A Portland woman alleges a Lorentz Bruun Construction employee earlier this month demanded she move the van in which she was living, or else her “life is gonna get real bad.”

Lynn Burch, who is homeless, filed a lawsuit against Lorentz Bruun in Multnomah County Circuit Court on Feb. 11. In the complaint, she alleges that on the afternoon of Feb. 5 a man approached her van parked in Southeast Portland. The man, who Burch noted was wearing a hat and jacket that both said “Lorentz Bruun,” began recording a video and harassing her for 15 minutes in an attempt to get her to move her van, which was parked legally on a public street.

“I’m warning you, if you don’t go your life is gonna be (expletive),” the employee reportedly told Burch, according to the lawsuit. “My boss is gonna (expletive) you up.”

The employee told Burch that he was sent to her van as part of his job duties to clear the area for an upcoming construction project, the lawsuit stated.

In a statement from Lorentz Bruun, provided by its public relations firm Gallen.Neilly.Amaral, the company states it has concluded an internal investigation into the incident outside of its offices on Feb. 5.

“The employee, who was not acting on behalf of management, has agreed to participate in company-sponsored conflict resolution and sensitivity training,” Lorentz Bruun stated. “We are proud to support local organizations focused on homelessness, equality and inclusivity and the behavior exhibited by the employee is not in any way a reflection of our values as a company.”

Burch’s complaint alleges that the employee acted in an official capacity for his employer and the company is therefore liable for the employee’s behavior.

“(It’s) my job that I’m being told to give you a warning: If you don’t go, your life is gonna get real bad,” the employee stated in a video captured by Burch at the time of the incident and shared by her attorney, Michael Fuller, on Twitter.

“As a direct result of defendant’s ongoing and intentional harassment and obscene threats,” the lawsuit stated, “Ms. Burch felt bullied, fearful, discouraged, and other bad feelings that no human should be made to experience, no matter their status in society.”

Burch is suing Lorentz Bruun for invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress. She is seeking an injunction prohibiting Lorentz Bruun “from continuing the harassment and obscene threats giving rise to this complaint,” as well as $1 in damages.

“These are tough times for everyone, and the way she was treated was unacceptable,” Fuller said.

The post Homeless woman sues Lorentz Bruun for invasion of privacy, emotional distress appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

The length of the stairs leading up to a new TriMet pedestrian bridge in Southeast Portland ultimately helped shape its design.

Initial plans for the $3.9 million Lafayette Street pedestrian and bicyclist crossing over railroad tracks to provide access to the future Rhine Street/Southeast 17th Avenue orange line light-rail station called for a taller bridge than the one being built. But the set of stairs up to it would have to zigzag with obstructed landings that could potentially attract crime, said Christopher Pitt, a structural engineer with KPFF Consulting Engineers. This concerned TriMet officials working together with KPFF on the bridge design, he said.

“They care a lot about security and safety (and) looking at sightlines,” he said. “That’s something that TriMet focuses on a lot in the design process.”

Pitt and other KPFF staffers proposed an alternative. Instead of a precast concrete girder bridge, a truss bridge with a lower deck could be accessed via a shorter, straight set of stairs.

“We started looking at alternatives and we thought a steel truss would just bring it as low as possible,” Pitt said. “With steel truss, you can put the walking surface to the bottom of the structure. That shortened the stair length. We can have pretty much straight stair runs. You’ll see where you’re going the whole time.”

Lorentz Bruun Construction crews this past fall started building the 184-foot-long steel truss bridge. Last week, a project milestone was reached when crews used a crane to lower in place the approximately 50-ton span onto two 47-foot-tall steel-framed elevator towers that double as bridge supports on either end of the railroad tracks.

The new Lafayette Street crossing will fill the void left after demolition this past summer of a deteriorating span built in the 1940s to provide access over Union Pacific Railroad tracks. That bridge, owned by Union Pacific, was “functionally obsolete,” Pitt said.

Union Pacific and TriMet are sharing the cost of the replacement project. TriMet will own and maintain the new bridge, which will cross between Southeast Rhine and Lafayette streets to line up with a signaled crosswalk leading to the new MAX orange line station.

The project is part of TriMet’s larger $1.49 billion effort to create the 7.3-mile Portland-to-Milwaukie orange line, which is slated to open in September 2015. The project includes $65 million in improvements to maximize access by pedestrians and bicyclists to light-rail stations.

Besides a shorter stair length, project engineers concluded that a steel truss bridge would have other advantages over a concrete girder span, said Leah Robbins, TriMet civil engineer and east segment director for the Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail Transit Project. A truss structure fit better into the tight space available for the bridge, and that type of span was easier to transport and install with minimal impacts on the active rail lines below, she said.

Safe passage across the bridge for both pedestrians and bicyclists was the top consideration in the design, Robbins said. The bridge will have clear glass elevator cabs for added visibility, closed-circuit cameras and ample lighting. The design team also reviewed bridge plans with TriMet security officials.

“It was (a) struggle to get the precise alignment of the stairway, elevator access and the span direction so there was good visibility for pedestrians at all levels … so they’re not entering an unanticipated area,” Robbins said.

Bicyclists will be better served by the new bridge than the old one, Pitt said. The deck width will be 12 feet – twice the width of its predecessor. Also, the bridge stair width will be 8 feet – up from 2 feet – and have tire gutters for walking bicycles up and down. The elevators will be larger to accommodate bicycles with trailers and have doors on either side so bicyclists won’t have to turn around or back out to exit.

Both the bridge and the elevator towers are being built primarily with raw steel that will weather over time to gain a deep rust color, Pitt said. This weathering will form a protective layer around the steel, eliminating the expense of paint and paying homage to the industrial setting, he said.

“When you can make (weathering steel) work, it’s very economical,” he said. “It kind of has a nice aesthetic to it.”

The new bridge is close to Pitt’s home, and he said he’s looking forward to visiting the crossing when it’s complete next summer. It won’t be part of his regular bike commute, but will come in handy if a train happens to go by.

“I’m certainly going to go down there and take my daughter,” Pitt said. “This way you can get across whether or not there’s a train.”

Lafayette Street pedestrian bridge

Location: near Southeast 17th Avenue/Rhine Street station for future MAX orange line

Cost: $3.9 million

Construction start date: October 2014

Anticipated completion date: summer 2015

Owner: TriMet

Architect: Merryman Barnes Architects

Design engineer: KPFF Consulting Engineers

Mechanical engineer: Interface Engineering

Electrical engineer: LTK Engineering Services

General contractor: Stacy and Witbeck Inc.

Subcontractor: Lorentz Bruun Construction

Steel fabricator: Fought & Co.

Bridge truss erector: REFA Erection Inc.

The post Stairs to better bridge design appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

The Parker, a 177-unit high-rise apartment complex that will open Monday in Portland’s Pearl District, is living up to its name by providing its tenants ample parking in an area where it’s scarce.

Developer and owner Robert Ball said he was able to nearly double parking capacity at The Parker via a . Tenants can park their vehicles in an underground garage, exit them, and, with the push of a button, watch them descend beneath the floor of the parking garage.

“Portland is having an issue of so many neighborhoods getting clogged with too many cars,” Ball said. “The stacked parking means we have 92 percent of our tenants parked.”

The underground parking garage offers 165 spaces; that’s one for nearly every unit in the building.

“In a lot of buildings architects recommend providing enough parking spaces for 60 to 70 percent of the unit count because so many people ride bikes in Portland,” Ball said. “But we wanted to do something different.”

Ed Underwood, who works for Portland-based Lorentz Bruun Construction, was the project superintendent for The Parker. He said this is the first site he’s worked on where stacked parking is used to increase capacity.

“The parking in the Pearl District is terrible and getting worse as the amount of construction increases,” he said. “This is a great way to increase capacity.”

Underwood explained that cars are lowered about seven feet into a recessed pit underneath the main floor of the parking garage using a hydraulic car lift.

“It’s the same type of car lift as when you take your car to the shop or to get new tires,” he said.

Erik Bruun of Lorentz Bruun Construction said in an interview with the 91��Ƶ earlier this month that the firm has installed other stacked parking systems in Portland apartment buildings, but that most hold about 20 or 30 cars. He thinks The Parker’s stacked parking garage is the largest in the Pacific Northwest.

“Obviously neighbors aren’t excited about projects without parking,” he said. “This is a cost-effective way without having to do standard parking.”

Ball said earlier this week that approximately 40 units were rented. He thinks the stacked parking feature has drawn tenants.

“It’s been great because it’s been a construction zone down here,” he said. “People haven’t even been able to see what the lobby will look like.”

Monday’s opening party for The Parker, at 1447 N.W. 12th Ave., is set for 5 to 9 p.m. At 7:29 p.m., the exact moment of the autumn equinox, fires will be lit in the lobby fireplace and the courtyard’s fire pit, Ball said.

In addition to being the first day of fall, Monday also is the one-year anniversary of the homecoming of Ball’s son, Parker, who spent 80 days in the hospital following his premature birth. Parker’s twin brother, Wyatt, died about six weeks after his birth. Embedded in the facade of The Parker are letters representing several members of Ball’s family. The letter ‘w’ is one, placed as a tribute to Wyatt.

“When you ask about challenges during this project, going through that was a big part of it,” Ball said. “It’s been a growing experience that’s taught us that we can suffer through difficult times and still find something positive in it.”

In addition to naming the new building after his son, Ball said he added other personal touches. For example, LED lights placed high on the building turn on at night.

“They’ll usually be white,” he said. “But they can change colors for holidays ­– say green and red for Christmas, blue for Hanukkah, or pink at Easter – or on important game days.”

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All it took was one walk through a building on Southeast Yamhill Street to convince Bridgid Blackburn that she had found the new home for Cargo, the Portland-based direct import business she and business partner Patty Merrill co-own.

The building, which had previously housed an office furniture wholesale company, was rough in spots. Thick layers of paint covered fat beams. Transom windows were covered. But Blackburn, who has a background in interior design, and Merrill could see the potential.

In the time since, the paint has been removed to reveal the character of the old-growth wood beams as well as the floor. Natural light now streams into the basement. An elevator has been added; a stairway has been widened. During the next few weeks, finishing touches will be set in place to prepare the building to open Oct. 1 as the new home of Cargo.

The direct import business will fill the basement and main floor. The ground-level floor also contains a 650-square-foot micro-retail space that will serve as a new location for Kure Juice Bar. The building’s upper level has been turned into approximately 10,000 square feet of office space with its own entrance.

Cargo’s move to the Central Eastside area is a return to its original roots, Blackburn said. Although Cargo originally opened on Portland’s eastside, it relocated to the Pearl District approximately 17 years ago, when that area was less polish and more grit. Huge warehouse spaces could be rented on the cheap. The eclectic feel of the neighborhood was a perfect fit for Cargo’s unique mix of imports that range from 19th century Burmese altars to vintage puppets from Indonesia.

Over the years, development has transformed the Pearl into a mix of in-demand retail and residential space, and rents for renovated old warehouses have climbed, Blackburn said. So as the lease for Cargo’s building on Southwest 13th Street neared an end, Blackburn and Merrill decided to look for a new location.

“As we realized the (Pearl) rents wouldn’t be what they were when we first signed, we started looking around,” Blackburn said.

The business partners set their sights on the Central Eastside Industrial District, and contacted Brad and Jonathan Malsin, the father-son team behind Beam Development. In light of the organic way that the eastside area has grown in recent years, Jonathan Malsin felt it was the right fit for Cargo.

“…There’s a great legacy of distribution and production (in that area),” he said. “(Merrill and Blackburn) are direct importers and they do some production on the furniture side, so they’re perfect for the neighborhood.”

The search for a space eventually led to Urban Works Real Estate‘s Craig Sweitzer and the Southeast Yamhill building.

“On the first walk-through, I said sign me up,” Blackburn said. “The rawness of the space was appealing. The ceiling height was amazing; the wood structure was incredible. The basement was beautiful – all those transom windows.”

While the building had potential, it also presented some challenges that became apparent once the project’s general contractor, Lorentz Bruun Construction, began work on Works Partnership Architecture‘s design for the renovation.

“With these old buildings, there’s always something,” Schweitzer said.

In the case of the Cargo building that something was an existing footing.

“We found a giant footing, one much bigger than we thought it would be, and it was down below the water level,” Lorentz Bruun’s Erik Bruun said. “We exploded (it) and installed a new, larger footing that was incorporated into the new elevator pit.”

Another unexpected project twist, at least for Sweitzer, was the level of interest in the micro-retail space.

“We were surprised at how many people wanted it,” he said. “We had several people ask about it on a daily basis.”

Part of the interest can be attributed to the quality of the tiny space, which Sweitzer describes as “a perfect, small square of glass.” But he also thinks it is a sign that there’s not enough retail space to meet a demand that doesn’t show signs of flagging in a neighborhood that has found a balance between robust daytime activity and a healthy night life.

“I think the retailers we were talking to have a strong desire to be there,” Sweitzer said.

“You can’t fake this type of urban development, and I think that’s why people are drawn to it,” he added. “This is organic development where you get different ideas and visions coming together.

A search for tenants for the top-level office space will start once Cargo moves into the building, Sweitzer said.

Cargo’s new location is larger than its previous one, which will allow Merrill and Blackburn to add a wholesale component to the business. Cargo’s customers also will gain an unexpected benefit from the relocation.

“This (has allowed us) to … lower our overhead,” Blackburn said, “and that savings will be passed on.”

The Cargo Building

Location: 81 S.E. Yamhill St.

Owners: Cargo, Beam Development, Craig Sweitzer

Developer: Beam Development

Leasing: Urban Works Real Estate

Architect: Works Partnership Architecture

General contractor: Lorentz Bruun Construction

Structural engineer: Butler Consulting

The post A project to move Cargo appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

Designs for two renovations near each other in Portland’s Central Eastside will stay true to the district’s historic industrial character, but also let tenants show how they work.

Portland-based distiller House Spirits Distillery and tea company Steven Smith Teamaker recently signed leases with Harsch Investment Properties for space on property formerly occupied by building materials supplier Dealers Supply Co.

Architecture and engineering firm Mackenzie is designing the two tenant improvements. For House Spirits Distillery, Portland firm Laurence Ferar & Associates is designing the interior improvements. The designs reflect the property’s past industrial use, but also the desires of House Spirits Distillery and Steven Smith Teamaker for transparency, Mackenzie associate principal Dietrich Wieland said. The public will be able to view both companies’ manufacturing operations and visit tasting rooms to learn more about the production of tea or spirits.

“I think there is a sense of craft and artisanship,” Wieland said. “A lot of these (industrial) users have more of a connection to the public as this area becomes more walkable.”

House Spirits Distillery in February 2015 will move into a nearly 14,000-square-foot former storage shed at 68 S.E. Stark St. About a block away, Steven Smith Teamaker starting in November will occupy a 27,600-square-foot space in two attached buildings at 110 S.E. Washington St.

Both companies have outgrown their current locations and sought more space to house administrative offices, manufacturing operations and retail tasting rooms. House Spirits Distillery will move from its current location on Southeast Seventh Avenue; however, Steven Smith Teamaker will continue to operate its Northwest Thurman Street location after expanding into the Central Eastside.

The district had immediate appeal for a second location, said Steven Smith, founder of the tea maker.

“We wanted something a little on the grittier side – a location where we could manufacture and do distribution from,” he said. “I like the energy in the inner southeast … It’s so vibrant right now and I expect it to continue to be that way.”

The tenant improvements buck a trend of converting the Central Eastside’s industrial buildings into creative office space, Wieland said.

“I think here’s a good example of two (industrial) users who are trying to move deeper into the Central Eastside,” he said. “They see this as a growing district. It’s kind of fun to have something that’s fitting to what the district was originally intended for. There’s definitely a push still for creative office, but we’re also working with users who are more industrial.”

Plans for the House Spirits Distillery renovation involve adding a fourth wall to a three-sided metal storage shed, and installing insulation, mechanical and electrical systems, Wieland said.

“It’s been an interesting challenge to take a shed and convert and turn it into a functional building,” he said.

The building will have translucent acrylic panels on the facade that will make it glow at night and glass roll-up doors to lend a sense of openness to the operations happening inside, Wieland said.

“We wanted to liven it up, brighten it up and make it feel more inviting to the public than a traditional manufacturing building,” he said.

For similar reasons, metal roll-up doors will be replaced with glass ones on the industrial building that will become Steven Smith Teamaker’s new Central Eastside location. A large window behind the tea tasting room bar will allow visitors to see tea being manufactured, Smith said.

“It’s an open kitchen environment that allows people to see what’s happening with their product,” he said. “It adds to the authenticity of what it is we do.”

House Spirits Distillery tenant improvement

Location: 68 S.E. Stark St.

Construction start date: September

Anticipated completion date: February 2015

Owner: Harsch Investment Properties

Architect for core, shell and exterior: Mackenzie

Architect for interior: Laurence Ferar & Associates

General contractor: Lorentz Bruun Construction

Steven Smith Teamaker tenant improvement

Location: 110 S.E. Washington St.

Construction start date: August

Anticipated completion date: November

Owner: Harsch Investment Properties

Architect: Mackenzie

General contractor: Pacific Crest Construction

The post An invitation to see more appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

A Portland-based distillery is planning to renovate a Central Eastside industrial building to serve as its new headquarters.

House Spirits Distillery has outgrown its existing headquarters on Southeast Seventh Avenue, so it’s preparing to move its operations into a nearly 14,000-square-foot space at 68 S.E. Stark St. The company is leasing it from Harsch Investment Properties, House Spirits spokeswoman Kelly Sanders said.

“We have done what we can with the (current) space, but there is no more room,” she said.

The distillery is scheduled to move into the building in February 2015. The renovation plan calls for creating administrative offices, a tasting room and additional production space to keep with demand for the company’s gin, single malt whiskey and other spirits, Sanders said.

Architecture and engineering firm Mackenzie is designing the renovation. Lorentz Bruun Construction crews are scheduled to start work on the project in September.

Harsch Investment Properties was represented in the deal by Todd DeNeffe of Cascade Commercial Real Estate. House Spirits was represented by Cara Nolan of CBRE.

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The Portland Design Commission on Thursday unanimously approved a Pearl District Neighborhood Association appeal for a change to the design of a planned stair enclosure on the roof of the Janey II apartments.

The staircase, which provides access to a rooftop terrace, was added late in the design process to meet fire safety requirements, Marcus Lima of GBD Architects told the commission. GBD designers decided to angle the roof of the stair covering to avoid interfering with the facade of the eight-story, 62-unit apartment building on the corner of Northwest Everett Street and 11th Avenue, he said.

“The idea of angling it was to keep it as far away from the facade as possible,” Lima said. “The pop-up is essentially hidden from most views near the building.”

The angled form, however, lacks consistency with the rest of the building’s design, said Patricia Gardner, Pearl District Neighborhood Association board president. It also would be clearly visible to neighbors living in taller buildings, she said.

“We’re fine with the stair; there are not issues,” Gardner said. “We just want it squared off with the rest of the building. These buildings have to work from bottom to top because everyone experiences them in the neighborhood.”

Design Commissioner Tad Savinar agreed and suggested that GBD Architects could square the stair enclosure and keep it away from the facade.

“It just seems to me that a box is easier to look at,” he said. “Can you not continue this over and keep it two feet away from the facade?”

Lima said that could be done.

“I think we just solved the problem,” Commission Chairwoman Guenevere Millius said.

General contractor Lorentz Bruun Construction started construction on the Janey II in October 2013. Columbia Investments Ltd. is the developer.

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General contractor Lorentz Bruun is building The Parker, a six-story, 177-unit Pearl District apartment building for Astor Pacific. The project encompasses a full block bounded by Northwest 12th and 13th Avenues and Pettygrove and Quimby Streets. Work on the site began last January with the demolition of a former warehouse building on the site. Work on the FFA Architecture and Interiors-designed project is slated for completion in July 2014.

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