Emerick Construction, a suburban Portland contractor that has been in business for more than 80 years, faces a string of allegations of nonpayment from lenders and subcontractors, according to lawsuits and state regulatory complaints.

The allegations from a long line of unhappy business partners and clients add to other signs of financial distress and project mismanagement.

Emerick Construction has faced at least 18 lawsuits or claims in Oregon courts since August 2024. Emerick’s pursuers include banks, and subcontractors such as Skyles Drilling Inc., Santiam Heating & Sheet Metal, and Black Line Glazing. The projects in dispute involve schools, fire stations and a rural hospital. Amounts range from a few thousand dollars to more than $5 million.

Court filings and state records indicate Emerick is working to pay its debts. Several of the cases have been closed or settled with payments made, but others remain open.

Also, since August, Emerick has been the subject of three complaints to the Oregon Construction Contractors Board, the state body that licenses contractors. Emerick’s license was suspended for 18 days from May 30 to June 16, requiring the contractor to stop working, CCB spokeswoman Leslie Culpepper said. The suspension was lifted on Tuesday when Emerick paid $24,867 to settle a construction debt, according to the CCB.

Emerick has a long legacy in the Portland area. Based in Tualatin, the company traces its history to a concrete subcontractor founded by Paul B. Emerick in 1943. The entity was renamed Emerick Construction Co. in 1974, according to state records.

Corey Lohman has served as Emerick’s president since 2012, after joining the firm as a project engineer a decade earlier. He was named a 91��Ƶ Rising Star in 2013.

Lohman declined to comment. An attorney who represents Emerick, Dan Duyck of Duyck Law in Portland, did not respond to messages seeking comment. An attorney who represented Emerick’s insurance companies in some of the lawsuits, Paul Friedrich of Friedrich & Dishaw in Seattle, did not respond to messages.

‘When can we expect this check?’

Court and state regulatory records show numerous creditors pursuing Emerick. Among the red flags:

• Umpqua Bank filed a lawsuit in Clackamas County Circuit Court against Emerick and its insurer in April, alleging the contractor owes $5.3 million on a loan in the original amount of $5 million.

Umpqua alleges Emerick failed to make monthly payments in January, February and March on a loan agreement dated Sept. 24, 2024. Umpqua is seeking the $5 million principal, plus interest, late fees and attorneys’ fees.

Umpqua’s attorney in the suit, Garrett Ledgerwood of Miller Nash, said the firm does not comment on pending litigation. The loan agreement was signed by Lohman, according to a court filing.

• U.S. Bank filed a lawsuit in Washington County Circuit Court against Emerick Construction and Emerick Logistics on June 2, seeking $168,000 for alleged breach of contract. The bank alleges Emerick failed to make any lease payments on a piece of construction equipment, a 2023 Manitou telehandler. “Emerick Logistics has not paid the sums due,” the lawsuit states.

U.S. Bank’s attorney in the matter, Brian Born of Selby Morgan & Born PLLC in Fircrest, Washington, declined to comment.

• In December, West Linn-Wilsonville School District fired Emerick as general contractor of Frog Pond Primary School. The district at the time stated Emerick “repeatedly failed to pay its subcontractors for work related to the Frog Pond Primary project despite receiving regular payment from the district.”

The school district in April hired Woodburn-based Triplett Wellman Contractors to complete the job.

• Aurora Landscape filed a lawsuit against Emerick, Corey Lohman, Stacy Lohman and others alleging Aurora is owed $149,495 for extensive landscaping work at the Lohmans’ home in Canby.

The Lohmans instructed Aurora “to send all of its bills to Emerick,” according to the complaint. Aurora later filed a construction lien on the property and attempted to foreclose.

• In August 2024, Black Line Glazing filed a lawsuit in Clackamas County Circuit Court against Emerick, seeking $65,356. The subcontractor’s attorneys alleged that Emerick had paid the company, also known as BLG Inc., only in part. The lawsuit was dismissed without judgment in October, court records show.

• Subcontractor Rich Holland Painting filed a suit against Emerick and other parties in September, alleging it was owed more than $140,000 for a capital improvement project for the city of Wilsonville.

• In January, a mover filed a lawsuit seeking more than $1 million, alleging Emerick and subcontractor MC Interiors were liable for negligence and personal injury because a handrail collapsed at a West Linn middle school job site, resulting in the mover suffering a meniscus tear and other knee injuries.

• Beginning in summer 2024, Emerick was the subject of three complaints to the CCB. All three have been closed. The complaints came from Christenson Electric of Portland for work at Santiam Memorial Hospital in Stayton, Petrichor Constructors of Junction City for concrete work at fire stations in Corvallis and Lebanon as well as a middle school in Dallas, and Consurco of Meridian, Idaho, related to work at four schools in Portland.

In October, Consurco told the CCB that payment was received in full, according to public records obtained by the 91��Ƶ.

But before Emerick made good, a long thread of emails shows Consurco repeatedly demanding payment.

“When can we expect this check?” Consurco Chief Financial Officer Christina Walters wrote on July 15.

Meanwhile, a parade of subcontractors complained to state regulators of delayed payments but were later satisfied, withdrew their claims or had their complaints dismissed by the CCB for lack of jurisdiction, according to hundreds of pages of CCB documents obtained through a public records request.

At least nine more subcontractors complained to the CCB of late or missing payments from Emerick, including Black Line Glazing of Salem, Babb Construction Co. of Eugene and T. Gerding Construction Co. of Corvallis.

• The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality fined Emerick $43,200 in 2022 for water quality violations related to construction at New Athey Creek Middle School in West Linn (the contractor also faced nonpayment claims from a subcontractor on that project). The DEQ stated that Emerick’s activities, including land clearing and grading, “resulted in multiple, significant discharges of turbid stormwater to wetland and the Tualatin River.”

A contractor under scrutiny

The root cause of Emerick’s troubles is unclear from the lawsuits and public documents. Commercial contractors like Emerick often operate on thin profit margins. It’s a durable model, as long as the work keeps coming.

Mike Salsgiver, executive director of the Associated General Contractors‘ Oregon-Columbia chapter, declined to comment on Emerick’s situation.

“Things shouldn’t have gone as far wrong as they have for Emerick,” said Robert B. Coleman, a Portland construction attorney who represented Rich Holland Painting in its lawsuit against Emerick.

Emerick faces stiff competition in its market. With private-sector construction slow, contractors are hungry for public and institutional jobs.

Last year, Emerick sought sub-bids as construction manager/general contractor to build a new City Hall and police station for Cannon Beach. But the city switched contractors as cost estimates came in, City Manager Bruce St. Denis said. Cannon Beach is now working with P&C Construction.

“It was a cost decision,” St. Denis said.

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Triplett Wellman Contractors is working to complete construction of a Wilsonville school after the first contractor was fired from the job.

Triplett Wellman took over from Emerick Construction. In December, West Linn-Wilsonville School District terminated Emerick, saying it had mismanaged construction at Frog Pond Primary School.

“Emerick Construction repeatedly failed to pay its subcontractors for work related to the Frog Pond Primary project despite receiving regular payment from the district,” the school district stated in December. “These actions by Emerick Construction failed to meet requirements as outlined in its contract and under Oregon law. Emerick Construction also refused to engage in mitigation efforts. These repeated failures led to ongoing delays in construction, and Emerick Construction’s continued inability to pay its subcontractors gave the district no choice but to move forward with a contract termination.”

Emerick, based in Tualatin, did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment on Thursday.

Woodburn-based Triplett Wellman was hired in April. The district worked with bonding company Zurich to resume work under the terms of the performance bond, the district stated.

“Work has fully resumed with completion expected sometime next school year,” district spokesman Andrew Kilstrom stated in an email on Wednesday.

Frog Pond Primary School will officially open in 2026-27.

Triplett Wellman previously completed Sunset Primary School for the district in 2017.

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PROJECT: Oregon City Engineering & Operations Center

LOCATION: 13895 Fir St., Oregon City

SIZE: 26,000-square-foot office and 53,000-square-foot warehouse

COST: $12.8 million

START DATE: September 2020

COMPLETION DATE: November 2021

OWNER: city of Oregon City

OWNER’S REPRESENTATIVE: PlanB Consultancy

ARCHITECT: Scott | Edwards Architecture

ENGINEERS: WDY Inc. (structural), Harper Houf Peterson Righellis (civil, landscaping), Interface Engineering (mechanical)

GENERAL CONTRACTOR: Emerick Construction

OTHER CONSULTANTS: JLD Cost Consulting

SIGNIFICANCE OF PROJECT: Oregon City’s Engineering and Operations Center is now open to the public. The facility houses Public Works engineering, Public Works operations, geographic information systems, facility maintenance and the parks maintenance division.

The 4.7-acre property, formerly occupied by General Distributing Inc., was purchased in April 2019 for $7.1 million. Environmental, structural and mechanical inspections took place, and then crews broke ground in September 2020.

The renovation of the existing building included seismic reinforcement. The facility is considered essential because it houses emergency response personnel.

“The site is dramatically different, considering we kept the structure intact,” Scott | Edwards Architecture project manager Brandon Dole stated in a press release. “We are proud the project took the route of reusing the space with modifications to updates to fit the needs of Public Works now and in the future.”

Modifications to the office building created reception areas, a customer service counter, a training room, a conference room, enclosed offices, open workspaces, storage space, and a break room. More than 8,500 square feet is dedicated to a fleet workshop, a vehicle wash-down area, and indoor storage for materials and equipment. The lot includes fuel storage with pumps, and all existing warehouse facilities are equipped with heat and fire suppression.

“When Emerick first learned of this project, we were excited for the opportunity to be part of a project of this significance in Oregon City because of the impact it was going to have for the community,” Jordan Fell, Emerick Construction’s director of special projects, stated in the news release. “Issues are inherent to every construction project, but this one was extra challenging and unpredictable. (We) had to navigate through construction while dealing with COVID, wildfires, ice storms, and supply chain issues. Through all of this, we were still able to deliver this project on time – and that’s not a small feat.”

“Building Blocks” spotlights noteworthy projects either under construction or approaching the start of construction. To submit a project for consideration, please visit: djcoregon.com/building-blocks.

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PROJECT: Lincoln City Police Department facility

LOCATION: 1503 S.E. East Devils Lake Road, Lincoln City

SIZE:��18,500 square feet

COST:��$10.5 million

CONSTRUCTION START DATE: 2018

CONSTRUCTION END DATE: 2020

OWNERS: city of Lincoln City and Lincoln City Police Department

OWNER’S REPRESENTATIVE: Klosh Group

ARCHITECT: FFA Architecture and Interiors

ENGINEERS: KPFF Consulting Engineers (structural, civil); Sazan Group (MEP)

CONTRACTOR:��Emerick Construction Co.

OTHER ASSOCIATES: Acoustic Design Studio

SIGNIFICANCE OF PROJECT: The Lincoln City Police Department formerly operated out of an old ambulance building on a heavily wooded and sloped site. In 2017, the city selected FFA Architecture and Interiors to design a new, 18,500-square-foot facility.

The project presented several challenges, beginning with the site. It’s steep and backs up to property designated for a future city park. Access points were limited, and there was difficulty separating the site’s public and secure zones. Also, the existing building housed dispatch operations and needed to remain in place during construction, so the buildable area of the site was limited.

After engaging in a robust programming effort with the police department and consultant MWL Architects, the FFA team engaged in a research phase. Members worked closely with City Council and police staff to identify goals for the project and key metrics for its success. The team also conducted in-depth research into the history and culture of Lincoln City, working with citizens to determine an “origin story” that would influence representation of the final project.

Structural and envelope materials were chosen for three reasons: labor savings, coastal environment, and security. During design, FFA team members were told by contractors in the Willamette Valley that there was a 40 percent premium to perform commercial-level construction at the coast. This was mainly driven by transportation costs for workers. This led FFA to choose systems – including cross-laminated timber and unit fiberglass windows – able to be prefabricated.

That same labor theme impacted the choice of exterior cladding. Masonry is typically used to address security concerns of a police station. This is specifically tied to the ballistic performance of the wall. FFA was able to show that a combination of concrete tile and solid CLT walls met the same requirements. The team members did this by mocking up a section of the wall and letting police staff take it to a shooting range for target practice. The concrete shingles echo the cedar shingles common at the coast but last longer in the harsh climate.

“Building Blocks” spotlights noteworthy projects either under construction or approaching the start of construction. To submit a project for consideration, please visit: djcoregon.com/building-blocks.

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PROJECT: Amaterra Winery

LOCATION: 7856 S.W. Mayway Drive, Portland

SIZE:��46,000 square feet

COST:��$26 million

START DATE: January 2019

ANTICIPATED END DATE: April 2021

OWNER: Amaterra

DEVELOPER: Touchmark

OWNER’S REPRESENTATIVE/CONSTRUCTION MANAGER: O’Brien & Company

CONTRACTOR:��Emerick Construction Company

LEAD ARCHITECT: Waterleaf Architecture

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT: Mayer/Reed

INTERIORS AND FURNITURE: GBD Architects

ENGINEERS: Glumac (MEP), Humber Design Group (civil), TM Rippey Consulting Engineers

MAJOR SUBCONTRACTORS/OTHER ASSOCIATES: Whitaker/Ellis Builders, TT&L Sheet Metal, Team Electric, American Heating, Anning-Johnson, Heinz Mechanical Industries Inc.

NUMBER OF WORKERS EMPLOYED: 45

SIGNIFICANCE OF PROJECT: Emerick Construction is working closely with Waterleaf Architecture and O’Brien & Company, the construction manager, on this three-story, 46,000-square-foot project – the first full-production winery in the Portland metropolitan area. Approximately 3,600 cubic yards of concrete was used for the foundation and structure of the two lower levels that will serve winery production. Approximately 35,000 square feet of 12-inch, precast/prestressed, hollow-core planks were placed for the Level 2 and 3 suspended slabs. The top level, which will house a restaurant and event space, is wood-framed with a multi-gabled roof structure that emulates the West Hills in which the building is located. The project started in spring 2019 with ground modification. The project was undertaken with an aggressive schedule coupled with a phased design process. A very tight site on a slope, with deep excavation in a microclimate subject to high winds, necessitated a lot of coordination and planning. Currently, site construction and the build-out of the restaurant and event space are under way, and completion is expected late this spring. Like many projects in 2020, this one challenged its team because of the atmosphere of the times. Team members adapted to the momentum adjustments associated with COVID-19. Also, a few weeks of forest fires required constant evaluation of the schedule and creative thinking to keep materials arriving and crews working. Once open, the facility will be home to a gravity-flow winery led by Willamette Valley winemaker Matt Vuylsteke. Its production will be predominantly pinot noir and chardonnay. The restaurant will serve as both a tasting room and dining space.

“Building Blocks” is a 91��Ƶ feature that spotlights noteworthy projects either under construction or approaching the start of construction. To submit a project for consideration, please visit: djcorprod.wpengine.com/building-blocks.

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When NBA player Rudy Gobert, a center for the Utah Jazz, last week tested positive for the COVID-19 virus, reactions to the outbreak in the U.S. ramped up dramatically. The remainder of the NBA season was suspended, and countless other organizations have since responded with similar actions.

“It’s been an avalanche since then,” said Mike Salsgiver, executive director of the Associated General Contractors’ Oregon-Columbia chapter. “I think it was the thing that broke the dam.”

But while some governments have issued guidelines on social distancing and even instituted temporary statewide closures of places such as restaurants, bars and public facilities, the construction industry in the region so far is still up and running.

“Generally, as far as the impact on construction, we’re not hearing anything conclusively that says projects are coming to a stop,” Salsgiver said Tuesday. “But we’re pulling our information together, talking to agencies – particularly on the public side – to see what they’re thinking. We’ve been in touch with governor’s office, counties and mayors to keep channels open. But so far we’re not hearing anything about an impact to construction broadly; we’re all just chugging along.”

That, however, could change if politicians here follow a move taken by Boston Mayor Marty Walsh. He called for a two-week closure of commercial construction sites in the city, beginning March 17.

A day earlier, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation suspended all construction projects for at least two weeks.

The Oregon Department of Transportation, however, has dozens of current projects running – many funded by a massive transportation bill passed by the Legislature in 2017.

“At this point we have not had any changes in our construction schedules over this,” ODOT spokesman Don Hamilton said. “But it’s safe to say we’re watching all of these things very, very carefully. This is a very fluid situation, so we’re going to be carefully monitoring the best safety practices we can both for the impact on ODOT employees and other contract workers who are out there.”

The spread of COVID-19 could impact jobsites many ways in the short term, including employee absenteeism, changes in methods of conducting business, and interrupted supply and delivery schedules.

“We’re certainly monitoring supply chain impacts and we really haven’t experienced any,” said Darin Stegemoller, senior vice president of the Portland office of national contractor JE Dunn Construction. “There are a lot of rumors floating around right now, but no impacts as far as supply chain. But we are watching it very closely and we anticipate impacts in that arena.”

JE Dunn has formed a task force to handle all the changes thrust upon the firm with virtually no notice, Stegemoller said.

“Our doors are open, and we do have some people who are working from home just with the social distancing we’re trying to do,” he said. “We’re trying to leverage that and I think everyone in the industry is. So we have made that adjustment.”

Daily head counts on the company’s project sites have taken an estimated 10 percent hit, Stegemoller added.

“We’ve noticed a small change,” he said. “It’s a little bit of an indicator that there are some people worried. There’s certainly lot of concerns out there, but we’re still placing concrete and putting work in place and we’ll keep going as long as we can.”

For some companies, the immediate impact is more focused.

“We had a project with Portland Rescue Mission that was supposed to start on Monday the 23rd, but due to their quarantine requirements we can’t be in the space, so that project is postponed indefinitely,” Yorke & Curtis Inc. President Erik Timmons stated in an email. “We completely understand that they have to do what they need to do and support them 100 percent. It’s tough, though, when you have a team assigned and geared up, then have to call it off.”

If such actions continue across the industry, major changes are inevitable, according to Timmons.

“It’s scary to think that this will last too long,” he stated. “It won’t be good for anyone.��Ultimately, if it does happen and projects can’t start or, worse, get shut down, it will have a huge impact on everyone’s business.��No revenue equals no jobs.”

Meanwhile, local trade unions are restricting access to training centers and offices, and moving dispatch operations online. A large red banner across the top of the IBEW Local 48 website, for instance, states “In order to minimize personal contact and trying to follow CDC recommendations to limit the spread of the Coronavirus we ask that all members needing to conduct business with Local 48 try to do so through our website, telephone, email or texting.”

The statement goes on to ask any members laid off at this time to mail, fax or email their termination slips instead of submitting them in person. Members waiting for dispatch are being asked to use an online process instead of visiting the union hall in person.

Some companies are simply taking a wait-and-see approach and choosing not to speak out. Many of the firms contacted fall into this category.

“Sorry, on this one we have no comment,” Emerick Construction President Corey Lohman stated in an email.

Another aspect of construction that has been impacted significantly by office closures is permitting services. City halls and public buildings in the region have shut down because of the pandemic, including building and planning departments. The Portland Bureau of Development Services is just one that has enacted severe measures – including suspension of walk-in service for new permit applications.

The cities of Gresham and Hillsboro have closed their city halls through at least March 31 and are only conducting building-related business over the phone or online. In Beaverton, in-person services are closed until at least March 29, but building inspection appointments are apparently still being conducted. The situation is similar for smaller jurisdictions.

The most important thing is for people to keep cool and not panic, Salsgiver said, noting the AGC does not support a job site stoppage in Oregon or anywhere else.

“This is a thing we’re dealing with and we’re going to deal with it as directly and quickly and fully as we can,” he said. “At some point this will turn a corner and we’ll move back to normal. And my biggest concern is policy makers not take precipitous action that upends the channels of commerce or the economy, because most of our businesses are small businesses and anything that impacts cash flow is going to be a serious, serious concern of ours. We’re the public too.”

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Multiple school construction projects are under way in Vancouver, Washington, for Evergreen Public Schools. The district last year gained voters’ approval for a $695 million bond, and money is being put to work.

One of the projects under way is a replacement for Image Elementary School. General contractor Emerick Construction is building the school on a parcel of former farmland near the intersection of Northeast 131st Avenue and 52nd Street.

“It’s a really significantly different site,” Evergreen Public Schools spokeswoman Gail Spolar said. “It doesn’t have a school on it, but (crews) have had some interesting things to take care of (on the site) before they started constructing the new school.”

LSW Architects‘ design for the two-story, approximately 62,000-square-foot facility calls for use of mass-timber structural elements, including glulam beams and columns. Laminated veneer lumber will be used extensively in the framing.

An open interior design will allow for tall ceilings, large learning stairs and a media center. The gymnasium and family resource center will be isolated from the rest of the school to allow for public use.

Excavation and site work began in June.

“It’s a little challenging because we have the wetland that’s all part of it,” Emerick Construction project manager Alicia LaManna said. “So, the soil makeup underneath the site is quite interesting in how it’s been filled in over the decades of being a farmland. We had quite a lot of excavation that we had to do before we could even start the foundations.”

In addition to excavation, however, plenty of fill was required to level off the site before construction could take place. Fortunately, there was a ready supply available from excavation taking place for a new elementary school (not yet named) being built on Northeast 162nd Avenue between 39th and 43rd streets.

“The export from 22 – it was quality material,” said Dan Bodell, a project manager with R&C Management Group. “We also ended up taking dirt from underneath the building here and we were able to use it elsewhere on this site, and we went ahead and rearranged all of that. And then we brought this other material in to bring the whole site up.”

As a result, much of the site has been raised. Also, extensive groundwater required construction of a massive stormwater retention chamber on the east side of the site. Multiple temporary wells were used to pump out groundwater during excavation for the slab-on-grade foundation.

“Everything has been brought up four or five feet so that we weren’t down in the wet,” Bodell said. “And that goes back to all the engineering that goes into handling the rainwater – making sure we’re not flooding (adjacent residences) when the rains come because all of a sudden you have a hard surface here.”

After the new Image Elementary School opens (fall 2020 is the target date), the existing one – near the intersection of Northeast 122nd Avenue and 44th Street – will serve as a temporary facility on a rotating basis for other schools being replaced by new ones on their current properties.

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Evergreen Public Schools in Vancouver, Washington, is putting to work $695 million of bond money approved by voters in February 2018. Dozens of school buildings are being renovated or replaced; one of the first is Sifton Elementary School, in Northeast Vancouver.

General contractor Pence Construction is tackling the $38 million project to replace an existing school built in 1958. The new, two-story, 62,000-square-foot Sifton Elementary will be the first of multiple new schools produced from a prototype design by LSW Architects.

Construction crews broke ground in April. These days, large glulam structural members are being erected for the gymnasium and auditorium, and exterior and interior walls are being framed. Soon, other tradespeople will arrive on site to begin rough-in work, but right now framers are working to get the building roofed and dried in before weather becomes harsher.

Wood framing is being used for the new school.

“It was a judgment call that we made early on in the design process,” R&C Management Group senior project manager Dan Bodell said. “Two years ago, construction costs were going nuts. Now, it’s not the same month-to-month creep that was going on; it’s a little more like a three-percent-a-year kind of cost creep. But we had to think: What can we do in the bones of the building to save money? And that’s why we went to wood framing.”

Crews with Salem-based DSL Builders are framing interior walls away from the main building and using a crane to fly them into place.

“Everybody will do some level of pre-fabbing,” Bodell said. “But here it’s all being done on site. At PS 22 they’re framing them in place and standing them up – not building them 100 feet away and swinging them into place. It’s just about different styles.”

“PS 22” is a new school, not yet named, being built by general contractor Triplett Wellman Contractors on Northeast 162nd Avenue. Meanwhile, a replacement for the existing Image Elementary School is being built by Emerick Construction on Northeast 131st Avenue. All three project teams are expected to finish their work by summer 2020, in time for the facilities to open for the 2020-21 school year.

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The path to construction of a new Sifton Elementary School in Vancouver, Washington, actually started with a massive fire.

That 2013 blaze may have destroyed Crestline Elementary School, but the process to replace the building led Evergreen Public Schools officials to select a prototype by LSW Architects. The new school opened barely 18 months later and featured a design that could be used in the future.

Fast-forward to 2018, when voters approved a $695 million capital bond measure – a sizable amount of it for six new elementary schools. Naturally, officials referred to the Crestline project when beginning the new ones, including Sifton.

“It was great because we already had the prototypical design,” said Gail Spolar, communications director for the school district.

Pence Construction is serving as the construction manager and general contractor for the Sifton project, which was designed by LSW Architects. Also, R&C Management Group is handling project management duties.

The original Sifton Elementary School, at 7301 N.E. 137th Ave., was built in 1958 as a single-story structure largely with a slab-on-grade foundation and concrete masonry unit (CMU) walls. The replacement structure, with a different footprint on the same property, will feature wood framing over a slab-on-grade foundation. Exposed glulam beams will be used for both practical and aesthetic reasons.

“There are not a lot of exotics in the design itself,” R&C Management Group project manager Dan Bodell said. “There are some design concepts that are more about the teaching methods, but as far as the structure itself we have a one-story gym with administrative on the front and then a two-story classroom wing and the nice views of (Mount Hood).”

Although the Crestline design was the basis for the new Sifton facility, improvements have been made, according to Sue Steinbrenner, Evergreen Public Schools’ director of facilities.

“Our other prototype really had the media (center) self-contained within its own room,” she said. “So we put the libraries here front and center so you have to walk through it, which is ironically how a lot of our buildings from the 1970s are.

“It’s about being sensitive to noise issues and having spaces for the students to break out and choose how to interact,” she added. “The other big difference is splitting the commons from the gym so we can use the gym for after-hours activities and close down the academic wing and make it more about the community partnership.”

The new Sifton school will have a capacity of 550 students. A single-story wing will hold the gymnasium and administrative space, along with the media center and commons. A learning stair in the commons area will serve as the bridge to the two-story classroom wing. Outside, a playground area and a soccer field will be built.

The district’s bond program calls for construction to take place through 2025. Currently, three new elementary schools are being built: replacements for Sifton and Image, and a completely new one not yet named.

One advantage of using the same design prototype on those projects, Bodell said, is that representatives of the three general contractors involved – Pence Construction, Emerick Construction and Triplett Wellman Contractors – are meeting regularly to discuss progress and go over any possible hiccups.

“Sifton is a month ahead of the other two and these guys have the most learning curve,” Bodell said. “But they can pass that information on to others. We’re pretty happy – from the R&C standpoint, there’s been great support from the district.”

All three schools under construction are scheduled for delivery in time for the start of the 2020-21 school year.

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The total estimated cost for the North Clackamas School District project is $75 million. It’s being paid for with money from a $433 million bond approved by voters in 2016. The bond money is also paying for at least eight other major school renovations, plus conversion of the Clackamas High School East campus into a middle school.

Lease Crutcher Lewis has been hired to serve as general contractor for the Rock Creek Middle School conversion project, which was designed by Bora Architects.

Now, on work that includes mechanical, plumbing, electrical (including low-voltage) and fire sprinkler installation. Bidding is open through 2 p.m. on Oct. 26.

The work is currently in the design development stage, without fully defined costs. However, it is known that work will include construction of a new gymnasium building and a new performing arts building with a full-performance theater. There also will be a new, two-story classroom wing, addition of a second floor of classrooms on top of an existing classroom wing, renovation of some existing interior spaces and a complete site package – including a new sports stadium, bleachers, batting facility, parking lots and more.

At this time, Lease Crutcher Lewis intends to enter into contracts for preconstruction phase services only. There will be provisions for adding construction phase services at the general contractor’s discretion, with subcontractors required to accept a guaranteed maximum price.

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