

“It’s pretty exciting to be able to be involved with a good-sized pour like this,” Ring said. “We looked at trying to do this all in one whack, but it’s really tough to get all the variables to line up to work – weather being one of the most important. It’s got to time out.”

Work on the first concrete pour started at 2 a.m., Ring said, so that trucks would have easier access to the site. Crews poured about 290 yards per hour on average, which he called a really good rate.

“The challenge is if you try to pull this off on a weekday, the rush hour just kills you,” he said. “Having this dry November has been awesome. And from a concrete perspective we’ll probably be wrapping up about August with all the structural concrete. We’re just pumped right now to be able to start going vertical.”

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Development in the Con-way master-planned area took another big step forward Thursday, as the Portland Design Commission enthusiastically approved a design proposed for Saltwood: a two-building mixed-use project.

Commissioners voted 6-0 in favor of SERA Architects‘ design, allowing developer Cairn Pacific LLC to move forward with a pair of six-story market-rate apartment buildings. Combined, they will hold approximately 17,000 square feet of ground floor commercial space, 354 residential units and below-grade parking.

This will continue the transformation of the intersection of Northwest 21st Avenue and Raleigh Street into a bustling retail hub as part of the Con-way Master Plan. It calls for redevelopment of 17 city blocks of former industrial space into a residential and commercial center.

“All of this stuff is woven together very, very well,” commission Chairwoman Julie Livingston said to Cairn Pacific principal Tom DiChiara and SERA Architects principal Kurt Schultz. “What is happening at the intersection of Raleigh, with Carson South and L.L. Hawkins – that’s really nice urban space, and when you expand it across the street, it’s fantastic urban space.”

Saltwood will rise on city blocks 291W and 292W as a pair of mixed-use apartment buildings with distinctly different appearances. The common denominator will be brick masonry, but the style, color and textures will differ. By contrast, cedar and other decorative wood will dominate the ground-floor retail spaces.

The property under development is split into north and south blocks. It is bounded on the west by Northwest 21st Avenue, on the north by Savier Street and on the south by Quimby Street.

Both buildings will feature landscaped courtyards open to the outside neighborhood. On the ground floor, a wide variety of storefront design features are intended to distinguish each retail space from the next.

“We want to see a great mix that makes that 24-7 style of neighborhood work,” DiChiara said.

The south building will have lighter-colored brick accents with additional metal panels to accent the brick, while the north building will feature darker burgundy brick.

“The south building is not so industrial and probably more urbane in character,” Schultz said.

One of the highlights of the design is a quarter-block expression in each building; combined, they will dominate the northeast and southeast corners of Northwest 21st Avenue and Raleigh Street. Connected to the main buildings by pedestrian walkways, this aspect provides variation of height, rhythm and color coveted by designers.

Another interesting aspect of the plan is the inclusion of large ground-floor, walk-up townhomes on the east side of each building that will front future pedestrian walkways called for in the master plan.

Commissioners praised the manner in which Saltwood fits into the area, which in recent years has seen development of a number of significant projects. These include: the L.L. Hawkins, a six-story mixed use building fronting Northwest 21st Avenue and stretching between Quimby and Raleigh streets; The Carson, a 13-story mixed-use building and a six-story mixed-use building; a New Seasons supermarket at the corner of Northwest 22nd Avenue and Quimby Street; and the Leland James Center, an adaptive reuse effort at the corner of Northwest 22nd Avenue and Raleigh Street.

Future development on the Con-way Blocks will include a new park stretching along the west side of Northwest 21st Avenue between Quimby and Pettygrove streets.

“This is a quality couple of buildings you’ve put together,” Commissioner Andrew Clarke said of Saltwood. “The massing and the way you broke up the massing feels like an urban area that’s actually been here for a little while. I like the quality of colors and materials that you use all the way down to the public realm areas, which are continuing to stitch this new neighborhood together.”

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Cairn Pacific’s largest project to date requires the developer to deliver on a tall order – help create a neighborhood in the Con-way area, sandwiched between the Northwest District and Interstate 405, while playing off the successes and avoiding the mistakes made in the South Waterfront District and Pearl District.

The $175 million build-out encompasses the soon-to-be-built Leland James and east block buildings. The developments involve a mix of heights and uses, including residential, office and commercial.

Cairn Pacific, led by co-founders Tom DiChiara and Rob Hinnen, is leading the remake of the Northwest Portland neighborhood. The new developments are envisioned to link easily with the existing neighborhood to the west, including the retail- and restaurant-heavy blocks of Northwest 23rd Avenue, and eventually the Pearl District.

“We’re trying to get the right blend of residential, office, retail so the neighborhood can thrive,” DiChiara said.

A master plan completed in 2012 envisions Raleigh Street becoming the main east-west artery, and Cairn Pacific is planning retail spaces along Raleigh.

“Raleigh is going to be a primary artery between 23rd and 21st (avenues), with a lot of development going on,” DiChiara said.

The $40 million L.L. Hawkins mixed-use building completed last year was a joint venture of Cairn Pacific and Capstone Partners.

Another partnership between the two firms is taking place at Block 295W, where the Leland James three-story office building will feature 11,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space. The office floors will have relatively large 34,000-square-foot plates. A rooftop wood-frame penthouse will add 16,000 square feet.

The project team will retain the skeleton of the existing building at 1621 N.W. 21st Ave., but a thorough rebuild will clad the building in red brick and aluminum. SERA Architects is designing the Leland James building, and Andersen Construction and JBA will build it. A leasing push for the building, represented by David Squire at Newmark Grubb Knight Frank, is under way.

DiChiara believes the Leland James’ large floor plates could attract a tech tenant, although he’s open to other uses as well.

“It certainly can cater to the tech guys, but it’s not exclusively tech-oriented,” he said.

The Leland James is named for the local businessman who founded Consolidated Truck Lines, which later became Con-way Inc.

Different uses, building heights, tenants

Nearby, on Block 294E, Cairn Pacific plans to construct three mixed-use buildings, of three, nine and 14 stories. Excavation on the parking areas on 294E is expected to begin in mid-June, after a sewer line is rerouted.

On Block 295E, the developer plans two residential buildings, one with three stories and one with six. Together they will add 385 market-rate residential units to the neighborhood. The east block developments will call for the use of two tower cranes.

The mix of heights is an important aspect of the growth in Northwest Portland, DiChiara said. In part, it’s a reaction to the point tower approach taken in the South Waterfront, and the flatter look of the Pearl District. In old cities, DiChiara said, a mix of heights arises naturally amid growth. He wants to recreate that aesthetic in Northwest Portland.

“There is a mix of heights,” he said. “The Pearl and the South Waterfront, it’s all the same height.”

New York-based investment firm BlackRock is Cairn Pacific’s investor for the Leland James project, and Wells Fargo is the lender. For the east block projects, Prometheus Real Estate Group of San Mateo, Calif., is the investor. A lender has not yet been chosen.

Cairn Pacific is looking to build upon the success of L.L. Hawkins. The building at 1515 N.W. 21st Ave. has 113 residential units, which are 90 percent leased. Notably, the leasing team has eschewed national chain businesses, instead luring local tenants with loyal followings.

Tenants include the Slabtown New Seasons grocery store, a Breakside Brewery pub, a pizzeria from the Breakside partners and the new home of Besaw’s, a landmark Portland restaurant. Besaw’s owner Cana Flug is also opening a dessert bar and patisserie called Solo Club; tenant improvements are under way now.

The grocery store gives the Northwest Portland neighborhood a leg up on the South Waterfront, which lacks one. New Seasons’ Slabtown location offers 28,000 square feet of high-end grocery products, and DiChiara said the store has been successful. He credited Capstone Partners with helping to lure the local grocery chain.

Cairn Pacific, working with GBD Architects and Holst Architecture, designed L.L. Hawkins to have various step-backs from the sidewalk and different aesthetic treatments to avoid a monolithic look and provide sidewalk seating.

“The small boutique retail spaces all have their own personality,” DiChiara said.

Each shop is encouraged to use unique signage, mostly lighted. As a result, the building has a nighttime presence.

“You come here at night, and there’s a feel,” DiChiara said.

Both the Leland James and the L.L. Hawkins have dozens of parking spaces.

“All of our projects have adequate parking,” DiChiara said. “Cars aren’t going anywhere.”

The developments are divided by pedestrian-friendly strips and green spaces. The east blocks will have a grove of 35-foot-tall sequoia trees and sitting areas. The L.L. Hawkins has an outdoor patio with a small rooftop garden that overlooks New Seasons.

Cairn Pacific’s ambitious plans extend further. The developer has also placed the George Morlan Plumbing building, at 2222 N.W. Raleigh St., under contract and likely will pursue entitlements this fall, DiChiara said. The developer plans to convert the building to housing above ground-floor retail space.

“It’s a lot of change coming. It’s a lot of construction coming,” DiChiara said. “I think it’s going to fit in well. It’s all quality brick buildings and durable materials.”

Space for storage and motor vehicles

Cairn Pacific and Capstone Partners aren’t the only developers at work in the area. At Northwest 21st Avenue and Quimby Street, Guardian Real Estate Services and Andersen are building a seven-story mixed-use tower. Designed by YBA Architects, the building will have 163 market-rate apartment units, 11,000 square feet of offices and 16,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space.

A nearby parcel was snatched up last week by a storage company, Security Public Storage-Portland LLC, for $8.75 million. The sale, brokered by CBRE Group, included two industrial buildings located at 2012 and 2050 N.W. Vaughn St.

The buildings are 25,500 and 28,456 square feet, respectively, on approximately 1.73 acres. The final sale price equated to a land value of more than $116 per square foot.

DiChiara said Cairn Pacific had the property under contract at one time, and was planning to build public storage units. But Cairn Pacific opted to focus on its other projects, he said.

“We couldn’t quite make sense of the economics,” he said.

DiChiara said he remains interested in doing more as the neighborhood develops.

“We’ll see what happens with the other real estate,” he said. “We’re certainly interested in being involved with more.”

The developments follow the Con-way master plan, adopted in 2012. XPO Logistics has taken over Con-way’s existing facilities.

John Bradley, planning committee chairman of the Northwest Neighborhood Association, said area residents have enjoyed a good working relationship with Cairn Pacific. The neighborhood association includes residents with professional expertise in architecture, land-use planning and law, he said.

Cairn Pacific “came in early, and they’re willing to listen,” Bradley said. “I think most of our concerns are traffic concerns. These were and still are fairly small streets.”

Bradley also noted that developers are pursuing market-rate housing to the exclusion of affordable units.

“It’s important to us to see a little bit of low-income housing, and most of what we’re seeing is market rate,” he said. “It just doesn’t seem like we’ve got a handle on how to (build) anything else but market rate, but hopefully that’ll change.”

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In less than two years since Cairn Pacific was formed by Tom DiChiara and his longtime business partner Rob Hinnen, the firm has managed to achieve the kind of success it takes most development companies decades to reach.

The duo’s company recently wrapped up two high-profile projects – the LL Hawkins mixed-use multifamily building and a renovation of a 1950s warehouse core and shell for Slabtown Marketplace – on portions of the 25-acre Con-way site in Northwest Portland.

“It’s been a whirlwind,” DiChiara said. “As with any startup, we’ve had our challenges, but we were fortunate to start with LL Hawkins and Slabtown cued up.”

DiChiara is an architect by trade, so he handles project aspects – conceptualization, basic underwriting, and oversight of architecture and construction – that place him squarely in a position as the face of Cairn Pacific. But he’s quick to point out that Hinnen’s background as an attorney and his handling of the financial details of projects along with principal Scott Eaton’s business development efforts are critical to Cairn Pacific’s success.

“(Our) different skill sets all work pretty well together,” DiChiara said.

DiChiara and Hinnen began working together about 13 years ago, handling residential projects for Trammell Crow Residential. They both eventually joined C.E. John, and helped the company develop a plan for the Con-way site. Plans for three projects on the site were under way, DiChiara said, when C.E. John decided to step away from larger-mixed use developments.  DiChiara and Hinnen, however, weren’t ready to walk away from the projects.

“We decided it was time to branch out and build our own destiny,” DiChiara said. “We had a lot of passion and blood, sweat and tears to make (the projects) happen.”

While he and Hinnen are well acquainted the ins-and-outs of development, they still learned some new lessons with the LL Hawkins and Slabtown Market projects.

“It’s different,” DiChiara said. “When it’s your own company and your own money, you look at things differently.”

Cairn Pacific’s forward momentum doesn’t show any signs of slowing soon. From an office with just Hinnen and DiChaira, the company has grown to its current staff of six people. The company also is moving forward with its next project at the Con-Way site.

“The next deals, they feel like they’ve been a long time coming,” DiChiara said. ‘We’re getting ready to start up in about three months.”

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