Consolidated Supply Co., a regional plumbing and water works supplier headquartered in Tigard, has agreed to lease the entire 276,092-square-foot East Building of an industrial park under construction in Woodland, Washington.

The Woodland Industrial Park will include two buildings: the East Building and the West Building, which will be a 655,094-square-foot cross-dock warehouse with a 40-foot clear height and 130 trailer parking stalls.

The development was designed by Mackenzie for commercial real estate developer Trammell Crow Company (TCC). Sierra Construction is serving as the general contractor. The complex is scheduled for completion by this fall and is approximately 30 percent leased, TCC stated in a press release. It’s located at 345 N. Pekin Road in Woodland.

Capacity Commercial Group is marketing the Woodland Industrial Park for sale and lease; the firm represented TCC in lease negotiations. Consolidated Supply Co. was represented by Stu Peterson of Macadam Forbes.

The company plans to purchase the East Building and next year will have an option to do so or extend its lease, TCC spokesperson Cynthia Langhorst stated in an email.

Consolidated Supply Co., a fourth‑generation wholesale distributor founded in 1928, is dedicated to serving professional plumbers, utility contractors, and municipalities throughout the Pacific Northwest. The company’s 22 branch locations across Oregon, Washington, and Idaho are supported by a workforce of over 500 employees.

“Consolidated Supply Co. has a long history of investing in the region we serve, and this new location in Woodland reflects our continued commitment to the Pacific Northwest,” Karla Neupert Hockley, chairman and CEO of Consolidated Supply Co., stated in the press release. “Expanding our distribution footprint allows us to improve service levels, streamline logistics, and enhance the extraordinary service our customers expect from us.”

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Mary’s Harvest Fresh Foods, a Portland produce wholesaler, will soon move into new digs in Gresham.

According to public records, general contractor Sierra Construction in July obtained a Gresham building permit for the project, and plans call for completion of the new 130,000-square-foot manufacturing facility and warehouse by the end of 2018.

The site is a 12.06-acre industrial-zone parcel located at 2912 N.E. 172nd Place, off of Northeast Sandy Boulevard. Designs call for a 30-foot-tall building featuring 27 loading bays. Concrete tilt-panel construction will be used. Also, approximately 107 parking spaces are planned.

Immediately to the west, a separate project is being developed on spec by Portland Portal Holdings LLC. Plans call for construction of three warehouses ranging in size from 45,000 to 200,000 square feet.

Industrial development of this type is increasingly being done in east Multnomah County because of the relative scarcity of industrial land elsewhere in the region.

Newport Beach, California-based Panattoni Development is spearheading the Mary’s Harvest project, which has a listed valuation slightly less than $7.8 million. Portland-based Mackenzie designed the building. The property is owned by Mary’s Harvest Development LLC.

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A St. Louis-based real estate giant intends to build a 350,000-square-foot speculative industrial and logistics facility in the .

And while Commercial Realty Group (CRG) is eager to develop its 18.7 acres, officials believe greater growth is possible.

“We would take more (acres),” CRG Vice President Mike Wurtsbaugh said.

CRG has completed several Seattle developments. However, this is the first Portland-area investment for CRG, which is a subsidiary of Clayco – one of the largest integrated real estate, engineering, design-build and construction firms in the U.S.

The Troutdale Reynolds Industrial Park (TRIP) is north of Interstate 84 in Troutdale, and consists of 337 acres of land spread across 12 parcels owned by the Port of Portland. A large FedEx shipping distribution center already exists on TRIP property, and an 855,000-square-foot fulfillment center is now being built for Amazon. CRG plans to build its speculative industrial warehouse, called “The Cubes,” directly across Sundial Road from the FedEx facility. Site loading and other preparatory work is expected to begin almost immediately, according to the company.

“This investment is another example of TRIP’s evolution from a brownfield site into a thriving job center,” said Keith Leavitt, the Port of Portland’s chief commercial officer. “We expect this development to follow suit in attracting nationally known companies that will bring quality jobs to our region.”

CRG’s development is precisely what TRIP was intended to attract, Troutdale Community Development Director Chris Damgen said. Despite the speculative nature of The Cubes, Clayco’s track record of development nationally gives the city confidence, he said.

And when it comes to employment in east Multnomah County, Damgen added, the planned facility’s size makes it likely that only larger companies looking to fill jobs will be attracted to it.

“It’s certainly nice to have a company like Clayco have faith in the community and put up a major investment in hopes of finding a good tenant for that space,” he said.

CRG has been looking to break into the Portland market for several years, Wurtsbaugh said.

“We liked the dynamics of the Pacific Northwest, and it’s a key strategic market for us,” he said. “We tried for a few years to find opportunities here, and we’re fortunate to be able to acquire and develop the property from the Port of Portland. We’d like more of it.”

Normally, Clayco carries out an integrated development process from property acquisition through construction using an in-house team, Wurtsbaugh said. In this case, however, Seattle-based Sierra Construction was chosen to serve as general contractor.

“We typically design-build our own projects,” he said. “But with Sierra’s extensive experience in the local market and the tight construction market, we felt we’d better serve our capital and our clients by hiring Sierra in this instance.”

The Cubes will be a modern bulk distribution site with truck parking, 36-foot-clear building height, cross-dock capability, and plenty of trailer storage and vehicle parking. It is designed to accommodate up to four separate users.

CRG estimates the project could bring up to 300 new jobs to Troutdale when it is completed in summer 2019.

Troutdale is an ideal Portland-metro location for The Cubes, Wurtsbaugh said.

“It’s a strong logistics location,” he said. “You can hit I-5 fairly quickly by avoiding the downtown area, so those logistics companies are looking for that efficient flow of product. And with neighbors like FedEx and Amazon, it’s a proven logistics area. There’s a lot of confidence from users.”

Site work will start immediately with pre-loading work taking place to solidify the on-site soil. Project completion is tentatively scheduled by September 2019.

From Superfund site to distribution hub

The Troutdale property targeted for The Cubes has a long history. The industrial park formerly held an 80-acre Alcoa aluminum smelter plant that was constructed during World War II. The plant was later purchased by the Reynolds Metals Company, and operated under that banner for more than 40 years.

According to the Port of Portland and an Environmental Protection Agency report, the smelter property was in 1994 following an EPA investigation that found extensive groundwater and soil contamination caused by fluoride, cyanide, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and other substances.

The plant closed permanently in 2000. More than 100 plant buildings were then demolished between 2003 and 2006, when the cleanup effort was finally completed.

The Port of Portland purchased the 337-acre industrial park in 2007 after it was annexed into the city of Troutdale.

To date, the Port of Portland and its partners have invested more than $130 million into the purchase and redevelopment of the site, which includes a 90-acre wetland mitigation area. Revitalization was rapid, considering the amount of on-site pollution, Troutdale Community Development Director Chris Damgen said.
“The Port of Portland did the heavy lifting,” he said. “It’s very rare that a Superfund property with environmental constraints on it can get turned around so quickly.”

Now the property is starting to look like the thriving industrial hub envisioned by planners a decade ago.

“We’re certainly happy to see property that one day will be on the tax records,” Damgen said. “It certainly beats a rusty, old aluminum plant.”

Meanwhile, CRG Vice President Mike Wurtsbaugh said CRG and Clayco are looking to build more than only The Cubes.

“In the Pacific Northwest, opportunities are less frequent and competition is very strong,” he said. “And the ability to develop in Portland takes years to acquire a presence, if you might call it that. It’s been part of our long-term strategy and we hope to do more.” – Josh Kulla

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SUBMITTED?BY: MYHRE GROUP?ARCHITECTS AND SIERRA CONSTRUCTION CO.

The Prescott Apartments, a 155-unit complex in North Portland, is a model for integrating affordable housing into a transitioning neighborhood.

Livability was a key goal for the developer. Studios and one- and two- bedroom units wrap around a central courtyard that offers tenants access to bocce ball, a sports court and barbecue pits. Six commercial spaces on the ground floor have brought additional small businesses into the community. A convenient underground garage offers 100 parking spaces and 40 rentable storage units.

The complex also has access to multiple transportation options, which makes its location at Prescott Street and Interstate Avenue attractive to a range of tenants. Just one block from a light-rail platform, the complex is a 15-minute ride from downtown Portland. Two blocks away is an entrance to Interstate 5. There’s also a dedicated bike lane in the area.
The HUD-backed lending program that helped finance the project required that the architect and construction team develop strong communication with each other and with the agency. The resulting project has benefited from those efforts, and has developed into a source of affordable, modern housing in a desirable part of Portland.

PROJECT?TEAM + STATS:
Location: Portland, Oregon
Cost: $22 million
Start date: April 2012
Completion date: December 2013
Owner/developer: Sierra Construction Co. NW LLC
Architect: Myhre Group Architects
Landscape Architect: Vala-Christensen Landscape Architects
Engineers: KPFF Consulting Engineers, Nishkian Dean
General contractor: Sierra Construction Co. NW LLC
Other associates: ACS

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R&H Construction is performing a tenant improvement for New Seasons Market on a new building in Northeast Portland’s Eliot Neighborhood. The 30,000-square-foot store on North Williams Avenue was built by Sierra Construction, and R&H Construction began work on interior and exterior improvements in February. The LRS Architects-designed store is slated for completion in August.

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Bob Boileau has gotten used to average Portlanders approaching him for advice on what they should keep an eye out for when developers propose projects in their neighborhoods. Boileau, an architect who also has a background in planning, always gives the same answer.

He tells them to disregard the color of the paint on the building, and forget about dickering over building heights, numbers of units and floor-to-area ratios.

“I know the focus has been on height and massing, but that was all determined long ago by another means. That’s not the battle you want to fight,” said Boileau, a principal with Myhre Group Architects. “The battle you want to fight is the ground floor. The battle – and the war – is having walkable ground-floor space.”

He offered as an example the Prescott Apartments. One look at renderings for the Prescott Apartments – a full-block, mixed-use project under construction in Northeast Portland – shows what the end result can be when a project starts with a focus on planning and urban design rather than straight architecture.

On its highest side, which runs along Interstate Avenue, the Prescott boasts six floors. While the top five floors are dedicated to apartment units, the ground floor promises plenty of retail space with lots of glass to encourage window browsing at a leisurely pace.

“You may never walk into this building, but you’re always going to walk by it,” said Boileau, who serves as Myhre Group’s partner in charge of the project. “You should be vigilant on the ground-floor plan; you should find out what you really want there because that is what you’re going to be seeing.”

Boileau is quick to point out, however, that it’s equally important for people to realize that what works on one side of a mixed-use building may not work on another. While opposites may attract for human relationships, they aren’t always the best fit between buildings facing each other in a neighborhood. That’s why the Prescott features ground-floor residential units on the side of the building that faces other residential structures.

“You want to have ‘likes’ across from each other – mirror images of the same use,” Boileau said.

While the Prescott now is rising as a seamless transition point for the neighborhood, things haven’t always gone smoothly for the project. Shortly after Woodland, Wash.-based Prescott Partners purchased the lot on the corner of North Interstate Avenue and Skidmore Street in 2008, the economy took a tumble and money for the project dried up.

Late last year, with a fresh round of money in hand, Prescott Partners decided to restart the project. The building that began to rise under the guidance of Sierra Construction Co. as general contractor looked a little different from its original incarnation, at least on the inside.

“We had to change the unit types; we made a change in the mix,” Boileau said.

On the outside, however, the way the project fit into the existing neighborhood has remained largely the same, down to the south-facing courtyard and the 111 below-grade parking stalls.

“Architecture is what you find once you walk in the door,” Boileau said. “Urban design is everything surrounding the side. We did know we had a great urban design solution, and that didn’t change.”

“On the Boards” is a weekly feature that spotlights local firms’ best design work. Submissions from architectural and engineering firms are encouraged. Please call 503-802-7222 or email ontheboards@djcOregon.com.

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The  Prescott Apartments, a 155-unit mixed-use project in North Portland, is slated for completion this fall. The Myhre Group Architects-designed project is being built by Sierra Construction Co. for affiliated development entity Prescott Partners.

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