A public celebration to mark the grand reopening of the Portland Building has been postponed by the city over coronavirus concerns. Citing the health risk of large public gatherings to senior citizens and other vulnerable populations, the city announced Wednesday that the event, originally planned for March 19, will be delayed.

“We are, of course, disappointed,” Heather Hafer, a public information officer with the city’s Office of Management and Finance, stated in a press release. “However, we need to put health and safety first as our community responds to the spread of COVID-19.”

The reconstruction project was undertaken to address a number of concerns with the 38-year-old building, including moisture intrusion, poor air and interior daylighting. The design/build/relocate team of Howard S. Wright and DLR Group began work on the project in late 2017, and city bureaus began a phased return to the renovated building beginning in December 2019.

A panel discussion planned in conjunction with the celebration has also been postponed. That was to have been moderated by Brian Libby and include a pair of architects who worked on the original design for Michael Graves Architecture & Design as well as two architects with DLR Group, which led the design of the restoration project.

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An audit of the Portland Building rehabilitation project released Wednesday by city Auditor Mary Hull Caballero found a lack of transparency in the project’s budget amid a 10 percent cost increase. In addition, the audit faults the city for failing to distribute nearly $1 million in funding set aside for minority contractors and falling short of meeting certain goals and aspirations set for the project.

The massive renovation is forecast to be completed ahead of schedule, but costs have grown to an estimated $214 million, 10 percent more than the initial $195 million budget. The design/build/relocate team of Howard S. Wright and DLR Group began work on the three-year project in late 2017.

According to , the project team in late 2016 began eliminating elements from the scope of work in order to stay within the allotted $195 million budget. Those exclusions included tenant improvements on two and a half floors of office space and a first-floor child care center, as well as furnishings and technology equipment. Four months later, the project team began requesting funding to add back those exclusions as separate projects outside the given budget. While the project team was open about the individual funding requests, the audit finds, it was not transparent about the cumulative cost of the add-backs and the resulting escalation of the overall project cost.

The audit also found that the city has yet to disburse about $950,000 in project dollars set aside for equity grants aimed at addressing historical inequities in contracting and improving workforce diversity. In July 2016, City Council approved setting aside $1 million, about 1 percent of the project’s hard construction costs, to be dispersed periodically throughout the project in support of disadvantaged subcontractors and workers. Aside from a $50,000 contribution in late 2018 to a Metro workforce study, no other community benefits grants have been awarded.

A grant opportunity announced in April 2018, using funds from the Portland Building project and two other city projects, drew 39 applications, including 12 Portland Building-specific proposals. Despite available funds and interested applicants, the audit states, the city’s Office of Management and Finance did not award any funds as scheduled by October 2018, and as of the end of the calendar year had not communicated with applicants about the status of their applications or informed them as to why the grants were not awarded.

While the project is on track to meet minimum requirements – including elimination of moisture penetration, seismic upgrades and HVAC replacement – the audit found that discussions were not held with City Council or the project’s oversight committee about what has been done to reach beyond minimum requirements to achieve advanced goals and aspirations set forth in the project charter. Examples provided in the audit include aspirations and goals likely to not be met in the building’s accessibility, sustainability and historic preservation.

A response to the audit issued by Mayor Ted Wheeler and Tom Rinehart, the city’s Chief Administrative Officer, states that the project team has been open about items proposed outside of the budget, and that furnishings, technology equipment and child care center build-out were never part of the project scope. Also, the response states, the undisbursed equity funds will be released once the Community Opportunity and Enhancement Program is established through Prosper Portland, as directed by City Council.

The audit is a follow-up to a 2016 report issued under Caballero while the project was still in its planning stage. That report predicted that the project scope could narrow because of the city placing constraints on the project’s timeline and budget, leaving the scope the only project element open for flexibility.

The Auditor’s office will follow up in one year with recommendations made in the audit. Also, a separate audit of the construction contract is under way, with results due to be reported later this year.

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Peter Meijer lost the battle to preserve the Portland Building‘s façade, but the local architect has been recognized for his efforts.

Docomomo US recently gave Meijer its 2019 Advocacy Award of Excellence. He “played a pivotal role in speaking up and advocating for the sensitive preservation of the Postmodern icon,” the organization stated.

“It’s quite an honor for me to receive it,” Meijer said in an interview. “It’s a bit bittersweet in that it’s an advocacy award for preservation of a building for which the conversation went a different direction.”

The Portland Building was designed by Michael Graves and completed in 1982. A $195 million project is under way to renovate and modernize the city building. Work includes repair and replacement of the exterior.

The imposing concrete-faced building, in the face of criticism, represented a key moment in architectural style, Meijer said. Graves “essentially started the postmodern movement,” he said.

“The local community overwhelmingly hated that building, whereas the national and international community recognized it as a piece of (postmodern) work,” Meijer said.

Postmodernism is a new front for historic preservation advocates as the buildings reach 40 or 50 years old.

“It was trying to start the conversation about the appropriate approach to postmodern buildings when they have reached a time, an age where when they need to be invested in,” Meijer said.

While it’s relatively easy to muster public support for preserving the Pittock Mansion or Pioneer Courthouse, the idea of preserving a building that hadn’t reached its 40th birthday is a tougher task.

“The easiest buildings to justify saving, and putting a lot of effort and treasure into saving, are those that people have loved for a long time,” said Tim Eddy, president of Hennebery Eddy Architects. “They’re buildings that people relate to; there’s seldom any argument there. It’s also important to save buildings that are markers of our past and our architectural legacy.”

Docomomo has continued to document the work to dismantle the Portland Building’s façade as the project has continued.

“Not all preservation advocacy efforts result in a positive outcome, but these efforts would never happen in the first place without one person carrying the banner, holding the megaphone, taking the lead, and Peter has exhibited that strongly in this case and throughout his career,” Docomomo US Director Gunny Harboe stated in announcing Meijer’s award.

Meijer served as the founding president of Docomomo’s Oregon chapter, which was created in 2012. The group has lobbied for the preservation of other architecturally notable Portland buildings, including Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

The original Portland Building project was affected by the city’s budget and came as the nation was suffering from an energy crisis.

“It was a public competition and the city had ‘X’ amount of dollars, and it was built for ‘X’ amount of dollars,” Meijer said.

The building was not fully executed according to Graves’ vision, said Peggy Moretti, executive director of Restore Oregon.

“It just presented some very unique challenges and is an example of cutting some corners,” she said.

Restore Oregon has not focused on restoring postmodern buildings, instead favoring midcentury modern ones and those from other architectural periods, Moretti said.

“Every era has its good and its bad examples,” she said. “There are going to be important (postmodern) examples that are definitely worth preserving, and others where choices will be made. It’s something I think we’ll be thinking about the next 10 years.”

Building renovation approaching completion

The Portland Building renovation is on time and on budget, according to a quarterly report from the Community Oversight Committee. However, the project is likely to fall short of meeting goals for participation by minority and emerging small business contractors, according to the committee’s fourth-quarter 2018 report. Overall equity goals were on track.

“Social equity remains a source of concern as it appears that the team’s individual social equity goals for subcontract utilization will not be reached,” the committee stated. “The committee has recommended various forms of outreach to ensure more subcontractors can access the project.”

A spokeswoman for the Office of Management and Finance could not be reached for comment.

Howard S. Wright is the general contractor for the project. The city expects to commission a survey of all subcontractors contacted during the bidding process regarding their experience, according to the report.

City bureaus are expected to move back into the Portland Building in November, with a “soft opening” to the public scheduled for Dec. 16. A grand opening and media day will follow in January 2020. – Chuck Slothower

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The growing Portland Bureau of Transportation has reached agreement on a five-year lease of space at a downtown office building.

The transportation agency will take additional office space at Sixth + Main (formerly named the Congress Center), at 1001 S.W. Fifth Ave. The building is diagonally adjacent to the Portland Building, PBOT‘s usual office, which is undergoing an extensive renovation.

PBOT is already using portions of the fourth, fifth and sixth floors at Sixth + Main. That space is fully occupied, according to a draft City Council ordinance to authorize the lease.

The bureau is “experiencing unprecedented growth in terms of workload and staffing,” the draft ordinance states. PBOT plans to hire 72 additional employees this year. The Portland Building cannot accommodate the increased staffing, according to the draft ordinance.

There are no city-owned buildings with sufficient space to meet PBOT’s growth, the ordinance states. Leases by city bureaus must be brought to the City Council for approval.

It’s not clear how much additional space the bureau is seeking. A PBOT spokesman did not respond Wednesday to a message seeking comment.

The lease is estimated to cost $612,500 a year, or more than $3 million during the lease period.

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Northwest Scaffold crews are erecting a protective covering around the 35-foot-tall Portlandia statue as the Portland Building undergoes a $195 million reconstruction. The design/build/relocate team of DLR Group and Howard S. Wright Construction began demolition work on the project in December 2017. The three-year rebuild will address a number of issues with the 36-year-old building, including moisture penetration and poor air quality, by covering the façade with a metal tile rain screen system. The building will also be seismically upgraded with a shear core and column wrapping, and mechanical systems will be upgraded for improved efficiency. The iconic statue will remain covered by the scaffolding until November 2019.

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The Portland City Council on Wednesday accepted an amendment to the construction contract for the renovation of the Portland Building. The amendment sets a maximum price of $147.35 million for Howard S. Wright Construction Co.‘s portion of work on the project. The council approved the amendment with a 4-0 vote.

“Now we have a (price) that can’t be exceeded, which guarantees the city risks on the hard construction costs,” Portland Chief Administrative Officer Tom Rinehart said. “We are also on track for LEED gold certification.”

The amendment means Howard S. Wright will be responsible for any cost overruns beyond $147.35 million. The total price tag for the project was set by the City Council in 2015.

“The project is on budget with the total holding at $195 million,” said Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler said.

The $47.65 million not devoted to construction is being set aside to cover items such as project management, specialty consultants, telecommunications leases and utilities and owner-controlled contingencies for unforeseen conditions.

With the amendment signed, Howard S. Wright can tackle the major construction phase.

“Basically they own the building now,” said Jen Clodius, senior management analyst and public affairs officer for the Office of Management and Finance. “We are running ahead of schedule.”

Project completion is scheduled by the end of 2020.

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The Portland City Council made a tentative August decision official Wednesday morning, striking down a condition attached to the Historic Landmarks Commission’s approval of a plan to renovate the Portland Building.

The Portland City Council made a tentative August decision official Wednesday morning, striking down a condition attached to the Historic Landmarks Commission’s approval of a plan to renovate the Portland Building. The decision also finalized a rejection of architect Peter Meijer‘s appeal of project approval. The final vote was 4-0; Commissioner Nick Fish abstained.

DLR Group‘s appeal centered on a condition that would have required either a 50 percent reduction in the size of HVAC equipment planned for the building’s rooftop or moving the equipment inside.

DLR Group architects claimed that the condition could not be met without recreating many of the building’s existing problems, such as poor air quality.

Meijer had wanted the City Council to remand the $195 million project to the Historic Landmarks Commission for further modification.

The proposed renovation calls for placement of a rain screen over the building’s exterior. The rain screen would closely resemble but not exactly match the building’s existing appearance. That sparked fears that the building could be de-listed from the National Register of Historic Places.

Designers argued that the rain screen was the best option to solve continual problems including water leakage and inadequate lighting.

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The Portland City Council on Thursday tentatively struck down a condition attached to the Historic Landmarks Commission‘s approval of a plan to repair the Portland Building. The council also tentatively denied an appeal by architect Peter Meijer of the entire project approval. Both decisions, by 4-0 votes, are expected to become final on Sept. 13, when they are formalized by city staff and given a final reading by the council before another vote.

The plan for the $195 million project is to address water leakage, interior lighting and air problems by covering the façade with a metal rain screen. It would closely, but not exactly, be true to the building’s postmodern appearance.

“It’s considered a sick building,” Commissioner Chloe Eudaly said. “It’s the best plan possible.”

The project team’s plan calls for placement of a larger HVAC system on the building’s roof as well as larger tiles on the façade and lighter windows. The Historic Landmarks Commission approved the design with the condition that the size of the mechanical equipment on the roof be reduced by 50 percent or moved inside.

Project designer DLR Group asked the City Council to remove that condition.

“In order to function, (HVAC units) need to take in fresh air,” said Erica Ceder, a project architect with DLR Group. “The best source for high-quality outside air is at roof level.”

There is no technical way to meet the condition without significantly impacting the building’s performance, Ceder said. Moving the units inside would require adding louvers to take in air from outside the building at a lower level. Since the building sits near downtown bus lanes, air quality issues inside the building would persist, according to Ceder.

Currently, the HVAC system takes up much of the building’s second floor. A change to meet the condition would also increase the project’s cost, according to Ceder. Also, the equipment would not be seen by the vast majority of people outside the building, she said.

“We have provided sightline diagrams that prove that from any location around the building or across the street you would not be able to see the proposed mechanical units,” she said.

Regardless of the size of mechanical equipment, Meijer claimed, the entire plan is flawed, should be scrapped and the city should start over. He cited a letter from the National Park Service that stated the proposed plan could cause the building to be de-listed from the National Register of Historic Places.

“The project is also bad urban design,” he said. “I am asking you to reverse the commission’s approval. Go back to your design team and have them start over because this is the wrong approach to this project.”

Historic Landmarks Commissioner Matthew Roman said that given a choice between having the entire approval thrown out or having the condition removed, he would prefer the latter. He recognized designers’ limited options.

“We didn’t see the materiality of the building as being its most character-defining feature,” he said.

After a hearing that lasted nearly two hours, the City Council engaged in discussion for approximately 10 minutes before agreeing to remove the condition and reject Meijer’s appeal. The council knows many people have strong opinions about the Portland Building.

“I am one of those people who have always been critical of this building,” Mayor Ted Wheeler said. “It’s like one of those artworks that sparks a lot of conversation and a lot of debate. It would be my preference to not put large HVAC units on the roof, but I also understand why we are doing it.”

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The city of Portland is appealing the Historic Landmarks Commission‘s conditional approval of a renovation plan for the Portland Building in downtown.  The conditional approval passed by a 4-0 vote at a July 24 hearing.

The plan for the $195 million renovation involves the use of a metal tile rain screen system to cover the exterior of the building. It would simulate the building’s existing appearance and address many of the problems that have plagued the structure.

The sticking point revolves around a condition of the Landmarks Commission’s approval that requires the proposed rooftop mechanical equipment be reduced by 50 percent or moved inside the building, according to Jen Clodius, a spokeswoman for the city.

During the July hearing, Landmarks Commission members said they felt the equipment being proposed was too large and would be too visible sitting atop the iconic building, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Design team members said they were concerned that moving the mechanical equipment inside the structure would recreate many of the problems that the current building has suffered. Currently, mechanical equipment for the building sits on the second floor of the structure.

The appeal is scheduled to go before the Portland City Council at 3 p.m. on Aug. 24.

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The Portland Historic Landmarks Commission voted 4-0 on Monday to issue conditional approval of renovation plans for the Portland Building.

Commissioners Carin Carlson, Annie Mahoney, Wendy Chung and Matthew Roman all voted in favor of the $195 million proposal that includes installation of a rain screen. Two commissioners, Kristen Minor and Kirk Ranzetta, were not present at Monday’s hearing.

Plans call for use of a metal tile system to cover the building. It would simulate the building’s existing appearance, and address many of the problems that have plagued the structure.

One of the conditions attached by the commission is that the tile system match the color of tile now on the building. Previously, the commission also sought to ensure that the new tile also match the size of existing tile. However, Erica Ceder, a project architect with DLR Group, said that would not be possible. A system with 18-inch-by-18-inch tile is planned.

“The main issue with the (9-inch-by-9-inch) tile size making a rain screen is that most manufacturers won’t provide tiles that size for that application,” she told the commission on Monday.

There is no way to replicate the smaller tile size without badly impacting the building’s appearance, Ceder said.

“We don’t have another option,” she said. “We feel strongly that anything else isn’t going to give the appearance everyone is hoping for. If this condition was accepted by the commission, we would probably take this to appeal.”

The commission agreed to compromise.

“I am willing to give up (the size) condition, but would like to see the color is an exact match,” Roman said.

Another condition involved the placement of mechanical equipment. The commission believes the equipment is too massive for the top of the iconic structure. A condition was adopted for either the scale of the equipment to be reduced by 50 percent or the equipment be moved inside.

Also, the commission addressed concern raised at a hearing on June 26 that the Portland Building could lose its listing on the National Register of Historic Places because of planned changes. The commission settled for a stipulation that if the national designation is lost, the city would attempt to secure local landmark status for the building. The city had previously stated in a memo to the commission that it would take such action.

“If the applicant is willing to pursue local landmark status, I think that would be something that would be a demonstration of their earnestness to make sure the right things are done here,” Roman said.

If Portland city planners and DLR Group architects find they can’t abide by the conditions, they may still appeal the decision to the City Council. Individual conditions can’t be appealed.

Ceder said the team would have to further examine the commission’s decision before deciding how to move forward.

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