A Portland-based business has purchased a 160-unit apartment complex in Vancouver, Washington, for $35.45 million.

Mark Desbrow’s Green Light Housing snapped up the Carriage House Apartments in a transaction that values the Southwest Washington asset at $221,563 per unit.

Green Light has transitioned from developing market-rate housing into developing and operating affordable housing, Desbrow stated in a news release.

“We have now added a workforce housing acquisition and development platform and are thrilled to expand this work into Washington state with Carriage House Apartments,” stated Desbrow, Green Light’s founder and managing partner.

The seller was Jackson Square Properties, a San Francisco-based investment group.

CBRE‘s Joe Nydahl and Josh McDonald represented both the buyer and the seller.

Well-located Vancouver multifamily properties continue to draw investment, supported by strong fundamentals, limited new supply and continued population growth, according to CBRE.

“Carriage House represents exactly the kind of opportunity that continues to attract strong investor interest in the Vancouver submarket,” stated McDonald, a CBRE executive vice president.

CBRE Debt and Structured Finance team members Nick Santangelo, Micah Springston and Matt Thorp sourced accretive financing through Fannie Mae‘s Multifamily Affordable Housing Program at a 75 percent loan-to-value ratio, CBRE stated.

Carriage House Apartments was built in 1993 at 4714 N.E. 72nd Ave. in Vancouver. Its units have two or three bedrooms. Amenities include a swimming pool, a fitness center, a clubhouse, a gated entry and surface parking.

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With average home prices in Vancouver stretching past the $460,000 mark this year, the need for more deeply affordable housing in Clark County and Southwest Washington continues to grow unabated.

While market pressures still favor the construction of large single-family homes, a growing number of multifamily affordable housing projects are also being developed in Vancouver. One of the larger projects in this category in recent years is the 69-unit being developed by Mercy Housing Northwest. The six-building development was designed by Vancouver-based MWA Architects and is being built by general contractor Walsh Construction. Funding for the $22.2 million project is being provided by a variety of sources, including the City of Vancouver’s Affordable Housing Fund, PeaceHealth, Low-Income Housing Tax Credits and private investors.

“PeaceHealth donated capital for the construction and they also donated 2 acres of land for the project,” said Alisa Huber, a senior project developer with Mercy Housing NW. “They are highly committed to the mission and highly committed to the community and to positive outcomes. Mercy organized the other financing resources and the development team and planned the project.”

It’s taken a while to get to this point. Talks to build the project began between Mercy Housing and PeaceHealth in 2016 and originally centered around a different property north of the PeaceHealth campus off Mill Plain Boulevard. The current project broke ground last July on 2 acres on NE 93^rd Avenue, with that street bisecting the development north to south. Completion is expected by August 2022.

“We went through a number of designs and the goal was to work with the local community and with PeaceHealth to develop something that was really a match for the neighborhood,” Huber said. “We started out with a denser design on a different parcel north of the hospital, but it evolved that this was a better match for what we were looking for.”

The six buildings are all three-story wood framed structures. Building A on the east side of the street is the largest of them and features a 7,500-square-foot footprint. It will house a community multipurpose room with a kitchen that will not only host tenant gatherings but also be used for classes on financial literacy and other subjects. It will also host visits by health care providers and other services, many of which will be offered by PeaceHealth.

“It’s a partnership aimed at affirmative health outcomes by focusing on the social determinants of health, things like housing stability, education and health care access, social connectedness,” said Colin Morgan-Cross, director of Real Estate Development for Mercy Housing Northwest. “All of these things are emphasized in Mercy Housing’s approach to housing and to resident services.”

The three-story structures are all rectangular in shape and provide little in the way of construction challenges, said Walsh Superintendent Pete Bruns. Where the difficulties have come, however, are largely the same as virtually every project going over the past two years: supply and material issues.

“The building itself is no challenge,” Bruns said. “The challenge was being able to procure product and materials for framing, like everyone who is having the same issues. That’s the biggest challenge for this project. I-joists are tough for flooring; the manufacturer only let out so many per project a month because that’s all they could handle.”

Other products in short supply include things like certain types of plastic pipe for plumbing; the popular Hardie plank siding, which is being removed from the company’s commercial offerings going forward; and numerous electrical components, including transformers.

“Hardie is going away,” said Walsh Project Manager Erik Wahrgren. “We got the last stick they made; and then our transformers we ordered in June last year, we won’t get them until March, so that was a challenge. But other than that, as far as the structure goes, it’s a friendly development.”

Like Mercy Housing Northwest and PeaceHealth, which share a common founder in the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace, Mercy Housing and Walsh Construction have a long and productive history together.

“Walsh has been a very reliable partner for us,” Huber said, noting that Mercy and Walsh will also break ground on the Marylhurst Commons project in Lake Oswego in July. “We have probably developed around 700 units of housing with Walsh in the last eight years.”

All of that work has previous been done in the Seattle market, however. The Mercy-Peach Health Family Housing and Marylhurst Commons projects are the firm’s first forays into the Portland area.

One hundred percent of the units at Mercy-PeaceHealth Family Housing will be affordable to families who earn less than 60 percent of the area median income, and half of the total units will be affordable to families who earn less than 30 percent.

“It’s a highly affordable project and it’s designed for families,” Huber said, noting that 31 of the 69 units will have two bedrooms and 15 of them will have three bedrooms.

“We have a long history of success with Walsh Construction and really appreciate that shared partnership over time,” Morgan-Cross said.

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The Vancouver Tennis Center has reopened for business following extensive renovations carried out over the past five months.

The first of two phases of construction to improve the 43-year-old center was completed earlier this month following a lengthy closure to resurface all nine indoor courts and give them an updated color scheme. In addition, new upward-facing lighting was installed, and the ceiling and steel support beams were painted white to provide superior visual conditions than existed previously.

Also, new carpet and other upgrades were made to offices and other interior spaces, and a closed-circuit live-streaming television system was installed with cameras to pick up action on each court. A coffee bar was installed for players, who also now can arrive and prepare to play using new self-check-in technology.

Plus, the city of Vancouver chipped in $850,000 for the replacement of the building’s roof with a new sheet metal system.

All of these improvements came in the wake of a long-term deal inked earlier this year between the city and the U.S. Tennis Association for the latter to manage and operate the facility in conjunction with the city. The operation and management agreement calls for a 20-year commitment running through 2038, and also required the USTA to invest at least $1.4 million in facility upgrades. The recent work is a result of that agreement.

All of the upgrades were needed, according to Patrick Dreves – the center’s manager of facility operations and services. But the lighting may be the most noticeable, he said.

“The lighting prior was big and bulky and it was directed down,” he said. “Ideally, when you look up you don’t want to look into the light, and it’s now way brighter in here.”

In addition to resurfacing, the courts were restriped to accommodate play by both adults and youths.

“We came in and resurfaced the courts so they are U.S. Open blue and green,” Dreves said. “We put in new backdrops, new divider nets, new nets, new net posts. And all of our courts (have) blended lines … for the little kids.”

Mid Pac Tennis Construction of Portland carried out work involving court resurfacing, nets and posts, backdrops and court dividers. Other contractors involved include Sports Interiors of Chicago, which performed work on the lighting and ceiling liners. Meanwhile, Dickson’s Tennis Services of Seattle was hired to oversee the facility’s pro shop, where racquets, tennis balls and other equipment is sold.

In addition to the Vancouver Tennis Center, the USTA also has taken over operations at the Galbraith Tennis Center in Tacoma, Washington. That facility also recently received a series of improvements; it reopened to the public the same day as its Vancouver counterpart.

The second phase of construction at the Vancouver Tennis Center will be completed in the future, when funding allows. It will involve some $2 million in work, including improvements to the locker rooms and restrooms, expansion of the entryway and main lobby, enhancement of the pro shop and coffee bar, and a remodel of the players’ lounge.

“That’s the one piece that makes me a little nervous,” Dreves said in reference to plans for the second phase, “because you never know what you’ll find with plumbing and electrical. I don’t think anything’s been done before and we had tons of deferred maintenance, so we came in and fixed a lot of those problems.”

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It’s May and in Southwest Washington that means it’s time again for the annual Dozer Day celebration of heavy machinery.

This year offers the 14th year of the popular event, which offers children and their families a fun introduction to construction and the trades. It also raises money for the Nutter Foundation, which provides support to metro-area children’s groups, little leagues, school districts and more.

The 2018 event will run from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday at the Clark County Fairgrounds, at 17402 N.E. Delfel Road in Ridgefield, Washington.

Dozer Day started in 2004 at the Cemex-owned Fisher Quarry in Vancouver. It moved to the fairgrounds a few years ago to better accommodate crowds, but the invitation to adults is the same: bring your kids and watch them take advantage of the chance to operate heavy machinery and talk with people in the construction industry and skilled trades. Even fire and police vehicles will be on hand.

This year’s event also features a new addition: the first Dozer Day career fair. Today, more than 200 Evergreen Public Schools students looking to pursue design/build careers will talk in person with industry employers.

“Kids will actually be able to operate machinery as they meet with construction-related businesses,” Dozer Day organizer Aimee Gebarowski said. “Interactive exhibits will educate about the wide range of industry careers while offering actual job opportunities to students who are ready to enter the workforce.”

For more information, visit the  or call 503-939-2754.

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Clark County, Washington, voters will on Tuesday decide three major school bonds that, if passed, would kick off nearly $1 billion of construction activity.

Evergreen Public Schools is asking voters for a $695 million general obligation bond that would pay for construction of one new elementary school and eight replacement schools as well as safety and security upgrades, roof replacements and heating-and-cooling upgrades throughout the 26,000-student district.

Battle Ground Public Schools has its own package: nearly $224.9 million for construction of a new primary school, a new middle school, four replacement schools, and other renovations and improvements to accommodate growth.

Meanwhile, La Center School District is asking voters for $48 million to build a new middle school, convert an existing middle school into an elementary school and enable the district to buy land.

For Evergreen Public Schools, the first three projects likely would be bid as a package, spokeswoman Gail Spolar said. That includes construction of a new, not-yet-named elementary school on a vacant, district-owned site at Northeast 39th Avenue and 162nd Street, and new school buildings for Image Elementary and Sifton Elementary.

Image Elementary would be rebuilt on a new site near Northeast 52nd Avenue and 131st Street. Sifton Elementary would be rebuilt near the existing school at 7301 N.E. 137th Ave.

Following those projects, new buildings would be constructed for three other elementary schools (Burton, Ellsworth and Marrion), two high schools (Mountain View and Legacy) and Wy’east Middle School. Also, Heritage High School would gain a new wing to replace 39 portable classrooms.

Evergreen is working off of a model elementary school building designed by LSW Architects of Vancouver. A standard floor plan would be adapted to fit each site, Spolar said.

Evergreen’s board in November voted to place the large bond request on the ballot. If successful, the build-out would last only a few years, Spolar said.

“We want to have all of those projects completed in a six-year time frame,” she said.

Evergreen officials calculate that the bond won’t increase taxes beyond current rates. That’s because of a change in Washington’s state funding model for schools. Property taxes in 2019 would total $6.16 per $1,000 in assessed value, or $1,848 on a $300,000 home, according to school district estimates. That’s down from 2017, when property taxes totaled $6.98 per $1,000, or $2,094 in assessed value.

“For the average taxpayer, in 2019, when the new bond would kick in, they would actually be paying less in school taxes than they are now,” Spolar said. “We’re paying off our old bonds from our 2002 bond measure, and there’s been a change in the state school funding model, so that drops some other local maintenance and operating taxes.”

The Battle Ground bond measure aims to reduce overcrowding and improve infrastructure and safety. A new primary and middle school campus would be built. Glenwood Heights Primary, Laurin Middle and both Pleasant Valley Primary and Middle schools would be replaced.

Battle Ground is growing as homebuilders push northward from the Vancouver area, district spokeswoman Rita Sanders said.

“We are the next place to build houses,” she said.

An outside consultant forecast enrollment in the district will increase by 1,535 to 2,740 students in the next 10 years. The district enrolled 13,153 students in October.

Much of the growth is happening in the district’s southern portion, which has the oldest schools, Sanders said. Glenwood Heights was built for 484 students but currently has more than 800, many of whom are placed in modular classrooms.

The bond measures must be approved by a 60 percent supermajority to take effect. For each school district, the bonds would need to be repaid within 21 years. Washington voters, unlike their Oregon counterparts, have until Election Day to postmark their ballots.

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In about a year and a half, people in Vancouver, Washington, will be able to walk out onto a 100-foot-long pier over the Columbia River, look deep into the water directly below and view Mount Hood in the distance.

What people won’t see is the complex engineering that makes such an experience possible.

The cable-stayed pier, a star attraction of the new Vancouver Waterfront Park, will be one of a kind and stay true to an artist’s design for a great pedestrian experience. It will also be environmentally sensitive to the river below and able to withstand a major earthquake.

Art merges with engineering

Shane McCormick, project manager and principal of engineering firm Martin/Martin of Lakewood, Colorado, said his firm has worked on many projects with the Studio of Larry Kirkland, the pier’s designer.

Kirkland, based in Washington, D.C., has a bachelor’s degree in environmental design from Oregon State University.

“Larry is very collaborative in working with other experts to come up with a design that makes sense from an artist’s point of view and from an engineering point of view, to come up with something that’s unique and special,” McCormick said.

Martin/Martin is handling the engineering for the above-ground portion of the pier, while BergerABAM is tackling the underground portion. Both firms have worked for months designing the various pier elements, which won’t be evident to people who walk out onto the wooden deck of the triangular-shaped, 2,500-square-foot structure.

For instance, the pier will appear to be lightweight, McCormick said, but post-tensioned concrete will be included underneath the wooden flooring.

“It’s very durable and will last a long time, but is also very stiff,” he said.

BergerABAM landscape architect David Sacamano added, “It was very important to have this very thin profile so it felt light and airy and hovered over the water.”

Pedestrians will have an unobstructed view from the north shore of the river and be able to look down through a 1,500-square-foot hole in the center. The opening serves an aesthetic viewing purpose, Sacamano said, but also makes the structure lighter and satisfies regulatory agencies such as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The reason, he said, is that deep shadows cast over the water give predators more places to hide and feast on young – and possibly endangered – aquatic life.

More good news for river inhabitants is that the original design won’t be used; it relied on steel pilings rather than overhead cables for support. The act of pile driving in a riverbed is bad for fish and marine mammals, according to BergerABAM senior project manager Howard Wells.

“Fish don’t have ears but are sensitive to sound waves, so the pounding on a pile causes pressure waves,” he said. “That’s harmful to young fish in particular and also to marine mammals. They don’t like it and it can alter their behavior.”

Designed to endure an earthquake

Seismic stability of the pier will be ensured by extensive underground work at the shoreline, Wells said. This will be accomplished by drilling 27 five-foot-diameter shafts of reinforced concrete that will extend more than 60 feet under the river bank, creating a “massive and very strong anchor system,” he said.

“Because the pier cantilevers 100 feet over the water and the deck is held up by cables, something has to hold everything down so it doesn’t tip over into the water,” he said. “It’s like a real big kid on end of teeter-totter and small kid on other.”

A rectangular cofferdam of corrugated steel will allow construction below the water level, he said. Most of the cofferdam will be removed, but the back portion will remain as part of the pier’s permanent infrastructure, adding to seismic stability.

Once the shafts are drilled down into the shore, a concrete pile cap will be cast to form the base of the pier’s abutment, he said, which will then have 30 ground anchors attached and drilled back into the bank of the river.

“The purpose of the anchors in one wall of the sheet pile is to resist lateral spreading and (liquefaction) that can result from an earthquake,” he said. “With structures near the water – in Japan we saw quite a bit (during an earthquake) – the ground liquefied and started to flow.”

The ground anchors and cofferdam wall will form a bulkhead to hold the ground in place during a seismic event.

“The drill shafts will keep the pier in place vertically and the ground anchors and back wall of the cofferdam will keep it from sliding into the river,” Wells said.

A prominent, unique structure

Above the deck of the pier, 16 cable stays will be attached around the opening in the middle, descending from a tapered, slightly angled 65-foot pole on the shore, McCormick said. The cable stays will in turn be attached to smaller micro piles, similar to the drills shafts that will be driven deep into the riverbank.

“The pole is of steel pipe, with four plates on the outside that taper and create this sculptural shape,” McCormick said. “The tapering was artistically driven, and though the plates act as anchors for the cable, that’s part of the art that’s also functional.”

Martin/Martin has a long history of working on cable-stayed structures, McCormick said, and has performed civil and structural engineering work for many large-scale, cable-supported structures. He believes a cable-supported pier of this size is the first of its kind, though he downplayed the complexity of engineering involved.

“The pier is pretty unique and I’m not aware of anything quite like this being done before,” he said. “But it’s just physics.”

Ground will be broken on the pier today. Construction is scheduled to finish in December 2017. When people walk out onto the completed pier, they will be able to look back toward the 7.3-acre Vancouver Waterfront Park and, eventually, 35 acres of private development – apartment buildings, hotels, restaurants and many retail businesses.

Vancouver Parks and Recreation Director Julie Hannon said she’s pretty excited about the pier, which will be the signature element of the new park.

“I think it will be spectacular to have that over-water experience, to be able to see the river through the cutout, and you can see Mount Hood from there,” she said.

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After years of infrastructure improvements, master planning and behind-the-scenes negotiations, Gramor Development’s waterfront development in Vancouver, Wash., is open for business.

Crews are due to begin construction of several buildings this fall and winter as the first phase begins in earnest, and Gramor, the driving force behind The Waterfront, announced Thursday an agreement to include a 120-room hotel.

Workers are grading and excavating portions of the massive site overlooking the Columbia River. Later this year, construction is set to begin on a 192-unit apartment building on Block 8, a 51-unit apartment building on Block 6 and a 70,000-square-foot office building with ground-floor retail space, also on Block 6.

The buildings are expected to be delivered in fall or winter 2017, and should open in early 2018. That’s just the first phase of the 22-block development; the master plan calls for more than 3,000 residential units and 1 million square feet of office space.

The property, formerly a Boise Cascade paper mill, is expected to become a signature attraction for Vancouver and the Portland-metro area, offering rare south-facing waterfront property. Vancouver will fast become to Portland what Bellevue is to Seattle, Gramor Development President Barry Cain said.

“The final straw to get rid of the old era in downtown Vancouver was getting rid of this paper plant,” he said. “It’s gone now, and Vancouver’s a waterfront city. It should be a very upscale, thriving downtown, and that’s what it’s going to be now. People have to get used to that now. That’s where it’s headed.”

On Thursday, Columbia Waterfront LLC and Kirkland Development announced construction will start in spring 2017 on a 120-room Hotel Indigo, a boutique concept from InterContinental Hotels Group.

In the same building, Kirkland Development will integrate housing – apartments or condominiums – retail shops and a spa. The 130,000-square-foot structure will occupy all of Block 4. The hotel will be approximately 80,000 square feet, the residential units will take up 30,000 square feet and street-level restaurants and retail shops will take up 20,000 feet.

Construction on the mixed-use project is expected to begin in spring 2017 and finish in summer 2018.

A 7-acre parkway with a pedestrian walkway will swoop across the front of the south-facing development. Restaurants will have the most prime real estate closest to the waterfront on blocks 9 and 12. Taller multifamily towers will have river views from behind the restaurants.

Gramor Development’s recent moves come more than a decade after Cain and Columbia Waterfront LLC first pursued purchasing the former paper mill property from Boise Cascade. The deal closed in 2008 for $19 million. Cain’s project partners include Vancouver-area residents Steve and Jan Oliva, Steve and Jo Marie Hansen, Al and Sandee Kirkwood, and George and Paula Diamond.

Gramor operates out of Tualatin, and Cain resides in Lake Oswego; he is the only partner in The Waterfront based in Oregon. He’s no stranger to the Washington side of the river, however; Gramor has completed numerous projects in the Vancouver area, including Lacamas Crossing and Mill Plain Town Center.

The Waterfront is the largest project to date for Gramor, and it has simmered for years. After the property sold, a framework emerged from a master planning process in 2010. Then the city of Vancouver spearheaded a $45 million project to upgrade a BNSF railroad trestle to enable access from the site to downtown’s street grid. Prolonged negotiations on the project involved city officials, Gramor, BNSF, the Port of Vancouver USA, Washington State Department of Transportation’s rail division and others.

Cain said the property is finally ready to go.

“You can go out there right now and you can start construction right away,” he said. “Somebody can just do it now. That’s a big difference.”

Some tenants are already lined up.

Twigs Bistro and Martini Bar has signed on to lease 8,320 square feet in Block 12. It will be the 10th location for the Spokane, Wash.-based company, which also has a location at Bridgeport Village Mall.

On Block 6, M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust has leased 18,000 square feet on the top two floors of the first office and retail building.

The park is being designed by PWL Partnership of Vancouver, British Columbia. Artistic water features and sculpture by Larry Kirkland will blend with lighting from Seattle artist Charles Stone and educational informational about the Columbia River’s history.

“It’s a pretty amazing piece of property from a recreational standpoint, not to mention units overlooking the water and restaurants,” said Shana Alles, Gramor’s director of leasing. “It could be somewhere you bring your family to play while you have a glass of wine or you learn something.”

Development is taking a leap forward on the Vancouver waterfront.

In May, the Port of Vancouver named Vesta Hospitality the preferred hotel developer for the port’s Terminal 1 property. Vesta, helmed by Rick Takach Jr., plans to build a 150-room AC Hotel by Marriott. Holland Partner Group was selected as the master developer for a Terminal 1 mixed-use complex.

Cain said he’s confident that the Portland building boom has no end in sight, and will continue to expand into Vancouver.

“There’s just a huge pent-up demand that’s going to be addressed over the next 10, maybe 20 years in downtown Vancouver,” he said.

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The city of Vancouver, Wash., has issued a request for proposals from parties interested in purchasing a city-owned downtown block for redevelopment.

Officials want to sell the property at 811 Washington St. to a developer intent on building a multistory mixed-use building.

The property, known as Block 10, formerly was the site of a Lucky Lager brewery. It is the last remaining vacant block in the heart of downtown Vancouver, according to city officials.

A pre-submission meeting will take place from 3 to 5 p.m. on May 19. Much more detailed information will be available at that meeting, said Teresa Brum, Vancouver’s economic development manager.

The deadline to submit proposals is 3 p.m. on July 15.

“We think the time is right in Vancouver for the city to put the property out on the market,” Brum said. “We’ve seen a lot of development activity – we’ve noticed an increase in the last six months. So this is the time to get the best possible project for that property.”

Block 10 is 0.96 acres, or 41,681 square feet. The property was appraised at $3.125 million in August 2015. It’s zoned for 10 stories outright, or up to 20 stories with conditional permitting.

City officials have already had some positive conversations with developers, Brum said.

“We’ve had some casual conversations that have led us to believe there is interest in the property right now,” she said. “We’re asking for the proposal to include a timeline, so we’re looking for a developer who can start right away.”

The city is offering a 30 percent discount on building permit fees, a waiver of a traffic study, a cost-reduced traffic-impact fee and a streamlined 90-day review process.

“I think we have an excellent value proposition and a good incentive program for a developer,” Brum said.

Vancouver’s City Center Vision and Subarea Plan, developed in 2007, envisions the property holding housing or offices with active first-floor services such as restaurants, a grocery store or other retail.

“It’s zoned for mixed use, so we expect to see office, residential or a mix of the two, and we expect commercial on the first floor,” Brum said.

After reviewing the proposals, the Vancouver City Council will decide whether to sell the property, depending on how well the proposals meet the city’s vision, according to a news release.

The city purchased Block 10, along with four other city blocks, from the General Brewery Company in 1993. The city in the next two years fenced off the property and demolished all of its existing buildings. The site has since served as a temporary public park and staging area for events in Esther Short Park.

Heritage Place, a mixed-use building, is located across Columbia Street from Block 10.

More information is available at www.cityofvancouver.us/Block10.

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The Hudson Building may be the first new office building to rise in downtown Vancouver, Washington, in years. But city officials say the project already is spurring more construction in the area.

With completion expected by the end of the year, the three-story, 45,000-square-foot building at East Sixth and Main streets already is more than half leased out.  Killian Pacific, the developer of the building that original was called the 101 Building, and project architect Mackenzie plan to move their Vancouver offices into structure, as does Pacific Continental Bank.

While the Hudson’s downtown location is important, it’s the building’s old-warehouse look and feel that make it not only attractive to tenants, but architecturally agreeable with the neighborhood, according to Vancouver Mayor Tim Leavitt.

“The developer has been very thoughtful in the design of the building to see that it both fits in with the existing context and on the inside is state-of-the-art design,” Leavitt said. “They are really addressing the new age of office space and atmosphere for employees.”

Contrary to common practice for buildings of the Hudson’s size, no steel beams were used in the building’s construction, said Noel Johnson, vice president of Killian Pacific. The Hudson is constructed solely of timber, concrete and brick. The building features a solid, load-bearing brick envelope, large glass entrances, and exposed timber beams to create an industrial feel of an old warehouse.

“It’s designed like a warehouse 80 or 100 years ago,” Johnson said. “It pretty much cost similar to a good-quality steel building, but people like it a lot more.”

The vintage feel of the new building is the result of a combination of concrete floors, a high ceiling made of thousands of 2x4s turned on edge, and surrounding brick walls, Johnson said. The building also boasts operable windows, flexible office layouts and plenty of natural light – features that appeal to modern tenants whose tastes are being driven by their young, creative employees.

While renovating old buildings may be the current trend, Johnson points out that there are only so many older buildings available for restoration. At some point, it only makes sense to build new structures that offer a similar look and feel.

“If you can’t restore buildings, then you need new buildings,” Johnson said. “And if you’re going to build a new one, it can be just like an awesome (old) warehouse.”

Heavy timber for the Hudson is made of glulam and the Hudson’s brick walls will be seismically reinforced, Johnson said.

Rich Mitchell, a managing principal with project architect Mackenzie, said the building’s name was selected as a tribute to the Hudson’s Bay Company, which established a fur-trading outpost at Vancouver in 1825.

“The Hudson is a throwback in that it is using a different structural system,” Mitchell said. “For lumber we are using glulam timbers for main beams and girders, and we’re also using a wood deck.

“It’s much like what you can see if you go into an old building in the Pearl District,” he said. “You would see wood decking and big heavy timbers. But the difference between those buildings is they were unreinforced masonry with a heavy timber frame.”

Kyle Warren, senior project manager for project general contractor Turner Construction Co., said this is the first time he’s worked on a building of this type without using steel.

“It’s been a ton of fun to do,” Warren said. “A lot of us builders love wood, especially being in the Pacific Northwest. Having to build with wood of this scale gets a lot of people excited (about) coming to work every day.”

While the design of the Hudson has been a big draw for tenants, Vancouver’s mayor believes its construction points to a future building boom in the city’s downtown area.

“I think we’re on the precipice of growth and construction downtown,” Leavitt said, “and the Hudson Building is leading the way.”

PROJECT INFO + TEAM

Project name: The Hudson Building

Location: Vancouver, Washington

Construction start date: February 2015

Construction completion date: December 2015

Owner/developer: Killian Pacific

Architect: Mackenzie

Engineer: Mackenzie

General contractor: Turner Construction Co.

Other associates: NAI Norris, Beggs & Simpson (leasing)

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Vancouver, Wash.-based Olson Engineering Inc. has moved.

The firm, which specializes in civil engineering, planning and landscape architecture, last month combined separate offices into one at 222 E. Evergreen Blvd. in downtown Vancouver. Firm staffers can still be reached by phone at 360-695-1385.

The move allowed Olson Engineering to consolidate 30 staffers under one roof after years of operating in two buildings, at 1111 Broadway and 1101 Broadway in Vancouver, said Lacey Arnold, the firm’s business manager.

“Putting all our departments together is paramount to the ability to manage projects more efficiently,” she said.

The firm now occupies approximately 13,000 square feet on two floors at the Evergreen Boulevard location, which is a short distance from the Broadway ones the firm had used since the 1970s. The new one has more amenities, such as showers for staffers who commute by bicycle, Arnold said.

It was important for the firm to maintain its central location in Vancouver, but have room to expand and hire more staffers, she said.

“In this space, we have the ability to grow while still being in the same building,” she said.

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