Merryman Barnes Architects broke ground in 1992 when it was founded as the first fully woman-owned architectural firm in the Portland-metro area. Nearly three decades later, another woman is now the sole owner.

Founding principals Nancy Merryman and Linda Barnes have turned over the reins of the 14-employee firm to Amy Palmer, a former associate principal.

“We’re actually delighted to see our firm continue and be woman-owned and give someone else an opportunity,” Merryman said. “I think (Palmer) has the enthusiasm and competitive spirit and vision and all the skills and talents. I think she has the complete package.”

Palmer, a Washington State University graduate, began her architecture career with the firm (then Robertson Merryman Barnes) in 2006 as a designer before moving to Siteworks Design-Build a year later. She returned to Merryman Barnes in 2018 and was named associate principal in 2020, in part because Merryman and Barnes recognized her abilities as a leader.

“We had a thinking-ahead conversation with staff a few years ago where we asked where they see themselves in five years and ‘Are you interested in ownership?’” Merryman said. “Some said, ‘Absolutely not.’ Other people said. ‘Yeah, I’d be interested in that,’ and Amy was one of those people.”

The transition is now complete, and Palmer is excited to see what the future holds, in spite of the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I guess I’ve always been interested in firm ownership for many years now,” she said. “I do think I’m meant to be a leader, rather than a follower.”

Robertson Merryman Barnes Architects was founded when Merryman, Barnes and Candace Robertson broke away from each of their respective firms to form their own. There were many reasons to do so, they recounted, but the pivot point turned out to be a 90-unit affordable housing project in Woodburn for nonmigrant farmworkers called Nuevo Amanecer, or New Dawn.

“We started our firm because we got an opportunity through a friend of Candace who started with us,” Merryman said. “They had just changed laws in the state to develop affordable housing and we got an opportunity to interview for the project. We always joked we got the job because they couldn’t find a Hispanic firm.”

The firm didn’t actually exist at the time the women interviewed, Barnes recounted.

“We told them if they hired us, we’d form a partnership – and that’s how it started,” she said. “I think without that first job it would have taken us longer to pull things together.”

The architecture field has come a long way in terms of equity since the early ’90s, Merryman said.

“Drastically, I would say,” she said. “And especially in the last 10 years things have really changed. There is more flexibility – more for people having families. I will say neither Linda or I have any children. And when I have a group of about 10 women architect friends, for a long time none of us had any children. It was really not very conducive to having a family if you wanted to be in the architecture world, and I think that’s changed.”

Palmer said she intends to encourage populations previously overlooked by the industry to consider pursuing such careers, perhaps through educational initiatives with local schools.

“I’ve experienced personally the limitations of being a woman in this industry, and I’m thrilled to get the opportunity to carry on the legacy they created,” she said. “Even though we’re in a progressive bubble in Portland, nationally speaking that is just not the case, especially for people of color.”

Palmer also is interested in potentially exploring how to take the firm in a nonprofit direction, in part to ensure employees have a healthy work-life balance.

“I’m really interested in the people not as much as the product,” she said. “And to that end, architecture firms traditionally have had this culture of the 60- or 70-hour workweek, and I can’t tell you how much I’m not in favor of that.”

Happy, well-rested employees are more productive, Palmer said, adding that she plans to encourage staffers to pursue creative outlets and bring them to the workplace. Or she might even adopt a four-day workweek.

“As Nancy and Linda paved the way for women, I intend to pave the way for health in everyone involved in our business,” she said. “We’ll see how it goes. It’s certainly against the grain and it won’t be received well by the establishment. But I’m kind of antiestablishment at my core anyway, and I can’t really go against that.”

Currently, Merryman Barnes works in a variety of design genres, but Palmer hopes to refine that focus in the coming years.

“I’m really interested in affordable housing structure and other built ways to nurture those in need,” she said. “I’d like to see us become specialists in the next five years or so because I’m passionate about diversity and inclusion, and I’d like to discover or create markets that encourage or assist members of Portland’s BIPOC community who are seeking architectural services or other underdogs. I want to work with those people.”

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A major project to upgrade the Oregon Convention Center is under way and on pace for completion at the end of this year to coincide with the opening of the 600-room Hyatt Regency hotel one block to the north.

The $39 million renovation will modernize public areas of the 30-year-old structure, providing an enhanced guest experience while establishing better connections to entries and improving wayfinding for hotel guests and transit users disembarking from the adjacent MAX platform.

The $27 million contract awarded by Metro to Colas Construction to serve as construction manager-general contractor is the largest public contract in Oregon history to go to a minority-owned business. Raimore Construction, also a minority-owned firm, is heavily involved in the project, and handling most of the exterior work.

Work on the three-phase project began last fall with renovations of a lobby, pre-function areas, exhibit halls and meeting rooms at the building’s northern end. The southern end was re-carpeted, while demolition work was conducted on the exterior plaza at the property’s northeastern end.

A second phase that began earlier this month includes demolition of structural canopy and erection of new cantilevered canopy at the main entrance along Northeast Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard. The MLK lobby, a pre-function hall and concourse are all being renovated as workers continue to update the northeast plaza and improve pedestrian connections and wayfinding.

Work will commence this spring on the project’s third phase, which will include the renovation of the main ballroom and a pre-function area serving the space. A structural upgrade to the ballroom will include new steel beams with pick points that will expand the capacity for rigging.

According to Alex Colas, project manager with Colas Construction, the biggest challenge of the project has been working around the venue’s busy programming schedule. The contractor has created a sound calendar to identify days when noise must be limited, and has worked to get buy-in from subcontractors while holding weekly meetings with the center’s events staff to coordinate schedules.

The landmark contract is a chance to prove what is possible to young minorities coming up in the trades, Colas said. The firm has utilized upwards of 50 percent minority subcontractors on the project to date.

“Our focus is to bring people together and build a pipeline and a future so that other minority contractors can have these kind of opportunities, and not get looked at with a stigma that in the past you’ve generally seen,” he said.

The renovations were designed by Seattle-based LMN Architects. Merryman Barnes Architects is the associate architect, and Mayer/Reed is the landscape architect and environmental graphics designer. Glumac is the MEP engineer, Seattle-based Magnusson Klemencic Associates is the structural engineer, and KPFF is the civil engineer.

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The newest addition to the ever-growing Burnside bridgehead area is nearing completion. Yorke & Curtis is winding down work on Aura Burnside, a five-over-one mixed-use building with below-grade parking encompassing three-quarters of the block bounded by East Burnside Street and Northeast Couch Street, and Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Grand Avenue.

The building contains 157 studio, one- and two-bedroom apartment units over flex retail space along both the Burnside Street and Grand Avenue frontages. Common residential areas include a rooftop patio with a fire pit and grill, a second-floor club room with a kitchen and dining area, and a ground-floor lobby with a fireplace and seating area. A bicycle storage facility will also contain a repair stand and a wash area able to also be used for pets.

The building’s top three floors are nearly complete, the third floor is in the punch-list phase, and levels one and two are in finish stages. Crews are also finishing site work, including pouring sidewalks, patching asphalt, and installing planters and first-floor siding. A temporary certificate of occupancy is expected for the project next week, and substantial completion is expected by the end of the year.

The project was developed by the Seattle office of Dallas, Texas-based Trinsic Residential Group, and designed by Merryman Barnes Architects. DCI Engineers is handling structural engineering, and Harper Houf Peterson Righellis Inc. is performing civil and landscape engineering.

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Multnomah County is considering options for a full-block redevelopment of property it owns at Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Killingsworth Street.

The county has commissioned two development analyses for the Walnut Park site at 5329 N.E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. An office building completed in 1951 sits on the property.

According to the analyses, up to four new buildings could be built in phases on the 1.7-acre property.

A preferred alternative calls for 94 market-rate apartments, 50 affordable apartments for seniors, 14 townhomes, a food hall, county services and a single floor of underground parking. An existing alley would be used as a “paseo,” with pedestrian activity enlivening the corridors.

The existing building on the site houses the county’s Health Services Department and various county and nonprofit agencies.

County officials cautioned the Walnut Park redevelopment is in an early conceptual phase.

“Anything that we would do would have to involve the community and a broader discussion,” county spokeswoman Julie Sullivan-Springhetti said.

County officials said the redevelopment could provide a home for African-American-owned businesses in the neighborhood, which has the most African-American residents of any neighborhood in Oregon.

“We know there’s a desire to see some meaningful redevelopment that’s not displacing people but providing opportunity,” Sullivan-Springhetti said.

The county’s redevelopment plan comes as Prosper Portland and Legacy Health wrestle with the future of a 1.7-acre Albina property that has sat vacant since it was cleared as part of city-led urban renewal in the 1970s that demolished homes and businesses in the historically black neighborhood.

In both redevelopment efforts, agencies are promising to reach out and listen to the black community remaining in North and Northeast Portland. The 2010 census counted 12,274 black residents in North and Northeast Portland, or 14.7 percent of the population in that area. That’s about triple the percentage of black residents as any other part of Portland, but that share has fallen as gentrification has swept through the area.

Prosper Portland’s board was met with complaints at an Aug. 9 meeting that the agency did not communicate with key stakeholders in the black community before unveiling a redevelopment plan.

Both properties offer the potential of full-block redevelopments with a mixture of offices, housing and retail space.

Multnomah County is working to navigate the politically fraught prospect of redevelopment in Northeast Portland, where black residents have been pushed out by government-led clearing in the 20th century and gentrification in the 21st century.

Carl Talton, president of the Black Investment Consortium for Economic Progress (known as BICEP), has discussed the property’s future with county officials. BICEP has been looking for a foothold to ensure black-owned businesses in the neighborhood can maintain long-term leases or ownership of commercial property, he said.

“What I would hope to see is something that would provide more growth and development of the community, and particularly the black community,” he said.

County officials have been “very receptive” to ideas for the property, Talton said.

The county aims to ensure continuity of services at the site or nearby. A phased development approach may be used to keep services open while the project proceeds.

The Walnut Park site includes senior services, a healthy birth initiative for pregnant black women and a WIC (Women, Infants and Children) office. Spaces are leased by several nonprofits, including a Meals on Wheels facility that hosts daily lunches for seniors.

“We have to have continuity of services no matter what,” Sullivan-Springhetti said. The services provided at the Walnut Park site are critical for neighborhood residents, she said.

The existing, 99,380-square-foot building is obsolete, with 17 percent of the space unusable because of its poor condition, county officials said. Multnomah County acquired the property, formerly a retail center, for $1.34 million in 1993.

The existing building has serious structural defects, and a retrofit is not feasible, county officials said.

County officials have quietly considered redevelopment options for the property in recent months. The county commissioned two development analyses.

One analysis from Merryman Barnes Architects, Portland State University and Fregonese Associates found a redevelopment would be backed by strong land values and a large site. The county could potentially leverage funding from the city of Portland, Prosper Portland and Metro, according to the analysis.

The development analysis envisions an expanded county building and a second building with 7,000 square feet of micro-retail space. One possibility is a food hall along the lines of Portland Mercado, Pine Street Market, The Zipper and others.

A single level of underground parking would be provided.

The development analysis estimated the county office building would cost $39.56 million to develop, while the affordable housing would cost $10.35 million. Low-income housing tax credits are seen as a likely funding source for the apartments, while the county office building would largely be paid for with bonds, grants, equity and other sources.

The site is also expected to benefit from zoning height increases as part of Portland’s Central City 2035 plan, which is expected to gain City Council’s approval in coming months. The property could be zoned for building heights of up to 75 feet – an increase from 45 feet, according to current zoning. A floor-to-area allowance of five to one is planned.

Another analysis was done by BICEP, J.M. Woolley & Associates, NK Consulting Co., Works Progress Architecture, E.D. Hovee & Co., Bonnie Gee Yosick and HR&A Advisors.

The second analysis envisioned a Walnut Park Health and Prosperity Center as part of the Soul District. The analysis also proposed a mix of county offices, affordable housing and retail space. The development was analyzed according to possible lease-leaseback, co-development, fee development or hybrid development scenarios. Total project cost was estimated at $85.9 million.

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