When excavation work at Portland’s Block 40 this past fall turned up lead and other soil contaminants, progress slowed to a crawl. Substantial personal protective equipment was required for personnel on site and a decontamination container was installed for workers handling the tainted soil.

“In a weird way, we were kind of preparing for COVID-19,” Andersen Construction project manager Mike Carrigg said.

Andersen Construction is serving as the general contractor for the project to erect an eight-story mixed-use building for developer Alamo Manhattan.

“Like most of Portland, it seems, there’s all this dirt down there from dredging the Willamette (River) back in the 1920s,” Carrigg said. “It ended up having a high concentration of polycarbonates and lead, actually. That was fun, and we ended up having to dig it all out.”

Carrigg estimated that crews needed around a month to complete mitigation. But then it was full steam ahead.

“We were able to get rid of everything and have a clean bill of health,” he said. “The job’s going forward, and as you can see now we’re doing the concrete.”

Hensley Lamkin Rachel Inc. of Dallas, Texas, designed the 232-unit project located at 3838 S.W. Macadam Ave. A single-story, 37,000-square-foot warehouse that formerly served La Grand Industrial Supply Co. was removed from the 1.07-acre site prior to excavation.

The project also includes construction of a public plaza on the Southwest Lane Avenue right-of-way adjacent to the site’s north side.

Block 40 is part of a two-block development from Alamo Manhattan that received the Portland Design Commission’s approval in 2018. A seven-story, 190-unit mixed-use building is planned at 3714 S.W. Macadam Ave.

Earlier this month, crews from R2M2 Rebar and Stressing and ASI Structures completed monolithic slab-on-grade concrete pours for the Block 40 building’s foundation and footings, which sit one level below grade. Crews simultaneously assembled the shoring and tables for another post-tensioned concrete deck at ground level.

Because of the property’s steep grade, the building will feature eight stories on the east side and seven stories fronting Macadam Avenue on the west side. Each side will have five stories of wood framing atop the concrete decks.

The pandemic has had less of an impact on materials and workforce than it might have during later scopes of work, Carrigg said.

“We’re kind of in a fortunate time frame in that we’re not dealing with finishes right now,” he said.

Nevertheless, Andersen Construction is taking measures to account for potential delays.

“We did get these table forms early,” Carrigg said. “We’re using rented equipment from PERI, and some of their yards were closing a couple of weeks ago. We were like, ‘Let’s get the material here now so we have control over our own destiny.’ That’s been a big help. We’re saying, ‘Have a storage problem; don’t have a no-supply problem.’”

That’s a relief, he added, after losing another week trying to source adequate supplies of waterproofing materials for the foundation and parking-level walls.

“We’re still OK,” he said. “We’re still tracking schedule, but man, it makes you nervous.”

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The Portland Design Commission approved the renovation of the exterior landscaping and facade of the Oregon Convention Center by a 4-0 vote on Thursday.

“This is a really challenging design problem in part because of the building,” said Commission Charwoman Julie Livingston. “The convention Center is not timeless architecture. I think (the landscaping) plays really nicely into this installation.”

The changes are part of a $27 million, two-phase renovation project that aims to update the convention center both inside and out. Mayer/Reed and LMN Architects handled the design.

The first phase of the project will include a new arrival sequence and gathering space at the northeast corner of Northeast Holladay and Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. The improvements will include new landscape planters, seating and lighting. There will also be an event plaza and amphitheater seating added to the corner.

Changes to the facade of the building will include the removal of two existing ticketing windows, canopies and glass storefront along Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

“These were really designed for the selling of tickets on the exterior of the building as well as queuing of patrons as they move into the building,” said Wendy Pautz, principal at LMN Architects. “That is no longer the functional and operational way the convention center works.”

The renovations will also change the northeast entry plaza to improve mid-block crossing to a future hotel and parking garage on the north side of Northeast Holladay Street. Designers also plan to remove the ticketing window and canopy at the north leading edge of the expansion building. Smaller, more opaque canopies will be installed to help tie activities within the center to those in the plaza.

“There is no longer this need for low-scale canopies to protect queues,” said Pautz. “That offered the opportunities to actually create a civic gesture at the entries.”

While members of the Design Commission were highly complementary of the exterior changes overall, they had concerns about how the new landscaping at the center would blend with the hotel under construction to the north. Carol Mayer-Reed of Mayer/Reed said the differences between the buildings and surrounding landscaping was intentional.

“We want the buildings to bear some similarities, but they aren’t exactly twins,” said Mayer-Reed/ “We were intentional in not matching them, but there are some references between them.”

Another issue that caused some concern among members of the Design Commission was giving visitors a sense that the center was a place for all Oregonians and not just Portland residents.

“How does this become the Oregon Convention Center and not just the Portland Convention center?” asked Commissioner Don Vallaster.

Mayer-Reed said the diversity of the types of plants and typography found across the state made finding a central theme that could reference all parts of the state difficult. Instead, they aimed to represent the local area with their plant choice.

“There is an informality in our lifestyle,” said Mayer-Reed. “We wanted bring that kind of lifestyle and what we are as a people. We have a streak of independence about us. Everything doesn’t have to match.”

In the end, the Design Commission tacked two conditions onto its approval of the project, including requiring that a minimum of 70 percent of basalt elements used the center portion of the amphitheater must be vertical. .

“I think this has been very well done,” said Commissioner Samuel Rodriguez. “The design is very responsive (to earlier DAR comments).”

BLOCK 40 SOWA

The Portland Design Commission sent the Block 40 SOWA project at 3417 S.W. Macadam Ave. back for further revisions on Thursday. The project is bordered by Southwest Macadam Avenue to the west, Southwest Moody Avenue to the east, Southwest Gaines Street to the north and Southwest Abernathy Street to the south.

The Alamo Manhattan Properties project includes two buildings. Both buildings will have seven stories and stand 82 feet tall. The north structure will have a 3.55:1 FAR, and include 190 residential units and 4,373 feet of retail space. The south building will have a 3.94:1 FAR, 213 market rate apartments and 1,925 feet of retail space.

While Design Commission members acknowledged that the materials met guidelines, they felt the Hensley Lamkin Rachel Architects design of the structures needed work to fit within the context of surrounding neighborhood.

The project will return to the Design Commission on Feb. 1.

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R&H Construction is building a mixed-use apartment project in the South Waterfront for Dallas, TX-based developer Alamo Manhattan. The 199-unit building features five stories of wood framing over a concrete podium and a subgrade parking garage. The ground floor will contain 1,500 square feet of retail space and walk-up residential units. Dallas, TX-based Hensley Lamkin Rachel, Inc. designed the project, which is slated for turnover in March 2016.

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