Newsmakers – Daily Journal of Commerce

91��Ƶ honors its Construction All-Stars and Newsmakers

91��Ƶ Staff — Fri, 10 Apr 2026 17:59:17 +0000

91��Ƶ Oregon celebrated 36 Construction All-Stars and Newsmakers of the Year on April 9 at The Sentinel in downtown Portland.

More than 125 people were in attendance to honor the award-winners, which celebrated industry leaders in 19 categories.

David Evans and Associates Inc.

91��Ƶ honors its Construction All-Stars and Newsmakers

Vaughn Pugh

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Daily Journal of Commerce announces its 2019 Newsmakers

91��Ƶ Staff — Wed, 13 Feb 2019 20:35:29 +0000

The Daily Journal of Commerce has released its list of 2019 Newsmakers, which will be honored during an awards event on March 14.

Nominations were requested for people and companies that impacted the building, design and related industries the most in 2018. The chosen winners in dozens of categories will be honored during a luncheon from 11 a.m. to 1:45 p.m. at The Sentinel hotel, 614 S.W. 11th Ave., in Portland. Early-bird tickets for the event are on sale now for $75. The price will increase to $85 after Feb. 21.

For registration and additional event information, visit djcorprod.wpengine.com/newsmakers-2019/.

The 2019 Newsmaker honorees are:

Architect of the year: Ankrom Moisan Architects

Biggest story of the year: Portland Diamond Project baseball stadium site location

Business development professional of the year: David Buckley, Phoenix Industrial Inc.

Client of the year: Rose Villa Senior Living Retirement Community

Commercial real estate brokerage of the year: JLL Portland

Construction trade association of the year: Associated General Contractors’ Oregon-Columbia chapter

Contractor of the year: Turner Construction

Developer of the year: Walter Bowen, BPM Real Estate Group

Educator of the year: Torre Sathrum, Portland Opportunities Industrialization Center

Engineer of the year: BergerABAM

Estimator of the year: Jim Little, Skanska USA Building

Humanitarian of the year: Homer Williams, Williams & Dame Development

Innovators of the year: Colette Evers, AGC’s Oregon-Columbia chapter, and Cherie Clark, Willamette Education Service District

Interior designer of the year: ZGF Architects

Journeyman of the year: Rochelle Sadler

Landscape architecture firm of the year: 2.ink Studio

Most inspirational industry professional of the year: Your Street, Your Voice

Professional service provider of the year: ECONorthwest

Project manager of the year: Trevor Wyckoff, Skanska USA Building

Project we’re most excited to see: 1st & Pine living building (PAE Engineers, ZGF Architects, Walsh Construction, Gerding Edlen Development)

Public official of the year: Nick Fish, city of Portland

Subcontractor of the year: REECE Complete Security Solutions

Superintendent of the year: Andy Morris, Walsh Construction

Supplier of the year: Pacific Furnishings

Sustainability leader of the year: Erica Spiritos, Swinerton Builders and Structurlam Mass Timber Corp.

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91��Ƶ announces its Newsmakers for 2018

91��Ƶ Staff — Tue, 20 Feb 2018 22:40:26 +0000

The Daily Journal of Commerce has released the list of 2018 Newsmakers, a group that will be honored during an awards event on March 28.

In a break with a tradition of selecting honorees in-house, the 91��Ƶ requested nominations in a variety of categories such as apprentice of the year, architect of the year and humanitarian of the year.

The resulting winners will be honored during an awards luncheon that will take place from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at The Sentinel hotel, 614 S.W. 11th Ave., in Portland. The awards program also will include tributes to two industry icons who died in 2017: Bob Frasca, founder of ZGF Architects, and Doug Macy, founder of Walker Macy.

Early-bird tickets for the event are on sale now for $70. The price will increase to $80 after March 2.

For registration and additional event information, visit djcorprod.wpengine.com/newsmakers-2018/.

The 2018 Newsmaker honorees are:

Apprentice of the Year: Cindy Benton, Lease Crutcher Lewis

Apprentice of the Year: Justin Ramsey, Zana Construction

Architect of the Year: Portland Japanese Garden architecture team (Kengo Kuma & Associates, Sadafumi Uchiyama, Hacker, Walker Macy, KPFF, PAE, EOA {Elmslie Osler Architect}, Luma Lighting Design, Listen Acoustics, Green Building Services, Anderson Krygier, Architectural Cost Consultants, The Bookin Group, GRI and Andy Paris & Associates)

Breakout Business of the Year: Bremik Construction

Business Development Professional of the Year: Eddie La Berge, Turner Construction

Client of the Year: Portland Office of Management & Finance

Commercial Real Estate Broker of the Year: Don Ossey, Capacity Commercial Group

Contractor of the Year: Hoffman Construction

Developer of the Year: Kevin Cavanaugh, Guerrilla Development

Educator of the Year: Montie Boyer, Northwest College of Construction

Engineer of the Year: DCI Engineers

Executive of the Year: Bart Ricketts, Lease Crutcher Lewis

Humanitarian of the Year: Advanced American Construction for the Schweiger Memorial Scholarship Fund

Innovator of the Year: Ben Kaiser, PATH Architecture/Kaiser Group

Interior Designer of the Year: SRG Partnership

Marketing Team of the Year: Skanska USA Building

Professional Service Provider of the Year: Andre Baugh, Group AGB Ltd.

Project Manager of the Year: Ryan Wasell, Swinerton Builders

Public Official of the Year: Steve Stuart, city of Ridgefield, Washington

Subcontractor of the Year: Faison Construction

Superintendent of the Year: Pete Bruns, Walsh Construction Co.

Sustainability Leader of the Year: Steve Clem, Skanska USA Building

Unsung Hero of the Year: Phil Wentz and Maryann Escriva, Tigard-Tualatin School District

Most Inspirational Built Industry Professional of the Year: Dale Neely, Delta Connects

Most Unique Project of the Year: Nishkian Dean

Construction Trade Association of the Year: Northwest Utility Contractors Association

Landscape Architecture Firm of the Year: Mayer/Reed

In Memoriam: Doug Macy, Founder/Principal, Walker Macy

In Memoriam: Bob Frasca, Founder, ZGF Architects

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Newsmakers 2016: SolTerra

Stephanie Basalyga — Thu, 03 Mar 2016 23:43:38 +0000

SolTerra (Sam Tenney/91��Ƶ)

founder Brian Heather describes his Portland-based business as a design-build firm, but that’s just scratching the surface of what the company does.

Heather started the firm in October 2008 just as the recession hit, a situation that SolTerra was able to leverage to its advantage.

“We were able to get some good people,” Heather said.

SolTerra quickly earned a foothold in the local building industry by designing and installing green roofs and living walls. Eventually, with an eye toward being able to control the entire process of the projects SolTerra worked on, Heather decided to shift the firm’s focus, moving to an all in-house approach – starting with development and design and carrying through construction to ownership – that now allows SolTerra to maintain control of the end product in a way that fulfills the firm’s mission and Heather’s vision.

“I realized we could better achieve our goals by taking over the process,” he said. “We became a design-build firm.”

The move has paid off. While the firm still works on a handful of green roof and living wall projects each year for outside clients, it mainly focuses on its own projects. SolTerra’s platinum-rated LEED project,, has been open for a year. Another project called will be done in a couple of months.

The firm also is keeping busy constructing a new net-zero headquarters building that Heather says is being built to meet to the AIA’s 2030 challenge. In order to meet that goal, the approximately 35,000-square-foot building will feature insulated concrete forms, which Heather describes as “like giant Legos of Styrofoam filled with concrete.”

“We’re going all out,” Heather said. “We’re really pushing the envelope.”

The building also likely will stand out in Portland for other design aspects as well: from a park on the roof to a rooted tree that will grow from the fifth floor out of the top of the structure to the outside.

Once completed, the new headquarters building will provide plenty of space for SolTerra to expand its research and development efforts, allowing staff to test and fine-tune a range of proprietary systems that will likely one day end up in future projects.

“We want to educate and create transparency,” Heather said, “and raise the bar for what’s out there.”

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91��Ƶ’s 2016 Newsmakers announced

91��Ƶ Staff — Mon, 11 Jan 2016 23:56:08 +0000

The Daily Journal of Commerce has announced its list of Newsmakers for 2016.

The Newsmakers awards event, now in its eighth year, recognizes individuals, private companies, public agencies and organizations that had an impact on, or played a significant role in, the region’s built environment during the past 12 months as well as those expected to have a significant impact during the coming year.

“The Newsmakers luncheon is a chance to celebrate the accomplishments of this industry in the moment,” 91��Ƶ Publisher Nick Bjork said. “But more than that, it’s the only chance to get all these amazing people in the same room, making connections that will allow for even better things in the future.

“There are a lot of award ceremonies, but we can’t think of a better crowd to come together to tell their stories, celebrate and get a chance to network with.”

This year’s Newsmakers list includes a posthumous award for Ron Paul, who died in December after serving for years as the lead advocate for the creation of the James Beard Public Market. Also, a new Editor’s Choice Award will be presented to Oregon Tradeswomen Inc.

The 25 Newsmakers for 2016 will be honored during a luncheon on March 3, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., at the Sentinel Hotel in downtown Portland. Early-bird tickets are $60. The price will increase to $70 after Feb. 18.

Registration is available online at djcorprod.wpengine.com/newsmakers-2016/. For more information, including event and table sponsorship, contact Bill Beyer, 91��Ƶ advertising director, at 503-802-7232 or bill.beyer@djcOregon.com.

The 2016 Newsmakers are:

• American Assets Trust

• BluBloc

• Brian Emerick (Emerick Architects)

• DR Johnson Lumber Co.

• EC Company

• Holst Architecture

• Iain MacKenzie (Next Portland)

• Interface Engineering

• Kiewit Infrastructure West Co.

• Killian Pacific

• Lease Crutcher Lewis

• National Association of Minority Contractors – Oregon

• Oregon Health & Science University

• Oregon State University – AGC student chapter

• Oregon Tradeswomen Inc. (Editor’s Choice Award)

• Oregon Zoo

• Patrick Kessi (PHK Development)

• Portland Housing Bureau

• Robert Grott (Northwest Environmental Business Council)

• Ron Paul (posthumous)

• SolTerra

• Teresa Elliott (Portland Water Bureau)

• Tim Gauthier (NECA)

• Tim Ramis (Jordan Ramis)

• Tom DiChiara (Cairn Pacific)

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2015 Newsmakers: Colas Construction

Rick Arnett — Mon, 09 Mar 2015 22:32:42 +0000

Andrew Colas (Sam Tenney/91��Ƶ)

Andrew Colas is adamant about his inspiration as president and co-owner of Colas Construction.

“My dad (Hermann Colas Jr.) started this business in 1997,” Colas said. “His ideals, his business approach, his work ethic is really what we’ve built on.”

That strong foundation helped the firm make headlines this past August when Colas Construction was selected to serve as general contractor for a new Natural Grocers store in Northeast Portland. Colas played a role in helping Majestic Realty, the developer of the mixed-use project, woo the company as an anchor tenant.

The contract is an important one for Colas and his firm. Ground will be broken at Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Alberta Street, in the historically ethnic King neighborhood. Colas is resistant to calling the project taking place in that neighborhood gentrification; he prefers, instead, to see it as an opportunity for minority-owned firms and businesses like his.

“Considering Majestic (the owners of the development where Natural Grocers is moving) is a large real estate company, they had the opportunity to choose any contractor they wanted.” Colas said. “Colas was chosen based on who we are, what we do and how we do it.”

Colas Construction has plenty to keep it busy until that project is in full swing. The company is working on the IronCrest Estates in Gresham and a new office building for Hacienda Project.

Colas also serves as president of the Oregon chapter of the National Association of Minority Contractors, a role that reinforces the basics on which he and his father have built their family business. Colas Construction not only seeks to employ minorities, but takes special care to select subcontractors that have a diverse workforce. The company also leads by example, helping subcontractors understand the positive ripple effect that hiring locally and making good jobs with living wages available for minority companies can have on neighborhoods.

“Most projects within the city are in neighborhoods.” Colas said. “Those new businesses and housing will serve those neighborhoods. Including people from those neighborhoods on construction projects builds community. These are opportunities that help a neighborhood to grow and prosper and opportunities for subcontractors, large and small. It creates economic impacts that sustain neighborhoods. You can’t outsource construction.”

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2015 Newsmakers: CrowdStreet

Rick Arnett — Tue, 03 Mar 2015 23:47:33 +0000

CrowdStreet (Courtesy of CrowdStreet)

Growth of any market requires innovative approaches to problem solving. So when Tore Steen and Darren Powderly noticed that technology was changing the investment market – and that there was a need and a method to garner investments – they decided to get creative.

To create their solution, the two men took an existing example and then added some twists.

“Charles Schwab is kind of the great market example of e-commerce,” Steen said. “We’re taking parts of that approach and applying it to a very select group of qualified investors, and an equally select group of projects.

The end result was CrowdStreet, which uses the now-popular trend of crowdfunding to fuel investments in real estate.

The CrowdStreet approach is to qualify the investor and the developer to determine the best of both. Project details are readily available on the CrowdStreet website, and the investment opportunities have the same integrity as the investors.

“We’re building security in our projects,” said Steen, who also acts as CrowdStreet’s CEO. “By carefully selecting the projects we participate in, we can assure clients of the strength of the project. … Building a client base by crowdsourcing makes it easier for them to invest, and that makes it easier for projects to go forward.

CrowdStreet’s studies show that most investors watch a minimum of two minutes of the videos offered for projects. Offering viewing by project groups instead of individually allows for more efficient marketing. The entire process has been simplified to allow investors to complete the process entirely online if they so choose, which many do.

So far, the CrowdStreet team has obtained investment funding on five projects, including a multifamily one, Steen said. The company has earned mentions and attention from Huffington Post, the Wall Street Journal, Globestreet, the National Association of Realtors, Entrepreneur and the National Association of Real Estate Investors.

This past September CrowdStreet also secured $800,000 in seed capital, an infusion of money that the firm is sinking into adding engineering talent and boosting marketing along with other outbound efforts.

“It’s a new avenue into the real estate investment market,” Steen said, “and it’s transforming the industry.”

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2015 Newsmakers: Works Partnership Architecture

Rick Arnett — Tue, 03 Mar 2015 23:42:42 +0000

William Neburka and Carrie Strickland (Joshua Jay Elliott, courtesy )

Works Partnership Architecture was formed in 2005 by Carrie Strickland and William Neburka. In the decade since opening its doors, the small but vibrant firm has garnered 31 awards and citations of merit, including 24 from the American Institute of Architects.

In addition to its recognition and awards, the firm last year found itself and its work on the pages of several local and regional design and business magazines.

MARK magazine featured Works Partnership Architecture projects twice in 2014. One mention highlighted the Overton 19 residential block of eight adaptable units that was completed in 2014. The project features a facade that forms a veil of “trees” to create both a sense of openness and privacy. The other focused on the firm’s design for 33rd and Division, an 8000-square-foot, mixed-use building with “punch-outs” that form small interior courtyards and exterior voids that let in light and create a more open feel to most of the spaces in the building.

GRAY magazine, a regional publication dedicated to covering the design arts in the Pacific Northwest, featured a profile on Strickland and a full spread on Block 75, a highly visible project that is part of ongoing redevelopment of the area at the east end of the Burnside Bridge in Portland. The first phase of the Block 75 project is to be a 130,000-square-foot concrete structure that will synthesize commercial and residential communities. The magazine applauded Works Partnership Architecture’s innovative design approach that will create a building that will be visually impressive and spatially functional, yet still very unique in its surroundings. Ground was recently broken, and the project will continue through this year.

The firm also garnered three awards from the Portland AIA chapter in 2014 for 33rd & Division, Overton 19 and the Bowstring Truss house. The latter is a former cereal warehouse with holes punched through the ceiling, large but airy roof truss members installed and integrated into the overall aesthetic of the interior.

With several projects ongoing, it’s a good bet that the region will see Works Partnership Architecture continue its winning ways in 2015 and beyond.

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2015 Newsmakers: Ed Wortman and Sharon Wood Wortman

Rick Arnett — Tue, 03 Mar 2015 23:39:34 +0000

Ed Wortman and Sharon Wood Wortman (Sam Tenney/91��Ƶ)

Sharon Wood Wortman and her husband, Ed Wortman, celebrated 2014 by releasing a children’s book about the Portland area’s bridges. But their love affair with the local structures began long before that.

“I was a clerk at Union Pacific and had a chance to write about Portland’s big river bridges for The Oregonian,” Wood Wortman said. “It ended up being an 11-week, 20,000-word series published in the spring of 1984.”

As more people turned to Wood Wortman to learn about the city structures, she decided to write “The Portland Bridge Book,” which was published in 1989 by the Oregon Historical Society Press.

By 1993, she was teaching classes about the local bridges and leading bridge walks. While doing research for a story about the 20th anniversary of the Fremont Bridge, she met Ed Wortman, an engineer who helped construct the big arch in the 1970s. The couple married in 1998, and in 2001 co-wrote the second edition of “The Portland Bridge Book.”

A third edition of the book was printed in 2006. All three editions of the book were essentially for adults, but they found their way into the hands of children and teachers. From teachers’ inquiries, she and Ed decided to create a book about bridges specifically for young readers.

They found plenty of people willing to help make the book a reality. Five students in the graphic design program at Portland Community College created the layout. More than 150 artists and organizations contributed to the publication, which includes artwork and poetry from adults and kids, interviews with experts, and even a section on bridge building and load testing. The book’s publishing cost was covered, in part, via contributions from about 75 firms and individuals.

“The Big & Awesome Bridges of Portland & Vancouver – a Book for Young Readers and Their Teachers” was published in late 2014 by PDX Bridge Festival Inc., and Urban Adventure Press, in cooperation with Portland Public Schools. Nearly 4,500 copies were delivered to both PPS and Vancouver School District in December 2014.

“I led walks and taught about bridges for 20 years; Ed is now working on the Sellwood Bridge,” Wood Wortman said. “Big & Awesome was something we really loved doing. I’d call it a legacy project. You could say that for (us), it’s a book of gratitude.”

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2015 Newsmakers: Vigor Industrial

Rick Arnett — Tue, 03 Mar 2015 23:36:41 +0000

Vigor Industrial (Sam Tenney/91��Ƶ)

Until last year, the role that Vigor Industrial plays in Portland’s economy was likely not on the radar of the average person.

Last year’s construction of the Vigorous, a 960-foot-long dry dock where ships can come for repairs changed that.

The interior of the dry dock is the equivalent of three football fields laid end-to-end. The capacity is spacious enough to fit the largest ship of World War II, the Japanese battleship Yamato, and is well beyond the capacity of today’s medium-sized cruise ships.

“We’ve done this more than a few times,” said Dave Whitcomb, president and CEO of Vigor Industrial. “In fact, the Vigorous is about the same size as the dry dock that was there before. We’ve moved that to another facility. This vessel slid right into the spot.”

The new dry dock facilities were christened Oct, 29, 2014, and the first cargo ship slipped in a few days later.

Established 20 years ago, Vigor has since grown to be one of the major shipbuilding and repair companies in the Pacific Northwest with more than 2,300 employees, 95 percent of whom are from the Portland-Vancouver area.

“That’s a significant effect on the local economy,” Whitcomb said.

Vigorous joined several smaller floating dry docks owned and operated in Portland by Vigor Industrial. But the size of the Vigorous inspires awe even in shipbuilding and repair veterans like Whitcomb.

“There’s a fascination we all have with projects and machines this big,” he said. “I still have a kind of excitement sometimes when a project is over because it almost feels like playing. This is what we specialize in. This is what we do every day. Just another day at the office and I still get excited about working on big projects.

“The difference is that it all happens because of people. No matter how big the job, it gets done because we have the right people on the job. We booked over 90,000 hours putting the Vigorous in place, and those are just our employees. It doesn’t count subcontractors. We’re a big part of Portland.”

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