Project name: Oregon State University Cordley Hall

Location: Corvallis

Completion: April 2024

Size: 220,000 square feet

Cost: $147,040,060

Owner: Oregon State University

Architect: Hennebery Eddy Architects

Interior Designer: Hennebery Eddy Architects

Engineers: KPFF, Systems West Engineering, The Estime Group

General Contractor: Andersen Construction

Submitting Company: Andersen Construction

Key Participants: OSU Departments of Biology, Finance, Design & Construction, College of Agricultural Sciences (key players in space planning and securing grant funding); state of Oregon

Subcontractors: Andersen Construction, Black Line Glazing, D&R Masonry, Floor Solutions, Fought & Co., Griffith Roofing, ISEC, JS Perrott & Co., K&D, McKinstry Fire Protection, McKinstry Piping, OEG, Oregon Commercial Painters, Otis, Pacific Excavation, Pioneer Waterproofing, R3 Engraving and Signs, Rexius, Schonert & Associates, Skyline Sheet Metal, Station Cos., Streimer Sheet Metal, TGC Structural, WH Cress, WPI

A 1950s-era science building at Oregon State University has been transformed into a state-of-the-art research facility through an innovative renovation that maintained operations throughout construction.

Cordley Hall, which houses two science departments serving more than 1,100 students annually, underwent a comprehensive renovation beginning in summer 2020. The project, divided into East and West phases to allow continued occupancy, introduced modern biology research labs, a 220-seat lecture hall, and flexible laboratory spaces.

The renovation represents a strategic investment in the university’s infrastructure. The project reduced OSU’s deferred maintenance backlog by $45 million.

The renovation brought significant upgrades to the aging structure, including seismic safety improvements, accessibility enhancements, new mechanical and electrical systems with standby power, and updated fire protection systems.

Among the project’s standout features is a revitalized courtyard designed by artist Ann Hamilton, featuring custom pavers embossed with DNA sequences representing the last universal common ancestor shared by all living organisms.

The renovation also introduced a new 5,816-square-foot District Utility Plant supporting Cordley Hall and five additional campus buildings. This centralized cooling approach marks a new energy efficiency model for the university, contributing to energy consumption levels 36 percent below code requirements and approximately $150,000 in annual energy cost savings.

Rather than demolishing the structure, preserving the original building reduced material waste and maintained the historical character of the campus. The building now meets LEED Gold equivalency standards under OSU’s Requirements for Sustainable Development program.

Cordley Hall houses the departments of Integrative Biology and Botany and Plant Pathology, serving both the College of Science and the College of Agricultural Sciences. It also accommodates two significant natural history collections – the Herbarium and the Oregon State Arthropod Collection – comprising more than 3.5 million specimens that are now more prominently displayed for public access.

The renovation utilized Building Information Modeling for detailed planning, implemented chilled beam technology for efficient cooling, and incorporated fiber-reinforced materials for structural integrity, all while preserving the building’s historic character.

The project required 15 percent apprenticeship involvement. Andersen Construction’s onsite labor came in at 26 percent for apprenticeship hours, 22 percent for minority hours and 5 percent for hours worked by women.

OSU’s departments of Biology, Finance, Design & Construction, and College of Agricultural Sciences played key roles in planning the spaces and securing grant funding for the project. Funding sources included the state of Oregon, $104 million; OSU, $55 million; and grants, $10.5 million.

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Project name: Holly Theatre Restoration/Renovation

Location: Medford

Completion: December 2024

Size: 16,000 square feet

Owner/Developer: Holly Theatre LLC

Architect: Oregon Architecture

General Contractor: Outlier Construction

Submitting Company: Outlier Construction

Subcontractors: Bell Hardware, Christian Massey, Firestop, Gale Insulation, LLAD Concrete, Maranatha Painting, Metal Masters, Precision Electric, Pressure Point Roofing, Quality Fencing, Rogue Iron, Rubenstein’s Flooring, TerraFirma, ThyssenKrupp, Van Row Mechanical

A historic theater renovation project is breathing new life into the downtown area, combining preservation of the past with modern amenities for the future.

Outlier Construction, working with a team of specialists, completed an extensive renovation of the Holly Theater, addressing significant structural challenges while preserving the venue’s historic character.

One of the project’s most impressive engineering feats involved the correction of a 6-inch sag in the original 55-foot span girder trusses. The construction team removed 80 percent of the sag using custom 8-inch steel columns and hydraulic jacks to stabilize the trusses before adding structural reinforcements. Each girder truss received structural blocking and backing, new custom structural steel gussets with through bolts, and vertical and horizontal tie rods.

The building’s auditorium walls, which stand approximately 60 feet high, and stage walls, reaching nearly 80 feet, required installation of structural helical piles to protect against future seismic events.

The project team prioritized preserving and restoring original architectural features including the façade, decorative elements, moldings and period-appropriate paint and artwork while incorporating modern systems.

A new three-phase 2400A electrical service was installed, along with energy-efficient LED lighting, high-performance insulation and state-of-the-art HVAC systems. The auditorium received linear diffusers in the ceiling to provide adequate air distribution without detracting from architectural features.

To ensure optimal sound quality for concerts, movies and live shows, acoustic specialists were brought in to optimize the auditorium’s acoustics.

The theater renovation required close coordination with the City of Medford’s public works, planning and building departments. Jefferson Public Radio, a non-profit public radio station serving as the theater’s operating manager, provided high level and frequent communications to the team, helping coordinate construction with the project’s complex funding constraints from numerous donors and grants.

The renovated theater is expected to boost the local economy by attracting tourists and theatergoers to nearby restaurants, hotels and shops, potentially creating a “cultural district” that benefits local commerce. The project also serves as an example of sustainable renovation practices while providing a space for local artists and potentially offering educational programs for children, schools and community groups.

“Through meticulous craftsmanship, innovative engineering, and an unwavering commitment to authenticity, the project overcomes decades of deterioration to breathe new life into a cherished piece of Oregon’s history,” a representative noted in the project submission form. “It stands as a shining example of how visionary restoration can blend the past with the future.”

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With aging office buildings trading at discounts because of high vacancies, developers have opportunities to invest in conversions of buildings into housing, education facilities, hotels, life science centers, and health clinics, according to a published by Gensler late last year.

The surplus of outdated office buildings and the flight of office users out of many cities has led to a boom in such projects, according to the firm. The adaptive reuse boom is poised to create valuable new real estate, Maurice Reid, office managing director in Gensler’s Portland office, stated in an email. Creative conversions could include retail to health care, retail to sports, office to senior living, and office to science labs, according to Gensler.

“While conversions have been discussed a lot over the last year, conversations have shifted to alternative options for these transformations, especially considering the challenging policies that make such conversions more cost-prohibitive,” Reid stated.

Permits issued in Portland from January 2024 through April 2025 led to completed conversions such as an office space to an ice cream shop at 3987 N. Mississippi Ave.; a vacant athletic facility to a retail store at 9312 S.E. Stark St.; a tattoo shop to a comedy club at 1510 S.E. Ninth Ave.; an open office space to a pickleball area at 2201 N.E. Lloyd Center (suite F); and an auto repair shop to a food court and bar at 16116 N.E. Halsey St.

Conversions in the works include a billiard hall to a coffee shop at 8435 S.E. Powell Blvd.; a chiropractic clinic to a restaurant at 7834 S.E. 13th Ave.; and an office to a coffee shop at 4826 N.E. 105th Ave.

Converting offices into residential spaces holds promise, Reid stated. But there is a growing concern about what to do with buildings that are not suitable for housing and will not recover as office spaces, he added.

“It’s worth exploring how former courthouses, grand bank buildings, and historic public structures — no longer serving their original purposes — could be repurposed into recreation centers, sports facilities, and community hubs, offering new ways for people to connect with and engage in their cities,” Reid stated.

Old courthouses with large internal courtyards could be covered with glass roofs, creating indoor atriums that house climbing walls, racquet courts, and multipurpose recreational areas, Reid stated. Other new uses could include cafes, lounges and social gathering areas.

Gensler is seeing a significant number of office-to-residential conversions happening on the East Coast, where seismic upgrades are not required.

The Oregon Casket Building and the Falcon Building are the first two office-to-residential conversions that have been issued permits and remain on track for completion, Portland Permitting & Development spokesperson Ken Ray stated in an email.

A project team plans to convert the Oregon Casket Building, at 403 N.W. Fifth Ave. in Old Town, into a 25,000-square-foot mixed-use building with 34 residential units and retail space. The exterior scope of work would be limited to replacing windows and doors and reconstructing the storefront along Fifth Avenue. Design Research Office is the project designer. Construction is expected to start in January 2026 and finish around March 2027.

The Falcon Building, at 321 N.W. Glisan St., previously held 85,500 square feet of office space. It’s set to become 59 units of middle-income housing. In January, the project team submitted a building permit request. The permit intake was approved by Portland Permitting & Development, but fees must be paid prior to review. The project’s design is by Brett Schulz, Architect PC.

Portland City Council in March 2023 passed incentives for building conversions. One exempts developers of office-to-residential building conversions from paying system development charges (SDCs). This exemption applies to conversion of an office building to residential use when a required seismic upgrade is completed as part of the process. The city will cover up to $3 million in SDCs or the cost of the seismic upgrade, whichever is lower.

A second incentive amends the seismic design requirements for office-to-residential conversions to meet the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) 41-BPOE (Basic Performance Objective for Existing Buildings) standard, which is for life safety – enabling occupants of a building to exit it safely following a major earthquake. The change could ensure feasibility for some projects.

Also, a city initiative to boost housing development is under consideration in Portland. The proposed ordinance would waive SDCs until either 5,000 housing units are built or three years pass. The proposal will go before the Revenue Committee in early June and then the Portland City Council.

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The 197,000-square-foot Veterans Memorial Coliseum, in Portland’s Rose Quarter, will soon receive some TLC. The arena will close this summer and again in summer 2025 to allow construction of a variety of improvements.

Portland’s Spectator Venues Program, within the Office of Management and Finance (OMF), oversees the Veterans Memorial Coliseum (VMC), which opened in 1960. The arena hosts a total of approximately 400,000 people at around 100 events annually.

The building has received minor renovations and repairs over the years, but many of the primary systems, equipment and furnishings are original and need attention. The Portland City Council in a resolution in 2011 voiced support for renovating the arena, but no plans progressed.

In 2015, OMF conducted a study of several renovation options for the venue, as well as closure and demolition options. The study confirmed the financial viability of a renovated multipurpose arena with upgraded essential systems, as well as enhancements that would increase the functionality and appeal for a broad range of events, a city staff report states.

The coliseum needs critical deferred maintenance as well as seating bowl modernization, OMF public information officer Carrie Belding said. The work will include improving electrical and plumbing infrastructure, the concourse, and restrooms, as well as replacing the scoreboard and audio system. Plans also call for seismic and safety upgrades. The seating bowl will gain accessible seating areas, as well as premium and group seating areas.

The work will be done in phases, so it does not interfere with Winterhawks hockey games or other events. Construction is scheduled to begin this summer in partnership with venue operator Rip City Management. The building will close in late June and reopen in late September. A second closure is expected in mid-June 2025 through early October 2025. The bulk of the construction will take place during the two closure periods. Some work may be done between events outside of the closures and may continue through 2026; however, no extended closure is planned in 2026.

The project’s architect of record and design and engineering lead is Perkins&Will, led by staff based in Denver. Scott Edwards Architecture is serving as the local architect. The team also includes civil engineer Vega Civil Engineering and structural engineer Madden & Baughman Engineering. Balfour Beatty Construction LLC of Dallas, Texas, is the general contractor.

The design budget, according to the contract, is not to exceed $6.1 million. The construction budget is $53.4 million. OMF does not anticipate costs will exceed these amounts, the department stated in an email.

According to OMF, $53.4 million in taxable bonds were sold in March. The debt service on these bonds is being covered entirely with Visitor Facilities Trust Account resources. This account is dedicated to investments in visitor facilities and the travel and tourism industry. It is governed by an agreement between the city of Portland, Multnomah County and Metro.

The Visitor Facilities Trust Account receives a portion of the transient lodging tax paid on hotel room stays and a portion of the vehicle rental license fee paid on car rentals. Annual debt service on the 20-year bonds is $4.3 million.

Design costs are being paid for with resources from the city’s Spectator Venues and Visitor Activities Fund, which is a dedicated city enterprise fund that receives revenues from ticket fees at Rose Quarter venues and Providence Park, parking revenues from the city-owned Rose Quarter parking garages, as well as an annual allocation from the Visitor Facilities Trust Account.

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The strongest oscillator in the world is digging more than 200 feet beneath the bottom of the Willamette River as part of work to seismically upgrade the Abernethy Bridge, which carries Interstate 205 between West Linn and Oregon City.

The 200,000-pound machine, affectionately named ‘Oscar the Oscillator,’ is digging to allow construction of 12-foot shafts for the bridge’s new support columns.

Abernethy Bridge, which opened in 1970, is one of nine bridges being seismically strengthened or replaced as part of Oregon Department of Transportation‘s I-205 Improvements Project.

Other work includes adding a third travel lane to seven miles of the freeway between Stafford Road and Oregon Route 213 to reduce congestion. Approximately 100,000 travelers move through this section every day, said Della Mosier, deputy director of ODOT’s Urban Mobility Office. The area suffers from traffic congestion around seven hours each day and sees about 150 crashes each year.

Kiewit Infrastructure is leading the construction, and Malcolm Drilling is contributing to the project.

Crews need about three to four weeks to create each shaft for the support columns, and so far, they have completed six of 28. The process starts with Oscar digging by oscillating back and forth. That advances a steel casing downward. The casing will protect the hole from caving in when being excavated and later become the sides of the foundation in its final configuration.

Once soil is loosened, a large bucket is attached to the oscillating equipment and lowered into the hole. The bucket can remove a scoop of dirt able to fill a standard dump truck, Mosier said.

This process of oscillating, advancing the steel casing, and excavating continues slowly until the basalt bedrock is reached about 200 feet down. Once casing is anchored, steel caging is installed.

“For a hole that is around 200 feet deep, it is difficult to have a crane that is tall enough to lower a cage that is 200 feet into the hole,” Mosier said.

So, the cages are built in sections 60 to 90 feet long. Two to three cages are needed to fill each hole, Mosier said. A crane is used to lower each section, which is then spliced with the next one.

Once the steel cages are in place, approximately 700 to 1,000 yards of concrete is poured to complete the shaft. For the first shaft completed in August, roughly 48 sensors were placed in the caging to track concrete density, said Ritch Schubert, marine operations manager at Kiewit. But none of the others will have sensors.

The project is anticipated to be complete in fall 2025.

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The city of Portland has decided to dissolve the unreinforced masonry work group that had been tasked with finding ways to protect Portlanders from seismically vulnerable brick buildings.

A resolution to disband the group will be on the City Council‘s agenda on Wednesday.

“The ongoing pandemic emergency, the historic racial justice movement, wildfires, and the ongoing protests have forced us to refocus our resources,” wrote Jonna Papaefthimiou, planning, policy and community programs manager for the Bureau of Emergency Management, in a letter to members of the work group.

Scientists have warned that Portland is at risk of being significantly affected by a sizable earthquake at some point within the next several decades. Unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings have been identified as particularly vulnerable.

Papaefthimiou wrote that earthquakes “continue to pose a significant threat to the safety of Portlanders.”

But she added that city bureaus including Emergency Management and Development Services have neither the funding nor the staff to simultaneously tackle URM-related work and the pandemic.

“Our colleagues at (the Bureau of Development Services) are experiencing transformation of another kind, as they develop new systems to meet the needs of property owners and builders in a virtual format,” Papaefthimiou wrote.

Neither bureau has capacity to lead a URM policy-making effort in the coming year. In the current economic climate, funds for seismic retrofits will likely be scarce for some time.

With no plans to reconvene the work group, the city is essentially ending for the foreseeable future any attempt to improve the safety of URM buildings. The city had restarted its effort last year after losing a federal lawsuit to property owners regarding its placard ordinance. That led to the city paying $350,000 in attorneys’ fees.

The city began examining URM policy in 2015, when a Bureau of Emergency Management committee recommended initiating a mandatory program to reinforce old brick buildings.

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Business Oregon, the state’s economic development agency, recently announced grant awards totaling $74.4 million for projects to seismically upgrade 35 public education buildings and facilities used for emergency services.

The Seismic Rehabilitation Grant Program provides funding for projects to improve critical public buildings. Business Oregon administers the program to “help develop livable and prosperous communities” throughout the state.

All of the awards for this sixth round of funding range from $863,860 for a Chiloquin fire station to $2.5 million each for a Lane Community College building in Eugene, Lent School in Portland and Reynolds High School in Troutdale.

The Oregon Legislature created the grant program in 2005; Business Oregon became the administrator in 2014. To this point, $456.7 million has been awarded to a total of 252 schools and 108 emergency services buildings.

Public K-12 school districts, community colleges, and education service districts are eligible for grant money through the program. For emergency services facilities, the state agency mostly looks at first-responder buildings.

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The Multnomah County Board of Commissioners gave the go-ahead Thursday for further exploration of four final alternatives for either seismic retrofitting or replacing the Burnside Bridge.

Commissioners unanimously approved a resolution that identifies the four project possibilities, including three full replacement options. In addition, the resolution adopts a purpose-and-need statement developed over the course of two years of public outreach carried out by the county.

“The four options we’re presenting to you today really have pretty broad support,” county public information officer Mike Pullen told commissioners. “The tunnel suggestion comes up occasionally, usually from people who don’t know about the cost of a tunnel, which is usually about four to five times more than a bridge.”

The decision marks the end of a two-year feasibility study that whittled down the number of options from over 100 to four. Three of the final options involve construction of a new replacement bridge while the fourth involves a full seismic retrofit and replacement of a section of the bridge spanning Interstate 5 and Interstate 84 on the east side of the Willamette River.

The estimated project costs vary significantly depending on whether Burnside Street would be kept open to vehicle traffic during construction – a process that would require a temporary bridge structure and add more than $100 million to the cost of each option.

For example, the cheapest option is the enhanced seismic retrofit, which would cost roughly $575 million with Burnside Street closed to traffic or almost $700 million with traffic retained.

Two other options involve a movable bridge much like the one now. One of those options, however, would involve building two ramps on the east side of the river – one connecting the bridge with Burnside Street eastbound, and the other with Couch Street heading westbound. The second iteration would simply connect Burnside Street on each side of the river.

“It’s kind of an in-kind replacement of what’s there today with the exception that it would be widened,” explained Heather Catron, a project manager with HDR Engineering, which led the feasibility study. “It would be in the existing alignment that is there today.”

Both of those options would cost more than $650 million each with traffic halted during construction or nearly $850 million with traffic retained.

The fourth alternative would feature a fixed-span bridge up to 97 feet in height. This is the most expensive option and likely would be the most disruptive to existing structures and roadways on both sides of the Willamette River. The cost estimate is almost $700 million with traffic stopped, or $900 million with traffic retained.

“When we kicked off the capital improvement plan in 2015 we set out a 12-year timeline to have a resilient crossing in place,” county Engineering Services Manager Megan Neill said. “Two years ago we started two projects to achieve the vision. One is a general maintenance project for the Burnside Bridge – repairs that will prevent interruptions of service. It’s a 92-year-old bridge, so that project addresses a lot of crumbling concrete and rusting steel, and a lot of mechanical components inside the bridge that have reached the end of their service lives.”

The second, of course, is the bridge’s replacement or seismic upgrade. And if the four preferred alternatives ultimately prove infeasible because of costs or other variables, the county retains the option of doing nothing at all.

But looming over project planning is a one-in-three chance of a sizable earthquake occurring sometime during the next 50 years.

“We have many constraints that we’ll be dealing with as we deliver this project,” Neill said. “This is a project of a size that the county has never attempted before, so there will be a lot of firsts.”

The next step involves the start of an estimated three-year environmental review at the federal level. At the same time, local stakeholders led by the county will work to identify any possible funding sources. If plans come together, design work could start in late 2021 and construction could begin by mid-2024. If the project still is on schedule at that point, construction could wrap up by the end of 2028.

“It is an incredibly complex project and it’s going to be a major change for Portland,” Commissioner Jessica Vega Pederson said.

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Multnomah County is looking for volunteers to serve on a community task force that will provide important input during the environmental study phase of the Earthquake Ready Burnside Bridge project.

The county is wrapping up a feasibility study intended to narrow more than 100 bridge replacement and rehabilitation options to a short list. The environmental study phase will end with selection of the preferred alternative.

Task force members will serve for three years, with meetings on weekday evenings approximately every two to three months in a central location convenient to transit. Meetings will start in October.

The Burnside Bridge provides a key connection between downtown Portland and the Central Eastside across the Willamette River. Burnside Street/Road is a regionally designated “lifeline” route that runs from Washington County east into Gresham.

The county is looking for a diverse group of task force volunteers who use the Burnside Bridge. Candidates could include bicyclists, business owners, commercial drivers, emergency service providers, pedestrians, people with disabilities, Willamette River users, social service providers or transit riders. No professional design experience is required.

Interested parties are encouraged to complete an  by the end of Friday, Aug. 17. Applicants can also complete a hard copy of the application and return it via mail to Multnomah County’s Communications Office at 501 S.E. Hawthorne Blvd., Portland, OR, 97214. For more information, call 503-209-4111 or visit .

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After years of discussion and study, the Portland City Council appears on the verge of again delaying seismic retrofit requirements for owners of unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings.

On Wednesday, the City Council will discuss a proposal that would tread lightly on the vast majority of URM building owners. Earlier versions of the policy, prompted by safety concerns that a sizable earthquake could devastate old buildings in the Portland area, generated strong pushback from property owners.

Wednesday’s agenda item directs city staff to develop “implementation steps” for mandatory seismic retrofits and return before the City Council within a year.

If enacted within a year, the draft policy from Mayor Ted Wheeler and Commissioner Chloe Eudaly would give most URM building owners 20 years to complete renovations. It also would not require walls to be tied to floors.

“Mom-and-pop owners have raised legitimate concerns about how the previous ordinance (proposal) may affect their financial stability,” Wheeler stated in a news release. “I take those concerns seriously, and my amended resolution accounts for those concerns while still increasing seismic safety in the (most) vulnerable populations in our community.”

Wheeler’s and Eudaly’s policy would allow owners of class 3 and 4 buildings 20 years to complete seismic upgrades. Class 3 buildings are noncritical buildings with more than 10 occupants, while class 4 buildings are noncritical buildings with zero to 10 occupants. Together, they comprise 94 percent of all URM buildings in Portland.

The exceptions are class 1 and 2 buildings, which include schools, utility buildings and other critical infrastructure. Those two categories encompass only 98 buildings in Portland.

It’s unclear what requirements could be placed on class 1 and 2 buildings. Wheeler’s policy would require city staff to develop code language for a mandatory seismic retrofit program and return to City Council for adoption within a year.

Oregon State University professor Chris Goldfinger will be among those speaking at Wednesday’s council meeting. Goldfinger, a geologist, is a leading expert on the Cascadia subduction zone.

“It’s great that it’s happening, because if we do this, I think we’ll be only the third city in the country to tackle something like this,” he said.

Los Angeles and San Francisco have already tackled seismic retrofit requirements.

It would be “disappointing” if Portland’s seismic retrofit requirements were watered down, Goldfinger said. Governments should mount “as strong a response as possible as soon as possible,” he added.

“It’s a gamble,” he said. “We’re kind of gambling with people’s lives.”

The existence of an earthquake hazard is well established, but the timing is uncertain, Goldfinger said. That makes it a sticky problem for politicians, who have to weigh certain, near-term costs.

“We may not have 20 years,” he said. “No one knows.”

Seismic retrofits can cost millions of dollars. In some cases, the projects simply aren’t financially feasible. The cost to retrofit a building can exceed its existing value, or amount to many times the annual revenue drawn from rents.

Commercial buildings are often given seismic upgrades amid a broader repositioning and later sold. The Towne Storage building, at 17 S.E. Third Ave., underwent a major seismic upgrade in 2016-17 that included installation of concrete shear walls, steel brace frames and new building supports. The building, which dates to 1916, later attracted Autodesk as a tenant and sold last month for $62.75 million, or $630 per square foot – a record for a Portland office property.

The Beaverton School District is planning a seismic upgrade to Aloha High School that includes roof work to the auditoriums and gymnasium. The total project cost for the buildings totaling 260,000 square feet is estimated at $8.2 million, said Aaron Boyle, construction operations supervisor for the school district.

District officials announced last week they had received from Business Oregon a $2.5 million seismic rehabilitation grant that will help pay for the project.

“A lot of the work is in the gymnasium and auditoriums,” Boyle said. “There will be a lot of structural steel in those big-volume spaces.”

The work will go out to bid in the next “couple of months,” he said.

Amid growing concern about seismic hazards, the city of Portland began studying the issues years ago.

Officials held a “kickoff meeting” to study incentives for an unreinforced masonry program on Dec. 10, 2014. In April 2015, the Retrofit Standards Committee issued its report. In December 2015, the city’s Seismic Retrofit Support Committee issued its final report.

Then in October 2017, the city formed a URM policy committee that included developers, building owners, construction executives and others. The group issued its 39-page report in December.

Yet more study is needed, according to Wheeler’s and Eudaly’s proposal.

Wheeler’s resolution calls for formation of a “working group” of URM building owners, tenants and others who will be charged with “further evaluating reasonable seismic retrofit requirements, support, incentives and timelines, for Class 3 and Class 4 URM buildings, and return to Council within a year to report on their findings.”

While the political outcome is uncertain, the geologic hazards are not.

The Cascadia subduction zone has experienced about 46 major earthquakes in the past 10,000 years, according to Goldfinger. Of those, about 20 were 8.8 magnitude or larger, he said.

“The Cascadia fault (line) has gone from completely unknown in 1985 to one of the best-known faults in the world,” he said. “The scientific evidence is about as solid as it could get.”

He added, “We have the hazard part of it pretty well on hand. That turns the camera back to the response side. You know, what are we going to do about it?”

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