Construction recommendations for the 27-mile-long Columbia River levee system in the Portland-metro area have approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The work would include making the levee system more resilient and reliable for years to come.

“It’s important to realize we have this massive levee system along the Columbia River in the Portland area that reduces the risk of flooding,” stated Ken Anderton, senior real estate and development manager for the Port of Portland, and board president of Multnomah County Drainage District. “This system was originally built before the area became the economic engine and major transportation hub that it is today. The completion and approval of this study puts us in a great position to compete for significant federal investment to make sure our flood safety system is more resilient and reliable for the future.”

The plan calls for a series of projects that would:

• address points of weakness that could result in levee breaches or overtopping by widening and fixing the slope along the eastern side of the Peninsula Drainage Canal that’s located just to the west of the Portland International Airport, the Columbia River Correctional Institution, and Dignity Village, as well as by extending and elevating an incomplete floodwall under the I-5 bridge;
• add plumbing capacity and create redundant power supplies at seven of the 12 pump stations within the system to reduce the risk of internal flooding; and
• add a levee next to the railroad embankment on the system’s western side to eliminate the risk of another breach like the one in 1948 that destroyed the city of Vanport and displaced 18,500 people.

The recommendations derived from a federally funded flood risk reduction study conducted by the Corps’ Portland District. Next, the study will be routed to Assistant Secretary of the Army (civil works) Jaime Pinkham and President Biden’s Office of Management and Budget to determine if it should go to Congress for authorization and appropriations.

If the plan advances without delays, construction could begin by mid-2025, according to the Multnomah County Drainage District.

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After years’ worth of delays, a massive federal project to upgrade the seismically vulnerable Portland VA Medical Center on Marquam Hill is moving forward.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers‘ Portland District in August selected a joint venture of ZGF Architects and Leo A. Daly, an Omaha, Nebraska-based design, engineering and planning firm, to provide architectural and engineering services for improvements to the Veterans Affairs‘ facility. The design contract, carrying a maximum value of $130 million, has a base period of five years with an optional five-year extension.

The scope of work is to include the seismic upgrades of three structures considered at extremely high risk of failure in a seismic event: Building 100, the 638,843-square-foot main hospital building with nine stories above grade and two below; Building 101, a 130,852-square-foot research and administrative building; and Building 102, a below-grade parking garage that supports the roadway in front of buildings 100 and 101.

A sky-bridge connecting two buildings will also undergo structural reinforcement, and a second sky-bridge will be constructed to connect with a new Specialty Care Building that will provide swing space during the renovations of buildings 100 and 101. A new parking garage is also planned, as are demolitions of several smaller buildings and either a new or upgraded energy plant.

In addition to seismic upgrades, nearly 750,000 square feet of space in buildings 100 and 101 will be renovated, and failing facades will be repaired or replaced. The main hospital building, designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and ZGF, was completed in 1987.

The planned upgrades date back to at least 2012, when the VA issued notice for firms interested in performing design work on the massive project. By 2015, the VA said the then-unfunded project was in “full swing,” but no architect was under contract. In 2017, the project wasn’t advancing because of a lack of funding, and a VA project manager estimated that the original $650 million cost estimate could potentially reach $1 billion.

Two years later, as commercial construction costs continue to rise, USACE officials are declining to provide an estimated project cost. That figure, according to Lauren Bennett, a public affairs specialist with the USACE Portland District, will be available within the next few months, pending review of a $6.5 million “project book” pre-design study conducted by Schwab Engineering of Glendale, California.

The study was commissioned by the VA last year and delivered late last month. It was reviewed by the USACE Portland District before being sent to the VA’s Office of Construction & Facilities Management for review and approval.

A solicitation for a contract for technical services issued this past May lists an estimated construction cost of $650 million.

For now, an initial $3.5 million task order to the ZGF/Leo A. Daly Joint Venture is funding preliminary work through April 2020, including creation of design concepts and a charette in which the project team will review and select a plan to be reviewed by the VA.

The technical services contract, which would include quality assurance review of design documentation, construction bid documents, value engineering/management services and technical review and scoping of other contractors’ services, is due to be awarded in the first quarter of next year. That contract carries a maximum value of $25 million.

According to a November 2018 solicitation for architecture and engineering services, the design is anticipated to be 35 percent complete by next spring, and fully complete by early 2021. A congressional budget request will be made in mid-2020, with construction to begin in 2022 and conclude in 2029.

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Government agencies backing the Willamette Falls Legacy Project are pressuring property owner George Heidgerken to allow the Riverwalk portion to go forward.

Heidgerken has refused to sign permit applications needed for the project to proceed. He has also declined to make a $200,000 payment that was due in January, according to both sides.

Heidgerken said Metro, which has taken a leadership role in the project, has come forward with park-like designs. Heidgerken has different ideas, proposing a hotel, restaurants, apartments and condos.

“We’re at odds only from the standpoint of they don’t listen to us,” Heidgerken said in an interview Tuesday.

The government agencies publicly released a Sept. 22 letter to Heidgerken detailing the impasse.
The disagreement is already delaying the high-stakes Willamette Falls Legacy Project, and risking its $5 million in state funding.

The $60 million project aims to turn the waterfall – the second-largest by volume in the U.S. – into a destination for locals and visitors and a landmark attraction for Oregon City. For decades, the falls have been blocked by industrial development. Heidgerken, a Tacoma, Washington-based developer, purchased the former Blue Heron paper mill property at a bankruptcy auction.

Metro has joined with Oregon City, Clackamas County and the state to build the project. The partner agencies brought in Snohetta, a major international architecture firm based in Oslo, Norway, to design the Riverwalk.

Heidgerken donated an easement to pave the way for the Riverwalk. He said Metro and the other government agencies have not incorporated his plans for private development into their designs.

“We’re not going to let them cut us out and where we’re going with all of our plans,” Heidgerken said. “They totally ignored us. Being ignored, I took offense to it, because I spent $2.5 million buying it.”

A Metro official said he was perplexed at the impasse. Brian Moore, Metro’s project manager for the Willamette Falls Legacy Project, said the agencies have tried to accommodate Heidgerken’s plans and have repeatedly presented him with updated designs.

“He has identified some concerns with the alignment of the Riverwalk, which we changed in order to accommodate his concerns,” Moore said.

The easement requires Heidgerken to sign off on the designs before work can proceed. Metro is preparing to apply for permits needed from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and other regulators.

Metro’s designs don’t include Heidgerken’s planned developments, Moore said, because it’s not Metro’s job to design his projects. The agency also provided Heidgerken with a $500,000 grant to commission his own design work.

“It’s not our role as public agencies to design his private development,” Moore said. “We did the best we could to design the Riverwalk and provide him flexibility in the future.”

The design advanced by Metro and its partners does not preclude a future hotel or other development, Moore said.

“We offered an agreement to George that would have allowed him to build a hotel or apartment buildings or anything else on or near the Riverwalk whenever he’s ready to build that,” Moore said. “He rejected that.”

If the two sides can’t come to an agreement, the matter may end up in court. The agencies’ letter to Heidgerken says “we are considering all of our options for responsibly moving the project forward,” and asks Heidgerken to “fulfill your obligation” to sign permit applications.

The partner agencies share a commitment to move forward, said Tony Konkol, city manager of Oregon City.

“The partners have been in this together the whole time,” he said. “We speak with one voice.”

Heidgerken made an initial payment to Metro and its partner agencies, but has not made a second $200,000 installment that was due in January.

Heidgerken said he still has hopes for a resolution to the impasse.

“It’s hard to be the player in the pack that says no,” he said. “We’re not saying no to nothing – not at all. All we’re doing is addressing our concerns on that project, because it’s a major project. What we do will affect what goes on there for a long time.”

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