A major Midwest industrial developer is looking to make its mark on the Portland-metro market with a speculative project in Hillsboro.

Scannell Properties plans to seek bids in the coming weeks for construction of a 126,000-square-foot industrial structure with a 32-foot clear height. Mackenzie is designing the project for Scannell, and CBRE will search for a tenant.

The developer, based in Indianapolis, saw opportunity in the Portland market after completing two build-to-suit projects in Salem, said Mohnish Narlanka, a Scannell senior development manager who oversees the company’s Pacific Northwest projects.

Scannell built approximately 1 million square feet of logistics space for Dollar General and 300,000 square feet for Gensco after approaching the city of Salem to forge a land agreement to develop an industrial park.

“That was kind of our first dive into the greater Portland market,” Narlanka said. “As we got some positive momentum in the region, our next mandate was let’s go find that speculative deal that we like and plant the flag.”

Narlanka said he’s not among those investors turned off by the “optics around downtown Portland.” The developer said his wife grew up in Beaverton, and he’s become familiar with the area.

“Yes, there are challenges for downtown Portland, but it’s not indicative of what’s going on in Clackamas or Hillsboro or these submarkets that are doing really well,” he said. “So, we’re going to continue to invest where there’s demand. Our broad thesis is the Portland area is an area where there’s durable demand.”

Scannell develops some $4 billion in industrial real estate annually, split between speculative and build-to-suit projects. The privately held developer has in-house construction managers, along with accounting and legal staff, and typically works with local architecture firms and contractors.

In Hillsboro, Scannell was encouraged by limited land availability and activity from Washington County users.

“What we really liked about Hillsboro is it’s kind of a captive demand audience where people want to be close to those they serve, whether that’s Intel or someone else,” Narlanka said.

The developer is investing in a market that has seen its share of ups and downs in recent years. A spate of speculative construction led to higher vacancy rates and softening rents in some submarkets.

In the second quarter, leasing activity grew 25 percent compared to a year earlier, and leasing was up 7 percent compared to the previous quarter. That led to net absorption of 508,147 square feet.

Vacancy rose as new projects opened with limited preleasing. “Despite these headwinds, demand for modern Class-A space remains strong in select submarkets, particularly the Sunset Corridor, where premium facilities command some of the market’s highest rental rates,” CBRE stated in the quarterly report it released last week.

Vacancy in the Sunset Corridor remained low at 4.2 percent, compared to the market average of 7.7 percent.

An undisclosed tenant signed the quarter’s largest lease at Prologis Park Clackamas for 304,000 square feet. Consolidated Supply Co., Nuna Baby Essentials and Ferguson Enterprises also signed major leases, according to CBRE.

The construction pipeline remains robust, with nearly 3.5 million square feet on the way. Developers have delivered 1.6 million square feet year to date in the Portland market.

Scannell will seek one or two tenants for the Hillsboro speculative project, Narlanka said. The development is located at Northeast Starr Boulevard and Meek Road in Hillsboro, just south of U.S. Route 26 and near a cluster of new construction, including an Amazon fulfillment center and data centers.

The warehouse “theoretically could demise into two suites,” Narlanka said. “Many users prefer (an) entire building.”

Scannell is in the final phases of permitting and expects to begin clearing and grading the site in late September, Narlanka said. The company expects a 10-month construction phase, with availability in summer 2027.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Mohnish Narlanka leads Scannell Properties’ West Coast projects. Narlanka is in charge of the Pacific Northwest for Scannell.

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PROJECT: Meadowlark Industrial Center

LOCATION: North Holladay Street and North Fourth Avenue, Cornelius

SIZE: 154,643 square feet

START DATE: June 2023

ANTICIPATED COMPLETION DATE: March 2024

COST: undisclosed

OWNER/DEVELOPER: AltaBird Investments (with a private investor)

BROKERAGE: Colliers International

GENERAL CONTRACTOR: Sierra Construction

ARCHITECT: MDG Architecture | Interiors

ENGINEERS: T.M. Rippey Consulting Engineers, WDY Inc.

OTHER ASSOCIATES/CONSULTANTS: First Forty Feet (planner)

PROJECT SIGNIFICANCE: Officials broke ground on the Meadowlark Industrial Center on June 16. More than $20 million is being invested to deliver the new building, which will hold manufacturing and warehouse space.

The project site is the last remaining available industrial parcel in Cornelius. Upon completion, the building will be able to accommodate up to four tenants; spaces will be for either lease or sale.

Features will include 32-foot clear height, 29 dock-high doors, two grade-level drive-in doors, 102 car parking spaces, and 3,000-amp electrical power service. The concrete, tilt-up building will include skylights to reduce dependence on electrical lighting. Also, a stormwater vault detection system under the truck court will filter on-site rainwater before it’s released into the regional stormwater system.

“After careful planning, consideration, and with a close working relationship with the city of Cornelius, we were thrilled to break ground and begin developing the Meadowlark Industrial Center,” AltaBird Investments principal and CEO Brendan Mason stated in a news release.

AltaBird Investments partnered with a private investor for this project and prioritized the use of local consultants for the work.

“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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Brandon Frank on office

If Portland’s office market were to name its golden child, the Pearl District would be it without question. With a broad base of tenants ranging from traditional law and accounting firms to creative tech startups, the Pearl District reigns supreme.

2014 saw a migration surge of tech companies escaping the oversaturated safe havens of San Francisco and Seattle, but it wasn’t just tech companies opting for Portland’s deep talent pool and comparatively low cost of living. Many different types of office users sought new space or expansion options this year. After all, the city’s lifeblood is Portland’s rare 24/7 vibrancy and at its epicenter is the Pearl District.

Whereas Portland on the whole balances urban luxury and rural sanctuary, the Pearl District is a concentration of culture. Its unique experiences have birthed the term ‘Pearl Envy’ in which other cities try to model their urban development upon the success found in the Pearl. As such, the Pearl District boasts the highest lease rates in the city as a lifestyle destination.

The proliferation of multifamily development is countered by new restaurants, fun specialty boutiques, and exciting arts and entertainment. Office tenants prefer the Pearl’s accessibility and seamless transition between family friendly parks, work and play. With easy transportation options and numerous bike lanes, the Pearl District is also attractive to a wide age spectrum spanning from young professionals to retirees.

As more people and businesses discover and flock to the Pearl, there is concern whether it can accommodate and sustain such robust growth. Though Portland’s office market is battling limited space options with low vacancy and higher rates, the Pearl District is also the target for the city’s newest development plans between housing projects, residential towers and mixed-use high-rises. This new development will ensure the Pearl’s future as a thriving capital of commerce and culture.

Scott MacLean on industrial

Between staggering amounts of speculative development proposals and new construction projects, Portland is experiencing a tremendous industrial growth spurt. Of course, it’s greatly needed as high demand currently outpaces the city’s supply. Yet, existing close-in industrial properties are also undergoing significant change. As traditional industrial users expand their presence with new development, close-in properties are now attractive and available to a new breed of modernized industrial tenant.

Technology has undoubtedly revolutionized manufacturing trades, refining processes and production to an art. Today’s industrial tenants are a combination of their predecessors with less unwieldy machines and more efficient equipment. As such, this tenant is oftentimes a creative office user too. With obvious competing wants and needs between industrial and office space usage, today’s industrial tenant requires the best of both worlds.

In the past few years, the perfect balance between industrial and office was discovered in flex space, and more specifically, renovated warehouses. Offering large blocks of contiguous, unadulterated space, renovated warehouses are an idyllic solution for tenants wanting build-to-suits. Warehouse space provides operable windows, loading docks, and useful freight elevators; all are ideal amenities for the ‘manufacturer-lite’ or tech startup. Additionally, multistory buildings can be retrofitted to downsize space for smaller businesses.

However, repurposing existing buildings for its large space options hasn’t just been the trend, but has become today’s standard. New industrial construction is now cognizant of this new type of tenant’s needs.

The most recent development of this kind is the six-story New York building – a clear game-changer as the first new high-rise industrial building in Portland in 60 years. With over 100,000 square feet of open floor space, the New York building proved that a spectrum of tenants is willing to pay more for the quintessential open industrial space, and that this is the expectation moving forward.

Jack Gallagher on retail

Portland’s retail market continued to show revitalized strength at the start of the holiday shopping season. This was primarily due to Portland’s affinity for local businesses and preference for lifestyle centers and specialty stores in enclosed malls.

Portland metro consumers are primarily staunch supporters of niche small businesses, which account for over 85 percent of all businesses in the city. The wild success of ‘Little Boxes.’ an iPhone app that encourages users to discover and shop the local retail scene, is evidence of Portland’s serious commitment to small businesses. According to the app’s data results, Little Boxes was credited for 4,200 visits at the 200+ participating stores on Black Friday and more than 1,600 subsequent purchases.

The trend of Little Boxes and similar retail apps is congruent with technology’s increasing influence on brick-and-mortar stores. Many retailers now provide free Wi-Fi and supplement in-store experiences with staggering online inventories and delivery options, catering beyond the consumer’s initial need. These centers, such as Bridgeport Village and Nyberg Rivers’ 100,000-square-foot Cabela’s, have become shopping destinations. In addition, the November opening of Grant Park Village – an apartment complex anchored by the new 34,500-square-foot New Seasons Market – highlights the growing demand for urban lifestyle centers.

Due to their ultimate urban convenience, lifestyle centers are expected to increase significantly. In order to compete with this trend, existing shopping centers must be strategic with their tenant placement. Clackamas Town Center’s recent 36,000-square-foot addition of Dave and Buster’s is a direct result of strategic tenant selection. After all, well-selected, active tenants drive customer traffic and sales, which will ultimately drive rents. As this type of development continues in 2015, the retail market can expect landlords becoming more focused on their tenant selection.

Brandon Frank specializes in the leasing and sales of office properties throughout the Portland metropolitan area at NAI Norris, Beggs & Simpson, a real estate brokerage and asset/property management company. Contact him at 503-273-0358 or bfrank@nai-nbs.com.

Scott MacLean specializes in the leasing and sales of industrial properties throughout the Portland metropolitan area at NAI Norris, Beggs & Simpson, a real estate brokerage and asset/property management company. Contact him at 503-273-0321 or smaclean@nai-nbs.com.

Jack Gallagher specializes in the leasing and sales of retail properties throughout the Portland metropolitan area at NAI Norris, Beggs & Simpson, a real estate brokerage and asset/property management company. Contact him at 503-273-0327 or jgallagher@nai-nbs.com.

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Business is going gangbusters for Eugene-based

In the past five years, its payroll has grown by about 60 people to 74 and its revenue has grown by 1,000 percent, CEO Tony Bloom said. Last month, the company expanded into the Portland-metro area by taking over a 20,000-square-foot warehouse in Vancouver, Wash.

Mohawk Metal’s story is becoming a familiar one for Portland-area brokers, who say growth in the manufacturing industry is beginning to translate into real estate activity. But observers question whether that activity will continue as Europe continues to suffer economically.

Mohawk Metal provides metal fabrication services for multiple industries, including construction, energy, manufacturing, recycling and shipping. About a year ago, the company put a couple of salespeople in the Portland-Vancouver market and its backlog in the area went from 10 percent to 35 percent. The company began sending four to five truckloads of product to Portland each week.

“We’ve created a very dynamic manufacturing process that allows us to react to needs that a lot of the competitors have not been able to react to,” Bloom said. “We have some larger customers say, ‘We need 7,000 parts and we need to have them in the next 48 hours,’ and I’ve personally put them in a truck and delivered them.”

Mohawk Metal found a Vancouver warehouse, at 3825 N.E. 68th St., that was already set up as a fabrication shop. It began moving in and announced its plans to hire 20 people before the end of the year. Bloom expects to lease another 40,000 square feet within the next 24 months.

John Ruby, an industrial broker at , said that approximately 70 percent of the transactions he has facilitated this year have been for businesses with some sort of manufacturing aspect. He thinks that trend is indicative of situations where lean practices have simply run out of room.

“We’re kind of at a point now where people are just experiencing growth and they need to finally take action,” Ruby said. “Everyone has been being smart and doing the lean manufacturing and lean distribution, and there’s a point where you can only do that for so long and you have to think about expanding and creating some operational efficiency.”

Employment in the manufacturing sector has been slow and steady. State economist Mark McMullen said that since hitting a low in November 2009, manufacturing employment has increased by 10,000 jobs statewide to 172,000 today.

He added that any growth in manufacturing is something to crow about. That’s because manufacturing jobs typically provide family-wage salaries, don’t require college degrees and tend to increase opportunities for ancillary manufacturers, transporters and warehousers.

That theory appears to be holding water. According to Colliers’ third-quarter industrial report, the Portland market recorded its ninth consecutive quarter of positive absorption – with businesses taking up 140,339 additional square feet.

The delivery of 381,975 square feet of new industrial product, however, outpaced absorption; the industrial vacancy rate rose 13 basis points to 6.9 percent. In Clark County, vacancy actually fell 72 basis points to 3.9 percent, but Brad Bibble, a research analyst at Colliers, said much of that was because of Farwest Steel opening its $40 million, 336,452-square-foot manufacturing facility at the Port of Vancouver.

But Portland’s third quarter absorption equaled only 17 percent of the 820,056 square feet absorbed during the second quarter, and McMullen warned that new orders and planned shipments have slowed recently because of Europe’s economic troubles. Though most of Oregon’s exports go to China, McMullen said that China in turn sends what it buys to Europe.

“It’s never a good time to be a manufacturer in a global recession,” McMullen said. “It’s very scary right now, but in terms of the pricing environment, they’re in pretty good shape as long as demand stays up.”

Meanwhile, Bloom is marching ahead with an aggressive growth plan that Mohawk Metal launched five years ago. He said the company has diversified its services to better respond to changing demands. Five years ago, Mohawk Metal had just 15 customers; today, it has 250.

The company recently invested $1 million in a laser cutter, which will help streamline production. It’s also stepping up production of prefabricated steel bridges for construction projects.

Bloom thinks Mohawk Metal’s culture will ultimately help it ride the changing tide.

“Everybody is hungry and aggressive and willing to do whatever is needed,” he said. “It’s really the culture of the business and the culture of the people that really have been the key to success.”

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Officials from Douglas and Lane counties want more land set aside for industry.

They made their case this week at a meeting of the Economic Recovery Review Council in Salem. Council members have the authority to reserve between five and 15 industrial areas as “regionally significant” by the middle of next year.

Land zoned Regionally Significant Industrial cannot be divided into smaller parcels for office or commercial developments. Industries eyeing the land also have a streamlined process for getting permits.

Lane County officials recommended 317 acres of industrial land in Goshen, an unincorporated area south of Eugene. Douglas County officials recommended three properties near Sutherlin and Roseburg.

Officials from both counties said the properties were selected because of nearby roads and railways as well as their proximity to towns where residents need jobs.

Council members made no decision but discussed the possibility of meeting again next week.

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Visible from miles away because of its freshly painted, yellow water tower, the building at 2181 N.W. Nicolai St. may be the beacon of a new chapter in the development of the industrial area.

The ongoing transformation of the industrial warehouse into a creative workspace and upscale showroom is an early sign of a changing neighborhood, likened by many people to the Pearl District of a decade ago.

The four-story, red brick warehouse with more than 100,000 square feet was built in 1910 to store steel being produced at a rolling mill next door. Developer Brian Faherty purchased the vacant building last year. He has since applied a decidedly modern touch to the industrial facility and the surrounding neighborhood.

Faherty’s recently closed its much smaller location on Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and opened the new showroom, headquarters and manufacturing facility in the partially renovated warehouse.

“A lot of businesses are really hurting right now, and not many people are really taking chances like this,” Faherty said.

, a small letterpress company, is operating on the building’s third floor, and locally-owned is setting up its third Portland shop at the entrance of the 101-year-old warehouse, creating an enclave of like-minded business owners.

“It’s a building based on people making things here, on-site,” said Din Johnson, owner of Ristretto. “There are going to be so many cool things going on in this area. It reminds me of how the Pearl was before it was “the Pearl” – when it was just breweries and still kind of blue collar. It’s like going back in time a little bit.”

Scott MacLean, senior vice president of , views the building as the gateway between the expanding Pearl District and the still heavily industrial area to the south.

“(Flaherty) has his foot in both areas,” MacLean said. “They are on the boundary of an area that is starting to become more creative companies and showroom-type uses.”

Renovations are intentionally following a meandering path. Rather than a top-down makeover, Faherty worked with Keith Shradar and Scott Davidson of Accelerated Development LLC, the design arm of , to examine the historic building. Now, materials are being salvaged and repurposed for use on the 7,500-square-foot Schoolhouse Electric retail floor, as well as the adjoining Ristretto space.

As they pulled out steel plates, tongue-and-groove Douglas fir and various fixtures from the old spaces, eight workers set up what Shradar called “ever-evolving, makeshift shops.” Many of the materials were reworked into counter accents, dividers, shelving and other finishes throughout the ground floor.

The on-site work and the project team’s multimodal handiwork kept costs relatively low. Faherty chose not to reveal how much he has invested so far, but Nancy Rommelmann, Ristretto’s business manager and Johnson’s wife, said their investment in the new espresso bar was $150,000.

“That’s not even close to what you’d pay for something that would open in the Pearl,” Shradar said. “But we didn’t cut corners to meet that budget; we just cut ourselves to the bone.”

The team also ripped out the remnants of several mid-century renovations, including drop-ceilings and several layers of tile flooring, to restore much of the building’s historic character.

Although the upper three floors are still largely empty and unfinished, small zones of activity exist. Some Schoolhouse Electric employees work on a small assembly line on the second floor. Others are behind computer screens in a small design studio. A photographer is set up in an otherwise dark and drafty space, taking shots for the company’s successful catalog.

Future design and construction plans are still up in the air, but Faherty said the goal is for Schoolhouse Electric to continue to grow and eventually occupy the entire building. If that doesn’t happen, however, Faherty said he will look for other tenants that will contribute to his vision for the building and his business. Furniture maker , for instance, has set up a woodworking shop in the warehouse, and builds dining tables and desks for Schoolhouse Electric’s expanding line of craftsman goods.

“This building is not a financial instrument for me,” Faherty said. “I have a lot of other investment properties, but here I’m looking to get a synergistic mix of small companies. This is a collective of small businesses coming together under one roof, bringing forth craft production and micro-manufacturing. No one is doing that. If you’re trying to employ American manufacturers, this is how it starts again.”

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An industrial warehouse in Portland’s central east side has been used for dead storage since 2008. But as property rates in the up-and-coming neighborhood continue to rise, it’s becoming expensive dead storage.

Now the owner of the property has put it on the market. The asking price is $1.6 million.

The property, at 628-630 S.E. Belmont St., is more than 90 years old and until recently had operated as a manufacturing and shipping space. But because of a changing neighborhood dynamic – and rising property taxes – the building now is in position to cater to more creative uses.

The building was constructed in 1919 and has evidence of areas where horse-drawn carriages could enter and park. A space for an overhead crane is one of the few remaining clues to the building’s past.

Ownership of the building has transferred between a number of industrial businesses, including gas distributer Airgas, which installed several docks and other amenities for shipping. Airgas sold the building to investors in 2003.

The building was sold again in 2008 to Steve Holmes, who owns Portland Direct Tile and Marble. The area is a hotbed for home remodeling businesses, and Holmes wanted to open showroom locations both there and in Northwest Portland on Yeon Avenue.

Holmes opened the Yeon Avenue location, but the other one never got off the ground; business slowed when the economy tanked, he said. “Storage isn’t a premium use for the building,” he acknowledged.

The building is on what broker Andrew Bean of Norris & Stevens calls a “significant corner” of Southeast Belmont Street and Seventh Avenue. It’s near Grand Central Bowling, the Oregon Ballet Theatre, and several shops, bars and restaurants. Bean says the building, which is zoned for general industrial use, could be redeveloped into a creative space, possibly as a manufacturing space with a showroom.

The market value for the 10,000-square-foot property is $834,000.

For details on purchasing the Central Eastside Portland Building, contact Bean at 503-223-3171 or andrewb@norris-stevens.com.

Block by Block is a weekly look at commercial real estate around Portland. Send suggestions for properties to BlockxBlock@djcOregon.com.

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The Port of Portland is feeling fortunate: A proposed development of two natural gas plants may be ideal for a 38.4-acre lot the port owns at the Troutdale Reynolds Industrial Park.

The deal is far from solid, but the Troutdale Energy Center would represent an investment of $800 million to $850 million. The proposal also is a good fit for the site, which has existing infrastructure and wetlands that limit a building’s potential footprint.

, a New York-based owner and developer of gas-fired energy generation facilities, announced its plans for the site late last week. The natural gas plants would fill a need identified by in an Integrated Resource Plan approved recently by the Public Utility Commission of Oregon. PGE is expected to issue a request for proposals for a developer to build the two plants early next year.

The utility expects to need both a base-load facility to run regularly and a flexible-resource facility to run only when needed, PGE spokesman Steve Corson said. The latter one would provide energy when irregular resources, like wind or hydropower, fail to meet demand.

PGE is planning to submit its own proposals to the RFP, which will be reviewed both by the utility and an independent evaluator assigned by the utility commission.

Development Partners Director Bob Howard believes his company’s proposal will be more cost-effective and efficient than the one planned by PGE. The lot, called lot 3, includes existing electric and gas infrastructure left from the site’s former use as a Reynolds aluminum plant. Other nearby resources will add to efficiency, Howard said; a wastewater treatment plant, for example, can be used for cooling.

Also, transmission resources for the Bonneville Power Administration, PacifiCorp and PGE exist nearby.

“There’s not a lot of generation in that area, but there’s a significant amount of transmission there,” Howard said.

The existence of a large natural gas pipeline nearby also will lower costs, Howard said.

For the Port of Portland, the fit could barely be better.

“The nearby assets might be viewed as a negative by some, but it’s an asset for this center,” port spokesman Josh Thomas said. “From the port’s perspective, (the center) fits exceptionally well within the existing site constraints.”

One of those constraints is the location of protected wetlands, which will limit construction to only about a third of the 38.4-acre lot. That won’t be a problem for the Troutdale Energy Center, Howard said.

Development Partners is working with on the project, and Howard expects that firm to serve as the general contractor. He said that according to the firm’s “back-of-the-envelope” calculations, the project would create 500 construction jobs and approximately 30 permanent jobs at the facility.

If the procurement process works out as Development Partners hopes it will, construction would start in 2013 and both plants would be up and running in 2015.

Troutdale Mayor Jim Kight said that the proposed deal is “bittersweet.” The potential for full-time jobs is a major benefit, he said. But under the state Strategic Investment Program, the plants would be exempt from property taxes for 15 years, which would mean less revenue for Troutdale in the short term. The environmental impact also raises questions, Kight said.

“City Council will be looking at the project and the balance between the economic piece and livability of the community,” he said.

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When the Port of Portland Commission voted Wednesday to purchase 222 acres of land in Gresham to develop for industrial uses, Gresham wasn’t the only city lobbying for the $26.5-million deal. Troutdale Mayor Jim Kight also came to the meeting to show his support for the deal.

Kight said he was there to support the Gresham purchase to promote more employment opportunities in east Multnomah County — and also to relate the success that Troutdale has seen with its own port-developed industrial land at the Troutdale Reynolds Industrial Park.

With both developments, the port aims to supply large lots of industrial land that is lacking in the region.

“There’s very few large parcels left in the three-county area; and that why the port wanted to make this purchase — a pretty bold one, frankly — of this property,” Kight said.

Kight said the development is doing good things for Troutdale, helping the city towards the goal of having more local jobs, instead of being a “bedroom community.”

The port recently announced it is continuing development into phase 2 of the Troutdale Reynolds Industrial Park. Phase two will develop nine lots on the 180-acre site. The first two phase 2 lots will be available by December 2014, according to Port of Portland spokesman Josh Thomas.

The Troutdale property is already home to the FedEx regional distribution hub, and its $129 million, 441,000-square-foot building. The FedEx building is on a lot that was developed in phase 1 of the industrial park project, along with two other lots, which are still unoccupied.

Kight hopes that the Fed Ex development will bring more tenants to the property.

“We’ve heard that where a FedEx is built, other hubs are built out within five years,” Kight said. “If you have a business dependent on a product getting to a customer, it’s a great advantage to have a (FedEx) regional hub right down the street.”

Thomas said the port has been fielding interest on two of the lots at the Troutdale site.

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The Energy Efficiency Center at Oregon State University has conducted energy assessments of industrial sites for 25 years and will soon double its efforts thanks to a five-year, $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy.

The program trains students in energy-efficient technologies while also helping companies save an average of $70,000 or more per year, according to Joe Junker, director of the Energy Efficiency Center. Teams of students and faculty have visited more than 500 manufacturers – everything from plywood plants and lumber yards to dairies and asphalt factories – to identify opportunities for increased productivity and reduced waste streams.

In a typical industrial assessment, a team of faculty and students will tour a facility and identify possible new efficiencies and energy savings, such as improved lighting, reduced leaks or more efficient use of fuel.

“A lot of plants have been getting better over last five or 10 years, but compressed air systems are historically an area where a lot of energy can be saved,” Junker said. “We take our blinders off when we’re in any facility, primarily to identify any energy efficiency opportunity.”

Comprehensive reports help companies make investments that pay for themselves quickly and then save money on a continual basis.

“The thing I’m most excited about the new DOE grant is that it puts more emphasis on the value of training engineering students, so we can put more resources into building new educational resources,” Junker said.

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