A new mass timber building at the University of Oregon‘s Portland campus aims to train a new workforce and advance a new model of childcare.

The two-story, 54,000-square-foot will replace four outdated buildings at the UO Portland campus, 2800 N.E. Liberty St.

The new building will house the Ballmer Institute and Prevention Science Institute.

“The mission of the building is one of the main inspirations for the project,” said Braulio Baptista, design partner at ZGF Architects. “It’s humbling to be part of the design of a project that will carry out such important work.”

The building, currently under construction, replaces four recently demolished buildings totaling 44,000 square feet.

According to the university, Elizabeth and Weber halls were used as student housing when Concordia operated the campus before UO purchased it in 2022. The adjoining building, Mary Neils, served as administrative office space. The fourth building was a vacant, single-family house.

The UO Portland project was designed by ZGF Architects. The project team also includes civil engineer CAPITAL Engineering & Consulting LLC, structural engineer KPFF, mechanical engineer PAE, landscape architect Walker Macy and general contractor Skanska.

Launched in 2022 through a lead gift from Connie and Steve Ballmer, the Ballmer Institute for Children’s Behavioral Health includes a training program that equips students with the skills to identify behavioral health challenges early and implement interventions that prevent issues from escalating.

The facility will allow the UO to enroll up to 300 students annually in their final two years of the program, according to a UO press release.

The three components of the programming are education, research and clinical training. With the new building, the Ballmer Institute and the Prevention Science Institute will have their first identifiable physical location, Baptista said. The Ballmer Institute has previously been operating in a variety of buildings throughout the Portland campus and nearby since its launch in 2022.

The inclusive design will include welcoming spaces for children and families to access free behavioral health services, modernized classrooms and instructional spaces, a behavioral health clinic and a telehealth center to deliver services to youth in underserved and rural communities across the state. The design will include elements of biophilia – design centered on natural element, including plants – and plenty of daylight.

Baptista said it was important to find a balance between institutional and familial elements in the design.

“It will be a mass timber building, which we’re very excited about,” Baptista said, adding that it will be the first new mass timber building on the campus. “The interior of the building will leverage as much of the mass timber as possible to add warmth.”

The exterior materials are primarily metal with custom corrugation. Baptista said the metal emulates the reddish stones of the brick building elsewhere on the campus.

The main organization of the building creates a central space, called the student hub.

“We have research, education and clinical spaces that sort of pinwheel around the central space, creating a very clearly demarcated heart to the building where everybody comes together,” Baptista said.

From that space, students can go into classrooms or research wings.

Baptista said privacy is an important consideration in a building like this, particularly in the training clinic and research areas. There were strict requirements for sound isolation between rooms, from intervention rooms to telehealth spaces.

Baptista said the building’s location was chosen from the master plan, which ZGF helped with, that will create the fourth defining edge to the central quad of the campus. Baptista said it will be kitty-corner from the library, which currently acts as a center piece of the campus.

Landscaping includes a sensory garden and other areas of respite.

The project is expected to cost $83 million. Funding includes $53 million from the state, a $15 million lead gift by the Tykeson Family Foundation and additional gifts of $5 million from other donors, according to the UO.

Construction broke ground June 11 and is expected to be complete in early 2029.

On the Boards is a 91��Ƶ feature offering a look at projects in Oregon and Southwest Washington being tackled by local architecture firms. To have your firm’s projects considered, contact 91��Ƶ reporter Hilary Dorsey at hdorsey@djcOregon.com.

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After nearly three years of construction, Multnomah County is ready to open the $163 million East County Library.

The library branch is the flagship project of the $387 million library bond that voters approved in November 2020. Located in downtown Gresham, the library is meant to bring services to East County residents who live far from the Central Library in downtown Portland.

“This is a palace for the people,” said Katie O’Dell, the library system’s capital bond deputy director.

At 95,000 square feet, the facility is the county’s second-largest branch, behind only the Central Library, which occupies about 120,000 square feet. East County Library will offer 200,000 books, CDs, DVDs and other materials to the public when it opens on Saturday.

It’s the largest of 18 library projects funded by the 2020 bond, which also produced six new libraries, 11 renovations and an operations center. Two projects — in the St. Johns and Belmont neighborhoods —remain to be completed.

Fortis Construction served as general contractor for East County Library, with a design by Holst Architecture of Portland and Adjaye Associates (the international firm left the project in 2023 after founder David Adjaye was accused of sexual misconduct).

The design relies heavily on mass timber, including 1,200 glulam beams and 3,000 cross-laminated timber panels sourced from around the Pacific Northwest.

The project arrives on time and on budget, county officials said.

“Construction went so, so smoothly,” library bond spokeswoman Liz Sauer said.

A TriMet park-and-ride facility formerly occupied the new library’s site at 475 N.W. Division St., pinched between Gresham City Hall and the Gresham Station shopping complex. TriMet still owns a 25,000-square-foot parcel on which it intends to build a transit-oriented project.

The new library branch has ample mass transit access, with a MAX Blue Line station slightly north of the building, and a TriMet Frequent Express bus line on its Division Street frontage.

The East County Library is more than four times larger than the former Gresham branch, with a collection to match. The city of Gresham purchased the former library branch site at 385 N.W. Miller Ave. after a public process.

The East County Library has a diverse collection featuring materials in Spanish, Chinese, Russian and Vietnamese — all languages commonly spoken in the Gresham area. A world languages section includes books in many more languages.

“I would say we have a more diverse collection than our other library branches,” Director of Libraries Annie Lewis said.

The new library also has state-of-the art technology, including the Intelligent Material Management System, or IMMS, from Utah company SirsiDynix. The system tracks bookshelf offerings and zips books around the library using an extensive conveyor belt.

Other facilities include an auditorium for events and a maker space that offers a laser printer and cutter, sewing machines and more.

Tucked in a sunlit corner, a recording studio features high-end Fender and Yamaha guitars, a drum set and a mixing board.

“Everything in there is gear industry professionals would use,” said Jody Redifer, audio-video program specialist.

The library will open at 10 a.m. on Saturday, following a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 9 a.m.

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Ball Corporation, Timberlab, ATI and Gordon Truck Centers are pouring a combined $500 million, at least, to build manufacturing plants and other facilities in Millersburg.

That’s the kind of economic development any city would love. Large employers bring jobs and an expanded tax base, among other benefits.

In a city of 3,000-plus like Millersburg, slightly north of Albany, those numbers make a major impact.

While some governments get “caught up in red tape and rule books” that make development difficult, Linn County Commissioner Roger Nyquist said, Millersburg city leaders welcome businesses.

“How can we get to yes for you on this?” Nyquist said.

Millersburg’s low taxes, large tracts of developable land and easy access to Interstate 5 and rail service have made it popular for businesses. Few cities along Oregon’s predominant north-south freeway have experienced Millersburg’s level of industrial growth.

“What the difference is that attitude is from our council,” former City Manager Kevin Kreitman said. “I will tell you that historically Millersburg has always had a council that understands the value of the industrial base and protecting that industrial base and growing that base for the benefit of the community.”

Impetus for incorporation

The town was established as Millers Station in 1871, when a rail station was built for the Southern Pacific Railroad. It became a large shipping point for cattle in the 1880s and renamed Millersburg around 1900.

The U.S. Bureau of Mines established a facility to produce zirconium there in the 1940s. That plant was later sold to Wah Chang for production of metals including hafnium, tantalum and niobium. In the 1980s, it became a Superfund site; the environmental cleanup took 20 years.

In 1952, the Willamette Kraft Corporation built a paper mill to process wood chips into kraft paper. When it was owned by Weyerhaeuser, the plant was known for a smell reminiscent of rotting cabbage that greeted people driving by it on I-5.

“That was the smell of money, man,” Nyquist said.

Millersburg incorporated as a city in 1974, partially so businesses and residents could avoid being annexed into Albany and pay that city’s higher property taxes.

About a third of the city’s land was designated for residential development, which left lots of room for commercial growth.

A substantial hole to fill

The paper mill closed for good in 2009 and cost 270 workers their jobs. Three years later, the mill’s owner, then International Paper, tore it down.

At the time of its closure, the mill’s property tax bill was about $2.6 million annually — the most in Linn County.

“We lost a lot of jobs,” Millersburg Mayor Scott Cowan said. “And so that was a big impact, and then of course as that sort of was the immediate situation once that news got out was of course the financial impact to the city was by the franchise fees and taxes from the IP property. We felt that.”

The loss of that revenue was significant to the taxing districts — officials had to find ways to replace the revenue to pay for city services and road repairs, for example.

Millersburg didn’t levy property tax for its first 40 years because the city earned enough money from franchise fees to pay for basic city services. Now the city charges the maximum $3.50 per $1,000 of assessed value. Most of that goes to contracted fire and sheriff’s services.

The city tried to attract businesses to fill the gap left by International Paper.

In 2008, Peak Sun Silicon broke ground on a 10,000-square-foot building where it would employ 500 people to produce an ingredient in solar cells. The state foreclosed on the property when Peak Sun defaulted on a $14 million loan in 2012.

In 2019, the state gave Linn County $25 million to build an intermodal facility on a portion of the former International Paper property. That project cost $35 million, but operations never began.

Renewed interest in development

When Timberlab was looking to build a new facility to manufacture mass timber, the company considered multiple Willamette Valley locations, including Independence and Corvallis, President Chris Evans said.

Then Timberlab found a 33.5-acre site in Millersburg. The location had challenges. It had a fish bearing stream, needed an entry road and the main connecting road to Old Salem Highway was under construction.

Nevertheless, Timberlab purchased the land from the city and expects to complete its first building this year. That project will bring an estimated 100 jobs to Millersburg.

Gov. Tina Kotek, present when ground was broken in March 2025, said Oregon is “leading the way” in mass timber and pointed to the new roof at the Portland International Airport terminal.

“The city really facilitated taking a lot of the issues out of the sites here, so they could invite somebody into the community and have a quicker turnaround to have something rezoned from agricultural to industrial,” Evans said at the ground-breaking event.

That will include a 185,000-square-foot manufacturing facility. Timberlab has plans for 85,000-square-foot and 126,000-square-foot buildings in the future.

Companies that build in Millersburg reap the same tax rewards as its citizens.

Property owners in Millersburg pay a combined tax rate of 15.61 cents per $1,000 of assessed value, one of the lowest rates in the state for a city that offers the services that Millersburg does.

A company building a $100 million facility can save over $1 million per year on property taxes compared to other cities if it builds in Millersburg.

The money brought in from taxes and fees also means residents don’t have to worry about being barraged with bonds and levies from the city.

“But don’t worry,” city manager Janelle Booth said. “Our residents still complain about our taxes.”

Companies like Timberlab also get a tax break by building in enterprise zones — areas designated for large-scale industrial development by the state.

Enterprise zone projects must meet requirements including a minimum investment cost and employee count. Also, workers must be paid between 130 and 150 percent of the county’s average wage.

Businesses are exempt from paying property taxes on capital improvements for three to five years. In a rural enterprise zone, such as the one in Millersburg, businesses could be exempt from paying taxes on those improvements for up to 15 years.

In the meantime, the city will still benefit from the Timberlab development as it collects franchise fees from the company. Millersburg received nearly $1.2 million per year from Pacific Power last year, and that will go up with more power being used by Timberlab and Ball Corporation.

That money pays for basic city services like roads, parks and city administration.

“We’re looking at it for that long-term benefit, too,” Booth said.

The value of incentives

Millersburg has invested heavily in infrastructure that benefits residents and businesses. The city shares water filtration and wastewater treatment facilities with Albany.

Pacific Power owns and runs a regional operations center in the southern part of the city.

Millersburg city leaders convinced Pacific Power to build a new substation on Conser Road across the street from the Jefferson Fire Department station in 2024. That provides large industrial users with plenty of electricity for whatever they plan to build.

Several large parcels inside the city limits were zoned industrial and never developed. Over the years, Millersburg acquired several of those parcels for free or close to it.

To spur economic development, the city took an active approach in marketing the industrial properties.

The city updated its comprehensive plan in 2020, which essentially served as a sales brochure for prospective development.

“That’s an incentive that we can have with the industries to encourage them to come in,” Kreitman said. “We went through and we put together a presentation, and the state asked us to come and talk about it for other communities to look at. It’s really helped us.”

The city council opted to be selective in which companies it would sell properties to. For example, the city chose not to sell land for warehouses that employ few people.

“As the property owner, the price of the property is one of our tools to get what we want in here,” Booth said.

The city still owns about 70 acres of flat, undeveloped land that is zoned for industrial use.

Dormant site could be awakened

Cowan said Ball Corporation’s plans to build a plant helped spur much of the new economic development in the city.

“We heard about another company that was interested, but it was a lot of this loose interest and no one really serious until Ball came along,” Cowan said. “That really was a big one.”

Ball Corporation’s facility could be larger than 500,000 square feet when it’s finished, according to city planning documents, but will be smaller to start, Kreitman said.

It is unclear how many jobs the Ball facility will provide once it’s finished. The company did not respond to requests for comments.

Center Market is planning a new 5,200-square-foot building for its store and offices. Pure Energy is adding a 7,480-square-foot building.

Several businesses have announced plans for the former International Paper property.

Aymium, formerly known as National Carbon Technologies, in 2022 signed a 16-year lease for construction of a plant that uses carbon products to produce things like filters. Linn County approved a pause in that lease in 2025.

“And if they don’t go forward, we’ve got, guess what, flat land available at a reasonable price in close proximity to I-5 and rail,” Nyquist said.

In 2024, Omni Energy agreed to lease the site to transfer biodiesel from trains to trucks. That still hasn’t happened.

“It’s going to take some infrastructure investment,” Nyquist said. “The operators want to work out a longer-term lease to justify that investment, and so that’s what we’re working on today.”

Corvallis-based Samaritan Health Services owns a 2.3-acre plot in the north part of the city at the intersection of Old Salem Highway and the I-5 interchange. The nonprofit planned to build a regional medical center when it purchased the property for $1 million, according to city documents.

“While we do not have definitive plans for that property at this time, we do consider it a very important asset that can help us meet community health needs as Millersburg and surrounding areas continue to grow,” stated Larissa Balzer, Samaritan Health Services vice president of strategy and planning.

Hoping for a downtown and more

While Millersburg has a lot of industrial development, it lacks commercial businesses. Humpty’s Dump Bar & Grill and Oregon Barbecue Company are among the few commercial properties in town.

The Love’s Travel Stop that opened in 2018 near the North Millersburg exit is the city’s most recent commercial development.

The city owns about 8 acres along Old Salem Highway between the new fire station, which the city built for $5 million in 2023, and Center Market. The site is designated for commercial development.

Unlike many small Oregon cities, Millersburg doesn’t have a downtown.

“We’re hoping to create one,” Booth said.

The city also lacks affordable housing. The only houses for sale in Millersburg are listed for over $500,000. There are no apartments or multifamily housing.

“That is the constant feedback we hear from our community and our council and our planning commission, 10,000-square-foot lots is the hill to die on for our folks,” Booth said.

Significant housing growth occurred in the city until 2023, when construction advanced on the last parcel of developable land within city limits. City leaders say they can’t expand the urban growth boundary to the north or west because of the prime farmland in those areas.

The city is looking to expand east of I-5 at a long-hoped-for new interchange for more commercial and high-density residential growth.

Millersburg also owns land it intends to use for a YMCA building and a school, something the city hasn’t had since the last one closed in 1983.

“Last we knew, they are very interested in getting something in here,” Booth said.

Editor’s note: This article first appeared in The Statesman Journal and then was distributed on the USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect.

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As mass timber pushes into more project types, contractors and advocates are pursuing its inclusion in designs for one of the few construction sectors showing growth: health care.

Mass timber has long been used in office buildings and residential structures as supporters credit it for appealing aesthetics, faster tilt-up times, and competitive costs and performance. Health care is a tougher sector to crack, with strict code requirements for hospitals and unique considerations related to patient health.

Yet those hurdles have done little to dissuade mass-timber backers, who see a growing health-care sector that comprises one-sixth of the $30 trillion U.S. economy while commercial real estate has pulled back dramatically.

“We’re going to see more (mass-timber) projects that are health care, and we’re going to see larger portions of the projects that are mass timber,” said Dean Lewis, director of mass timber and prefabrication at Skanska, one of the large contractors working with the material.

Health care was a central topic at this week’s International Mass Timber Conference in Portland. Lewis covered health care as an emerging market for mass timber, while University of Oregon researcher Mark Fretz discussed “Mass Timber in Health Care and Infection Control.”

It makes sense for contractors and other industry insiders to pursue health care projects, said Iain Macdonald, director of the Tallwood Design Institute, a collaboration between Oregon State University‘s colleges of forestry and engineering, and the UO College of Design.

“Commercial is kind of a stagnant construction sector, and life sciences is one that’s growing,” he said.

While clients continue to rely on traditional concrete-and-steel construction for key hospital functions, the use of cross-laminated timber (CLT) and similar products in health care facilities is growing.

On the Oregon Coast, ZGF Architects‘ design for the Columbia Memorial Hospital expansion in Astoria uses mass timber for the entryway’s roof and other structural elements. The 183,000-square-foot facility will also include safe refuge areas in the event of a tsunami and acute care patient rooms on upper floors. The expanded hospital is slated to open in 2027.

The foyer of the new St. Charles Cancer Center in Redmond, a 53,000-square-foot facility that will open later this month, is made from mass timber.

The University of Oregon’s $71 million Ballmer Institute for Children’s Behavioral Health, a 54,000-square-foot building under construction in Portland and designed by ZGF, will feature mass timber extensively, as does a $47 million building designed by Hacker for Mosaic Community Health in Bend.

In Lakewood, Washington, a behavioral health facility designed by HOK topped out in March.

“The mass-timber design serves a number of goals,” Loren Supp, HOK’s design principal in Seattle, stated in a news release. “It highlights the natural beauty of western Washington and its evergreen forests. It reinforces the state’s commitment to environmentally friendly design, and it creates a warm and calming environment that benefits well-being.”

Advocates point to the well-studied psychological benefits of inhabiting timber buildings. UO researchers last year published a study finding CLT had fewer viable bacteria than a plastic sample. The researchers also found that volatile organic compounds in CLT decreased over time.

Industry and UO researchers are studying the possibilities for expanding use of mass timber in hospitals.

“You’re not going to have it in the (operating rooms), but there are distinct advantages to having it in patient rooms, waiting areas and that sort of thing,” Macdonald said.

Industry officials are also studying mass timber’s potential for other uses, including warehouses, data centers and military bases.

Portland has long been the epicenter of mass-timber construction in the United States. Portland is home to notable projects such as the Mississippi Building, an all-wood office structure designed by Waechter Architecture; the 12-story Julia West House, designed by Holst Architecture; and Carbon12, an eight-story mixed-use building designed by Kaiser + Path.

Extensive use of CLT in the new Portland International Airport terminal marked a new chapter for mass timber in major public projects. And even some never-built concepts, including Framework and the Spar, led to important research for building tall wood structures.

In health care, Skanska’s Lewis said clients don’t need to be persuaded — they’re eager to build with mass timber.

“A lot of the clients, especially in the Pacific Northwest, harken back to our affinity for wood,” Lewis said.

Clients point to sustainability and valuing the experience of being inside the building.

“It seems like the ones that want to do timber are really invested in trying to create a space that they feel is above what they’ve seen in the market,” Lewis said.

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Portland architect Chandra Robinson, known for designing a series of equity-focused projects, has struck out on her own.

Robinson recently left LEVER Architecture to start �����dz����ٴDz���á�ھ�����. The time had come for her to start her own firm, she said.

“It just felt like I could generate more work for myself, and I could take it in a different direction and operate differently,” she said.

Robinson served for seven years at LEVER — most of that time as a principal, a promotion she earned after helping the firm gain new work as projects focused on racial and social equity proliferated in Portland.

Four projects on which Robinson led design opened last year: two Multnomah County library branches in North Portland and Albina, in the center of Portland’s Black community; and two affordable housing projects — the 94-unit Albina One project for Albina Vision Trust, and the 187-unit T. Joyce Phillips (formerly known as Dekum Court) project for Home Forward in Concordia.

“There are so many different types of projects that I’ve worked on that I’m excited about,” she said. “My favorite things are ones that actually have an impact in the place where they’re built, no matter what sort of project they are.”

Robinson said she’s interested in designing libraries, affordable housing buildings, cultural institutions and community centers.

Robinson has also worked extensively with mass timber on several projects, including the First Tech Credit Union headquarters in Hillsboro and the Meyer Memorial Trust headquarters in North Portland. Mass timber is also a focal design element in the 26,000-square-foot Williams and Russell business hub, which she’s designing in partnership with LEVER and which will offer affordable office space and retail space on the long-vacant Hill Block property.

Robinson is also designing, with LEVER, the new Jefferson High School.

Former colleagues said Robinson has pushed forward local sourcing, working with tribal and community groups, and reaching out to disadvantaged, minority-, woman-, emerging small business and service-disabled veteran owned (DMWESB) companies.

“She’s an absolutely amazing person,” said Jonathan Heppner, a LEVER principal who first worked with Robinson at the firm now known as Works Architecture and then later at LEVER. “She is extremely committed to the local community. Her perspective brings a new lens to the way architecture can be practiced in Portland.”

Michelle Vo, a Hennebery Eddy Architects principal, said Robinson excelled at considering how buildings would be used.

“In my experience with Chandra, I observed her to be very interested in understanding the needs expressed by stakeholders in her projects,” Vo stated in an email. “She demonstrated a commitment to tailoring design responses that addressed specific user requirements, whether it was through architecture or more of an artistic installation in the space.”

Robinson came somewhat late to architecture, starting at the Boston Architectural College at age 31. She later returned to the Portland area, where she had grown up in Rockwood.

Robinson’s professional experience in Portland has been peripatetic: She first joined Works Progress Architecture in 2010 before stints at Hennebery Eddy Architects and Hacker. The latter firm loaned Robinson to LEVER, with which she worked on the Meyer Memorial Trust headquarters.

It’s not unusual for architecture firms to let their employees work for other designers, Robinson said.

“We do that in Portland,” she said. “If projects are delayed or people need staff, it’s a good way to staff up your projects without having to vet and interview people, or if you are slow, not having to lose your employees.”

Robinson became invested in the Meyer Memorial Trust project and decided to stay at LEVER, where she gained experience working with mass timber and other advanced building materials.

Now, she’s starting afresh with Estudio �����dz����ٴDz���á�ھ�����, doing business as �����dz����ٴDz���á�ھ�����. The name reflects the English word “chromatography” and the Spanish translation, “cromatografía.” She retained the “h” in part because of her first name.

“I just really like the idea of having something that’s mixed up, and then being able to identify separate elements,” she said.

At �����dz����ٴDz���á�ھ�����, Robinson wants to work with interesting partners. She’s designing a farm-and-garden project in Gresham for the Feed’em Freedom Foundation with Anyeley Hallova’s development firm, �����é, that is focused on food sovereignty in the Black community. Robinson is working on the design with James Gantz, a former ZGF Architects principal who recently returned to Portland after a stint in Washington, D.C. For the new Jefferson High School, with design led by LEVER and Bora Architecture & Interiors, she is working on placemaking alongside Colloqate Design.

Robinson is pursuing another, still-confidential project with �����é, which is also the developer of the Williams and Russell business hub.

Robinson said she’s not looking for a business partner to join �����dz����ٴDz���á�ھ�����.

“I want it to be small because I want to collaborate with other small firms, right?” she said. “I want to work with other solo practitioners. I want to hire people on contracts where maybe the mix is different, the people who are working on different projects is different, and we’re not tied into a structure.”

Robinson identifies as a Black Latina. She quickly gained work as clients and developers sought to diversify their project teams in Portland. But one thing she does not want to do is be anybody’s token minority representation.

“What I’m not going to do is partner with a company that doesn’t have any diversity in their own firm — doesn’t have any Black leadership or women in leadership, and they’re trying to partner with someone who represents that so they can get a job,” she said. “I’m not doing that.”

Robinson does substantial volunteer work in the community for groups such as Architects Without Borders and Oregon Black Pioneers. She currently serves as chairwoman of the Portland Design Commission, which evaluates major building proposals.

She recently purchased a house in Netarts. She commutes into Portland for meetings and events when necessary, often using space at LEVER and staying with her mother in St. Johns.

Robinson hopes to do interesting work at �����dz����ٴDz���á�ھ�����, on her own terms.

“People are many things,” she said. “You’re not just one thing. But you also have to focus to get somewhere.”

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An affordable housing project in Portland is on pause while a new design is being created to reduce costs.

Hacienda CDC and Gorman & Company are redeveloping Villa de Clara Vista, which is in the Cully neighborhood, at 5300 N.E. Cully Blvd. The 100-unit garden-style apartment complex, built in the 1960s, has reached the end of its useful life, according to the Portland Housing Bureau. Currently, the plan is to demolish the existing 12 buildings and construct three four-story buildings with a total of 108 units.

“Due to age of the buildings and their original construction quality, renovation is not a feasible option,” Hacienda CDC spokesperson Isaac Montes stated in an email. “Hacienda has been working for many years to plan and implement a strategy that brings new, modern housing to the community that replaces … the current units.”

The project team also includes design architect Salazar Architect, architect of record Hooker DeJong of Grand Rapids, Michigan; civil engineer BKF Engineers, structural engineer Aman Structural Engineering, landscape architect PLACE, general contractor LMC Construction.

The current design calls for including mass timber sourced from local sources. Other amenities would include laundry rooms, open space and sustainable features such as rooftop solar arrays, stormwater retention features, low-flow plumbing fixtures, and highly efficient windows, lighting and mechanical systems.

“The goal is to bring those savings in electricity and power down to the tenants,” Hacienda CDC CEO Ernesto Fonseca said.

The units are to be affordable for people earning 30 to 60 percent of area median income.

The total project cost is approximately $75 million. Funding partners include Oregon Housing and Community Services (OHCS), Metro, Portland Clean Energy Fund (PCEF) and Raza Development Fund — a national Latino-focused nonprofit. But with the full scope of complexities clarified, the project team is facing a funding shortfall of $5 million.

Meanwhile, after securing a reservation with OHCS in 2023 for $10 million in funding, the project team surrendered that with the intention of reapplying later.

“About a year and a half ago, we were supposed to start the project, but cost escalation and uncertainty in the market didn’t allow us to do that,” Fonseca said.

A new design is expected to help bridge the funding gap. One possibility is that the buildings would be only three stories instead of four, allowing the elimination of costly elevators. In that scenario, the number of units would remain 108.

“We are going to be focused on finding savings first,” Fonseca said of the design changes.

Previous plans were to build on a small portion of the site and preserve the rest of it for related use — possibly more affordable housing. But if buildings were to end up three stories, they would become wider and consume more of the site. That would leave only half an acre.

“It’s going to be big enough for us to build a community space right at the corner of Cully (Boulevard) and Emerson (Street),” Fonseca said, noting that the space would become a mini plaza for the entire neighborhood.

Four to six months are expected to be devoted to the redesign effort. Then the team will reapply to OHCS through the Oregon Centralized Application (ORCA) process and seek additional resources such as a Community Development Block Grant, Metro funds, and donations.

If Hacienda CDC were unable to secure sufficient funding for the project, the nonprofit could choose to sell some of its bankable land, Fonseca said. The organization owns 20 acres between Salem and Portland.

When the redesign is complete, the team will create a master schedule and resubmit an application for city permits. Construction is expected to begin in late 2027 or early 2028.

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Project name: Washington School for the Deaf Divine Academic and Hunter Gym

Location: Vancouver, Washington

Completion: August 2024

Size: 50,527 square feet

Cost: $53 million

Owner/Developer: Washington School for the Deaf, Center for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Youth (CDHY)

Owner’s Representative: Washington State Department of Enterprise Services

Architect: Mithun

Interior Designer: Mithun

Engineers: PCS Structural Solutions, Mithun (landscape), JH Kelly (electrical)

General Contractor: Skanska USA Building

Submitting Company: Skanska USA Building

Other Associates/Key Consultants: A3 Acoustics (acoustic specialist), Kalesnikoff Mass Timber (mass timber supplier), HB/A+P: DeafSpace Consultants Hansel Bauman and Robert T. Sirvage

Subcontractors: Anderson Roofing, Archaeological Investigations Northwest, B&B Tile and Masonry, Bargreen Ellingson, Bedrock Commercial Concrete Cutting, Blind Depot, Brandsen Hardwood Floors, Brundage-Bone Concrete Pumping, Cache Valley Electric, Camblin Steel Service, Carlson Testing, CMC Steel Fabricators dba CMC Rebar, Coast to Coast Turf, Coffman Excavation, Commercial Metals, Consurco, Damac and Associates Clean, DeaMor Associates, Dennis Seven Dees Landscaping, Ednetics, Elmer’s Flag and Banner, Faithful Fence, Ground Penetrating Radar Systems, Halliday Associates, Harper Houf Peterson Righellis, Hercon Rebar & Post Tension, Inter Technology, Ironmark Surveying & Engineering, Klinger Masonry, KONE, Legend Custom Woodworking, McKinstry, Ness & Campbell Crane, Northwest Control, Northwest Geotech, Northwest Playground Equipment, NW Flooring Solutions, Performance Abatement Services, Performance Contracting, Pioneer Waterproofing, Polygon US, Precision Test & Balance, Prestige Tile & Stone, Pro-Bel Enterprises, QED Lab, Silex Investments dba Yakima Steel, Soriano Floor Finishing, Steel Encounters, Tim Lawrence dba Digital Works Production, Town & Country Fence Co. of Oregon, Town Inc. dba South Town Glass, TrailB Technologies, TT&L Sheet Metal, Ultra Quiet Floors, Vancouver Sign, W.E. Given Contracting, Western Partitions

The Washington School for the Deaf (WSD) Divine Academic and Hunter Gymnasium stands as a landmark achievement in accessible educational design, incorporating DeafSpace principles that prioritize the unique needs of deaf and hard-of-hearing students.

The project, delivered through a progressive design-build approach by Skanska and Mithun, leveraged early collaboration with DeafSpace consultants to create spaces specifically engineered for deaf communication and learning. The warm, homelike environment fosters a sense of belonging and pride among students and staff.

Key building innovations include 8-foot-wide hallways that allow for sign language conversations while walking, and classrooms providing approximately 60 square feet per learner – twice the industry standard – arranged in horseshoe configurations that maximize visual communication.

The building’s innovative mass timber construction features exposed cross-laminated timber (CLT) decks that enhance acoustic vibrations essential for spatial awareness. This structural system, installed in just 19 days, contributes to the project’s low embodied carbon emissions.

The team noted that mass timber not only met aesthetic requirements but also provided functional benefits crucial for deaf communication. The materials preserve vibrations that allow students to sense footfalls and movements throughout the building.

The front entrance of the school features an ASL Finger Spell Art Fence, which also acts as a security gate. The whole campus is fenced in for security reasons, so the team designed a welcoming inclusive art piece without making the occupants feel institutionalized.

Jobsite safety innovations included custom site fencing with viewing holes, which allowed students to safely observe the construction activities while maintaining secure separation between school operations and work zones.

The project team engaged students directly in the design process through workshops using visual learning tools. Students used color-coded blocks to outline their ideal campus, directly influencing the final design.

Sustainability achievements include targeting LEED Gold certification, achieving an Energy Use Intensity of 32.1, and utilizing an existing geothermal wellfield system combined with a highly efficient building envelope.

The project exceeded Minority and Women Business Enterprise targets, hitting 13 percent participation. Apprentice labor hit 23 percent, helping develop future skilled workers knowledgeable in mass timber construction and deaf-inclusive building practices.

Beyond serving students, the project raises public awareness of Deaf culture through campus openness to neighbors and visitors, making it a model for future educational environments that prioritize accessibility, sustainability and community connection.

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Project name: TimberViewLocation: Portland

Completion: December 2024

Size: 74,385 square feet

Owner/Developer: TimberView VIII LLC

Architect: Access Architecture

Engineers: Caliber Plumbing & Mechanical, DCI Engineering, Summit Engineering

General Contractor: Truebeck Construction

Submitting Company: Access Architecture

Other Key Participants: City of Portland, Brightworks Sustainability Consultants

Subcontractors: Acousti-Level Floor Systems, All Trades General Contractor, Authority Dock & Door, Berrien Concrete, Black Line Glazing, BrandSafway, CARE Industries, Carpentry Plus, Cascade Tower & Rigging, Centurion Fire Protection, Contract Flooring & Interiors, Coria Landscaping, Crossover Construction, Diversified Fall Protection, Eagle Striping, Elite Electrical Group, Extreme Excavating, Flynn BEC, Frontier Door & Cabinet, Galloni Granite, General Sheet Metal, Green Transfer & Storage, Ha’s Painting, Kalesnikoff Mass Timber, Kinetic Parking Solutions, Kittelson & Associates, McDonald & Wetle, Mid-Valley Glass & Millwork, Mill Plain Electric, Northwest Delta, Otis Elevator, Pacific Foundation, Pence Kelly Construction, Permapost Products, Procraft Equipment, RDH Building Science, Sign Wizards, Sowles, Standard TV & Appliance, System Design Consulants, TerraCalc Land Surveying, VPI Quality Windows, Westech Construction, Whiskey Hill Electric, Zeeland, Zochert Fence

A groundbreaking eight-story affordable housing development in Northeast Portland is showcasing how sustainable building materials and premium amenities can coexist in housing for lower-income residents.

TimberView VIII, located at the corner of Northeast Glisan Street and 99th Avenue, provides 105 affordable units to tenants making 60 percent or less of the Area Median Income while targeting LEED Platinum certification. The development is among the first to use Oregon’s newly adopted building code amendment allowing for mass timber buildings under Type IV-C construction. Its primary structure consists of Glulam beams and columns with cross-laminated timber (CLT) panels for flooring.

The use of mass timber elements necessitated top to bottom team coordination. TimberView was built using 56,304 cubic feet of sustainably harvested PNW lumber, which instead of releasing carbon sequesters it long-term into the building and results in a net impact akin to removing approximately 370 cars from the road for a year.

TimberView offers 28 studio apartments, 56 one-bedroom, 15 two-bedroom, and six three-bedroom units ranging from 331 to 1,019 square feet. Residents benefit from a rooftop deck, community room with mountain views, lobby, on-site laundry and bike parking for 160 bicycles. The ground floor houses Array Food Hall, a restaurant incubator space featuring pods for four food establishments and a bar, designed to create a mixed-use environment where people can live, work and eat.

As the tallest building in the neighborhood, the views from TimberView’s many units are breathtaking. The height allows the building to be seen from the 205 freeway near the Glisan exit, so it acts as a welcoming landmark for the Gateway neighborhood, much like the historical Gateway Arch that gave the neighborhood its name.

An innovative hydronic water system supplies radiant floor heating throughout the apartments, providing energy-efficient heating rarely found in affordable housing.

Located in Portland’s Gateway Neighborhood, TimberView replaces what was previously a single-family home and aims to be a catalyst for development in an area targeted by the city for dense growth outside downtown.

Access Architecture designed the building, with DCI Engineers handling structural engineering and Truebeck Construction serving as general contractor.

The project aligns with Portland’s 2045 Housing Needs Analysis, which determined that 120,000 more housing units are needed by 2045, with an additional “catch-up” supply of 55,000 units needed by 2032.

The development is conveniently located near the Gateway/NE 99th transit center with access to multiple transit options. This walkable location reduced on-site parking requirements, allowing for maximum units and amenity spaces.

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Project name: Redmond Library

Location: Redmond

Completion: September 2024

Size: 40,000 square feet

Cost: $31.5 million

Owner: Deschutes Public Library

Owner’s Representative: Redpoint Construction Management

Architect: The Miller Hull Partnership, Steele Associates Architects

Interior Designer: The Miller Hull Partnership

Engineers: KPFF, HWA, Interface Engineering

General Contractor: Kirby Nagelhout Construction Co.

Submitting Company: Kirby Nagelhout Construction Co.

Other Associates/Key Consultants: Blanca Lighting Design, Mayer Reed, Morrison Hershfield, Plus and Greater Than, Studio Pacifica, Tenor Engineering Group, Walker Macy

Subcontractors: Advance Cabinet Designs, Advanced Technology Group, Andres Landscape, Apollo Sheet Metal, Beacon Roofing Supply, BrandSafway Services, Building Material Specialties, Ceniga Masonry, Central Oregon Garage Door, Central Oregon Roofing, Deschutes Concrete Construction, Deschutes Painting, Energy Conservation Insulation, Fabulous Floors, Hickman Williams & Associates, Interior Technology, Joni’s Construction Cleaning, Max Manufacturing, Metro Tint, Mike’s Fence Center, Mt. Hood Corps., Northwest Framing Systems, Pacific Decorative Concrete, Phoenix Fire Protection, Rixir Systems, Simple Safety Solutions, Skyline Sheet Metal, SouthTown Glass, StructureCraft Builders, Summers Wood Floor, Sunlight Solar Energy, Terminix, TK Elevator, Tomco Electric, Western Partitions

The new Redmond Library offers residents a state-of-the-art facility that nearly doubles the size of its predecessor while incorporating cutting-edge sustainable design elements.

The two-story, 40,000-square-foot structure stands on the same site as the original library following approval of a Deschutes Public Library bond measure by county voters. The project is part of a larger initiative to renovate existing libraries and construct two new facilities throughout the county.

Designed through a partnership between Seattle-based The Miller Hull Partnership and local firm Steele Associates Architects, the building features an innovative mass timber framework that provides both structural integrity and aesthetic appeal. The use of acoustic dowel-laminated timber sets the project apart. It reduces the need for additional acoustical elements while maintaining the open nature of the spaces.

Brick buildings are a theme throughout the city of Redmond, so the new library is brick-clad but in a darker tone and laid out in a stacked-bond style to set it apart as a modern building.

The library’s distinctive design includes a feature staircase fabricated by Bend’s Max Manufacturing and a large custom sculpture by renowned Pacific Northwest artist John Grade, inspired by Central Oregon sagebrush.

Beyond traditional library services, the facility offers multiple community-focused amenities including multi-purpose spaces, a children’s discovery area, and maker spaces for activities like sewing and 3D printing. Adults and teens can utilize collaborative areas designed for studying and co-working.

For user convenience, the building includes a drive-up window for materials pickup and drop-off during or after library hours.

Sustainability was prioritized throughout construction, with photovoltaic solar panels installed on the roof and over parking areas to help the building achieve net-zero energy consumption. The facility is on track for LEED Gold certification, with Platinum certification possible. Additional eco-friendly features include electric vehicle charging stations, ample natural lighting through skylights and clearstory windows, and the elimination of PVC materials outside of mechanical and electrical systems.

Located adjacent to community parks, schools and residential areas, the library is positioned to become a central hub for Redmond residents.

The construction was completed by Kirby Nagelhout Construction Co. in coordination with Redpoint Construction Management and the architectural firms, with all parties citing the high degree of communication and collaboration as key to the project’s success. There was significant local participation on the project, with 60 percent of trade partners from the area.

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Project name: Multnomah County Holgate LibraryLocation: Portland

Completion: April 2025

Size: 21,000 square feet

Cost: $17,590,743

Owner: Multnomah County

Architect: Bora Architecture & Interiors

Interior Designer: Bora Architecture & Interiors

Engineers: Equilibrium Engineers, Arris Consulting, Samata Consulting Engineers, Vega Civil Engineering

General Contractor: Swinerton

Submitting Company: Swinerton

Other Associates/Consultants: Colloqate Design, Elevate Building Commissioning, O-LLC Lighting Design, PLACE (landscape architecture), Timberlab

Subcontractors: A&R Solar, Andres Landscape, Apollo Mechanical Contractors, Berrien Concrete, Building Material Specialties, Castle Masonry & Restoration, Code Unlimited, Cosco Fire Protection, Custom Designed Skylights, Dennis’ Seven Dees Landscaping, Don Frank Flooring, Figure Plant, General Sheet metal Works, Hyphn, Interior Technology, Interlaken, J.S. Perrott & Co., Kodiak Pacific Construction, KONE, Lensa Consulting, Madlyn Metal Fab, Mill Plain Electric, Norse Ironworks, NW Umpqua Roofing & Waterproofing, Oregon Door Consultants, PBS Engineering & Environmental, Pioneer Waterproofing, Portland Coatings dba Williamsen & Bleid, Prestige Tile & Stone, Qualified Enclosure Consultants, Shiels Obletz Johnsen, Sign Wizards, Skyline sheet Metal, South Town Glass, T. Gerding Construction, Techsource Enterprises, The Grenebusch Group, Ultra Quiet Floors, Valley Shades, Vanco Contracting, Vega Civil Engineering, Vertex Technology Design & Consulting, Washington Commercial Painters, Western Partitions, Whitaker/Ellis Builders

The newly opened Holgate Library in Southeast Portland has transformed from a modest 6,400-square-foot facility built in 1971 into a 21,000-square-foot community hub designed to serve one of Portland’s most diverse populations.

The library, part of Multnomah County’s bond measure to revitalize Portland’s library infrastructure, stands prominently along Southeast Holgate Boulevard with features aimed at serving all age groups.

The project is a strong example of how community engagement, design innovation and sustainability building practices create a built environment that will serve the entire surrounding community for years to come. The building’s design resulted from extensive community input through focus groups, public meetings and surveys. Teens participated in a four-week virtual program called “Your Library, Your Voice” to help design the library’s first enclosed teen space in the system. The room was envisioned as a “home away from home.”

Sustainability was central to the construction approach. The library utilizes a hybrid mass timber structure that reduced the building’s carbon footprint by 61 percent compared to conventional steel and concrete construction. The ground floor features a denser column layout to support heavy book loads, while the second floor has fewer columns for a more open design.

The mass timber frame utilizes Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) for floor and roof decking, Glue-Laminated Timber (glulam) for primary structural support, and Buckling-Restrained Braces (diagonal steel elements) for lateral stability.

Designed to receive LEED Gold certification, the building incorporates radiant flooring for thermal comfort and a rooftop photovoltaic system to offset energy usage.

The library features advanced amenities including a large play and learning space for children, a dedicated teen room, flexible programming rooms, and the latest technology with high-speed internet. An outdoor plaza provides space for reading and socializing.

Construction company Swinerton served as the CM/GC, bringing in its subsidiary, Timberlab, for the mass timber components. The project maintained zero recordable injuries throughout construction.

The project also emphasized economic inclusion, with Swinerton implementing a Project-Specific Workforce Diversity Program. Swinerton’s project team also assumed the role of mentors, guiding businesses through the intricacies of preconstruction and construction phases. In addition to fostering strong relationships and supporting their sustainable growth, Swinerton provided comprehensive training that included technical skills, project controls, budget management, and project execution. The project and these efforts helped three companies acquire COBID certification. The Holgate Library project had a 25 percent diverse business goal (COBID) and hit 34 percent.

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