Superintendent
Jenny Evans has been promoted to superintendent at Walsh Construction Co. She joined Walsh in 2018 and was promoted to project engineer and assistant superintendent.

Jenny brings strong field leadership, a collaborative approach, and a commitment to continuous learning that helps drive successful project outcomes and positive team culture.

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Brothers Tom and Bob Walsh founded Walsh Construction in 1961, and the company’s leadership continues to cultivate a family ethos of supporting and celebrating its employees and clients. Walsh promotes opportunities for employees to learn and become leaders through mentorship, and diversity, equity and inclusion have been paramount to its ongoing success.

鈥淲e really do strive to engage a diverse workforce and a local workforce in the communities where we build, and we also really strive to find sustainable solutions that contribute to the health of our projects and our communities,鈥� said Marketing Manager Maren Sinclair.

Walsh has exceeded equity goals on several of its projects, among them Northeast Portland’s HollywoodHUB. Now under construction, the 12-story building will house 222 units of affordable housing and two managers’ apartments above ground-floor retail space. The goal was for at least 30 percent of the planning, design and construction work to be done by MWESB companies, and Walsh has achieved 32 percent.

Girls Build camps and Oregon Tradeswomen are just a couple of the organizations that benefit from Walsh’s community support. The company’s employees often volunteer for downtown cleanups and other events, and Walsh supports Transition Projects through Bud Clark Commons.

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Happy Valley’s first regulated affordable housing development is underway.

Good Shepard Village will have 143 affordable homes, including 35 Permanent Supportive Housing and 15 units prioritized for veterans who have experienced homelessness.

The approximately $60 million development was funded in part by Metro Affordable Housing Bonds. About $18.3 million of the bond will go toward the project.

Director of Community Development and Housing at Catholic Charities Travis Phillips said the entire property at 12596 SE 162nd Ave. in Happy Valley is 11 acres; seven of them are developable, the remaining slope down to Rock Creek, which they plan to maintain as greenspace.

Still, with 7 acres available, Good Shepard Village will be Catholic Charities’ largest development to date.

The 143 units will be spread out over three buildings designed by MWA Architects. The two buildings on the west end of the site will be identical three-story structures with two- and three-bedroom units. The third building will be four stories and hold all the studio apartments, plus a few two-bedroom units.

The property will include a large community room, play areas, courtyards, garden beds and an outdoor cooking area, as well as 219 parking spots.

Phillips said while the development is large, 鈥渋t’s about the same amount of work for 50 units as it is for 140.鈥�

In addition to the buildings, the project is extending Southeast Skyshow Place by roughly 856 feet. Crews with Walsh Construction recently ran about 2,150 feet of storm mainline and 1,770 feet of sanitary mainline under where the road will go.

Good Shepard Village is one of several other developments transforming what had been a rural area. Directly across the street from the site is a 71-lot development for Pleasant Valley Villages, and down the road is a 38-lot development.

Drew Andersen, a superintendent at Walsh Construction, said they have been in close contact with the other development teams to ensure deliveries are not road-blocked or crucial construction activities, such as concrete pours, are not impacted.

The land Good Shepard is on was donated to Catholic Charities by John Brockamp, co-founder of Brockamp & Jaeger General Contractors, and his family in 2012. Up until the start of construction in late March, the Brockamp Family had a single-family residence on the property.

Phillips said with the growth Happy Valley has seen, the scale of this development felt right and was the site’s best use.

The project is slated for completion in late 2023.

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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.

鈥淧eaceHealth donated capital for the construction and they also donated 2 acres of land for the project,鈥� said Alisa Huber, a senior project developer with Mercy Housing NW. 鈥淭hey 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.鈥�

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.

鈥淲e 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,鈥� Huber said. 鈥淲e 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.鈥�

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.

鈥淚t’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,鈥� said Colin Morgan-Cross, director of Real Estate Development for Mercy Housing Northwest. 鈥淎ll of these things are emphasized in Mercy Housing’s approach to housing and to resident services.鈥�

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.

鈥淭he building itself is no challenge,鈥� Bruns said. 鈥淭he 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.鈥�

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.

鈥淗ardie is going away,鈥� said Walsh Project Manager Erik Wahrgren. 鈥淲e 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.鈥�

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.

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

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.

鈥淚t’s a highly affordable project and it’s designed for families,鈥� Huber said, noting that 31 of the 69 units will have two bedrooms and 15 of them will have three bedrooms.

鈥淲e have a long history of success with Walsh Construction and really appreciate that shared partnership over time,鈥� Morgan-Cross said.

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The construction industry has long suffered from a shortage of skilled tradespeople. In response, Portland-metro design and construction firms, as well as nonprofits, are creating workforce development programs that reach out to populations that have largely been overlooked in the past.

Two such efforts are the EmpowHER and Your Street Your Voice programs offered by Camp ELSO, a community-based nonprofit that uses the natural world to connect children from underrepresented communities to STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) concepts and disciplines.

EmpowHER and Your Street Your Voice are design studios in which students are asked: 鈥業f you could change one thing in your neighborhood through design, what would it be?’ Jackie Santa Lucia, a former Hacker associate, is the director of both programs. She recently engaged people from Walsh Construction Co., Portland State University’s Center for Public Interest Design and a host of local nonprofits (including Girls Build, The City Repair Project and Youth Power PDX) to offer a community-based design and construction workshop. Industry members helped high school students envision, design and construct planter boxes, decorations and a sizable parklet at Alberta Abbey in Northeast Portland.

鈥淚t’s just another way to get the community involved and connected to nature,鈥� Lucia said during the workshop, which took place over two weekends in May and early June. 鈥淚t is holistic workforce development, I would say. I think the biggest part is that it’s community-centered design, community-centered building and leadership.鈥�

The workshop was designed specifically for female and femme, transgender and nonbinary BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, people of color) students and community members. They were taught basic carpentry and building skills during the recent event.

鈥淭he goal today is that we’re going to finish 18 raised juniper beds, which were all designed by this group of youth here,鈥� said Afton Walsh, community outreach director for Walsh Construction Co. 鈥淎nd there’s the parklet 鈥� it’s a 40-foot-long parklet that was also designed by this youth cohort.鈥�

The Alberta Abbey workshop resulted from collaboration with Your Street Your Voice at Walsh Construction’s Dekum Court project, Walsh said, in which 160 new affordable apartments were added to Home Forward‘s existing 40-unit building. There, LEVER Architecture partnered with Your Street Your Voice to incorporate design features like planter boxes, a community garden and more. Walsh Construction project engineer Laura Waddick liked what she saw and proceeded to create a partnership that led to the Alberta Abbey project.

鈥淟aura did all the material procurement,鈥� Walsh said. 鈥淪he worked with the PSU students to see what was needed, and she’s coordinating with our equipment yard to get Home Depot runs for the roof panels. The logistics, rounding up the volunteers 鈥� she did it all. I just showed up.鈥�

The high school student participants in the workshop worked with PSU School of Architecture students to design the parklet as a medicinal and mental health space, said Molly Esteve, design director for The City Repair Project and a PSU instructor.

鈥淭hey really promoted those two things as a way to build community,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t’s going to be a classroom as well as an engagement space, and then a public space as well. The gardens will be out front and you’ll be able to use this space for all kinds of things.鈥�

Another unique aspect of the workshop was a donation of juniper lumber by Sustainable Northwest Wood, a for-profit subsidiary of the Sustainable Northwest nonprofit that supports small mills in rural communities. The juniper on hand at Alberta Abbey was sourced from trees planted in eastern Oregon as part of landscape restoration efforts. It’s not normally grown for lumber because of its relatively small size and irregular shape. But juniper has superior rot resistance qualities and attractive grain.

鈥淚t’s a little squirrely and has some interesting personality to it,鈥� said Sustainable Northwest Wood sales associate Lynn Morgan, who helped guide students as they worked with the wood. 鈥淚 did a little bit of coaching, because making something out of it, it’s got a little bowing, a little twisting, lots of character, so we just push them out of the gate a little bit like making sure they pre-drill everything so the wood doesn’t split. I just enjoy the process. It’s fun to see the collaboration and cooperation and just everybody having a good time.鈥�

Liliana Gomez, a student at David Douglas High School in Southeast Portland, took a break from building planter boxes to share how much she was enjoying the sunny afternoon learning about construction. She was encouraged to attend, she said, in part because she has family members who work in the industry.

鈥淵eah, I am (enjoying it),鈥� she said. 鈥淚’m having a lot of fun. My dad, he works in construction. He’s been teaching me how to use tools and everything.鈥�

Esteve noted that it makes sense to ask young people to design park spaces intended for their use.

鈥淭his group of youth are so good at seeing things intersectionally and describing them that way and then building off of that,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e’ve seen them really understand how you’re not talking about one piece when you’re talking about a community; you’re talking about all these different pieces and then how do they fit together into one design scheme. That’s why you’re seeing something that’s really flexible and also really accessible.鈥�

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Downtown Beaverton is experiencing a rapid transformation.

While a new performing arts center, parks and hotels now dot the city center, residential projects also are joining the area. One is the Mary Ann, a 54-unit affordable housing building being constructed on a half-block parcel near Beaverton High School. Developed by REACH Community Development Corp., the four-story, 55,000-square-foot building was designed by Scott | Edwards Architecture to be Earth Advantage certified. Walsh Construction is serving as the general contractor for the project.

鈥淲hen we engaged REACH on this and with their partners, the city of Beaverton has been very supportive and very involved through this process,鈥� said Dave Mojica of Scott | Edwards Architecture. 鈥淭hey really wanted this development to feel market-rate.鈥�

A relatively simple building footprint was selected in order to achieve cost-effectiveness. That allowed inclusion of a central HVAC system not often seen in buildings of this type.

鈥淏eing as clean and simple with the structure left us with the ability to have more money to spend on quality materials for the interior and the exterior of the building,鈥� Mojica said. 鈥淚t was really important to us that we’re not cheaping out from a materials standpoint.鈥�

The exterior will have brick masonry cladding on the outside of the 鈥淐,鈥� while the interior of the massing will feature warm, copper-toned metal cladding that resembles wood from a distance. Natural wood cladding and canopies will mark the ground floor, which will be distinguished by the lobby and a community room on the east side. Also, there will be a ground-level parking garage.

鈥淚t’s generally kind of a simple building diagram there,鈥� Mojica said. 鈥淭he idea being that creating quality finishes on the interior is something that will hopefully age well with time.鈥�

The project is being paid for via a mixture of Metro bond dollars, federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credits and Oregon Affordable Housing Tax Credits. Units will be available to residents making an average of 45 percent of the area median income, said Alec Lawrence, a housing development project manager with REACH CDC.

鈥淚t’s all at 60 percent AMI and below,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he 9 percent (LIHTC) funding helps us achieve some lower, 30 percent rents and then we’re also doing the Oregon Affordable Housing Tax Credit Program, so for the period that we have that tax credit we’re able to offer even lower rents.鈥�

Ground was broken on the project in June 2020. Despite supply chain complications presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, work is proceeding smoothly and is expected to finish by September, Walsh Construction project manager Brandi Pine said.

鈥淚t’s gone really well considering there were so many things with COVID that were unknown when we really got going, plus the wildfires,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e had a lot of PGE work that we had to put in underground. There used to be the lines there and all sorts of utility lines. I feel all in all things are actually going really well.鈥�

While prices for many construction materials continue to experience volatility, the Mary Ann project team avoided serious cost issues.

鈥淲e lucked out,鈥� Pine said. 鈥淥ur framing prices were up, but not like they are currently, when we were able to lock in our lumber. So, we didn’t end up with any issues on our budget with the lumber escalation.

鈥淲e’ve been pretty lucky. I know that for jobs coming down the pipeline there are definitely going to be some changes for sequencing and things like that.鈥�

Currently, crews are installing cabinetry and flooring, as well as painting the top three floors, which feature wood framing. Meanwhile, interior work is taking place on the ground floor, which sits under a post-tensioned concrete podium. Mechanical systems are also being installed from the roof down, and masons are busy installing exterior cladding.

A full green roof will soon be installed atop a structure that is solar-ready but won’t receive any photovoltaic panels right away.

As for the building’s name, it comes from the property being owned previously by the Beaverton School District.

鈥淢ary Ann was the first teacher in the city of Beaverton, and apparently she taught out of a cabin on the lot there on the high school lot,鈥� Mojica said. 鈥淪o being that it was property that was sold by the school district, they wanted that connection.鈥�

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After several months of delays in the permitting process, crews finally broke ground on the PAE Living Building project in Portland’s Old Town Chinatown earlier this year. Then the COVID-19 pandemic struck, putting the team behind schedule in the effort to erect the heart of the project: five stories of cross-laminated timber panels and heavy glulam structural columns and beams.

Several months later, however, that work is almost done 鈥� just before the anticipated arrival of wintry weather.

Crews recently placed the last five-ply CLT panel, hundreds of which were manufactured for the project by British Columbia firm Structurlam. The heavy-timber columns, beams and panels wrap around the concrete building core that was completed beforehand. Weatherproofing work is on tap next.

The PAE Living Building takes its name from the Living Building Challenge, which is perhaps the world’s most stringent green building program. To attain certification, a building must meet superior standards for energy and water use, and the project team must adhere to strict lists dictating use of materials, products and processes.

鈥淚t visualizes the ideal for the built environment and uses the metaphor of a flower because the ideal built environment opens clean and efficiently like a flower,鈥� said Adam Klauba, director of sustainability for general contractor Walsh Construction Co. 鈥淪o, everything kind of flowers when it comes to the Living Building Challenge.鈥�

This is the first potential Living Building the firm has constructed, and the first such project that ZGF Architects has designed. PAE carried out its own MEP engineering for the project, while KPFF Consulting Engineers contributed structural work.

If the building does indeed gain certification, it will become the largest Living Building in the world.

Aside from renewable timber elements, the building will have a number of sustainable features. One will be a cutting-edge micro-grid electrical system, with a large lithium-ion battery to store leftover power. The system is being developed jointly with Portland General Electric, and the project team believes it is possibly the most important part of the project when it comes to future adaptation.

Net-zero energy will be accomplished via a 95-kilowatt rooftop photovoltaic array and the micro-grid system.

鈥淏ecause of the spot network and the way the grid is set up, we can’t feed as much energy as we want out to the grid,鈥� PAE principal Marc Brune told the 91视频 in 2019. 鈥淪o we’re getting around that with a 250-kilowatt battery. It’s a pretty big battery for a building, and a micro-grid controller paired with batteries allows the building to operate on an independent grid within the building itself.鈥�

The building also will have a 71,000-gallon basement cistern for storing rainwater to be converted to drinking water. Plus, a vacuum-flush plumbing system will collect wastewater and feed it to a series of composters. There, waste will be converted into nitrogen- and phosphorus-based fertilizer to be sold to other parties.

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PROJECT: Crescent Court Apartments

LOCATION: 11560 S.E. Division St., Portland

SIZE:听2.04 acres (138 units)

START DATE: November 2020

ANTICIPATED END DATE: February 2022

DEVELOPER/OWNER: Related Northwest (administrative general partner), Central City Concern (managing general partner)

ARCHITECT: Ankrom Moisan Architects

CONTRACTOR:听Walsh Construction Co.

SUSTAINABILITY TARGET: Earth Advantage

TAX CREDIT EQUITY INVESTOR/DEBT LENDER: U.S. Bank

OTHER FUNDING: Oregon Housing and Community Services, Enterprise Housing Credit Investments, Multnomah County’s Joint Office of Homeless Services

SIGNIFICANCE OF PROJECT: Located within the Powellhurst-Gilbert neighborhood on 2.04 acres, Crescent Court Apartments will feature 138 affordable housing units for low- and very low-income individuals and families, communities of color, immigrants and refugees. Seven units have been designated as Permanent Support Housing for individuals who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. Plans call for 27 studio, 42 one-bedroom, 45 two-bedroom, and 23 three-bedroom apartments. They will range in size from 416 square feet to 1,028 square feet. Common area amenities will include a community room with a kitchen, a shared laundry space, internet stations, a teen room, resident services space, a playground, and a picnic area with a barbecue. The Immigrant & Refugee Community Organization will provide services to immigrant and refugee families, and after-school care programs will be administered at no cost to residents by the Boys & Girls Clubs of Portland in a designated 1,700-square-foot space. Intensive on-site social services will be provided by Central City Concern. The apartment complex is located on a main thoroughfare served by mass-transit systems. It is near parks and public amenities, including Midland Library, Ventura Park, the Blackburn Center and the East Portland Community Center. Rents will range from $397 to $1,253 per month. A Residual Receipts Loan of $15.6 million is being provided through the Portland Housing Bureau (general obligation bonds).

鈥淏uilding Blocks鈥� is a new 91视频 feature that spotlights noteworthy projects either under construction or approaching the start of construction. To submit a project for consideration, please visit: djcoregon.com/building-blocks.

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A two-building development that will bring a total of nearly 200 units of affordable housing to Portland’s Powellhurst-Gilbert neighborhood advanced last week, as construction funding was approved for the first phase and notice of a Type II adjustment review was issued for the second.

Central City Concern and Related Northwest are teaming on the phased development of a pair of properties at Southeast Division Street and 115th Avenue. The first phase, the $15 million Division Street Apartments, will include 40 single-room occupancy units and 20 studios. The second phase, the $38.3 million 115th at Division, will include 138 apartments 鈥� a mix of studios and units with one, two or three bedrooms.

Both buildings are designed by Ankrom Moisan Architects and will be built by Walsh Construction Co.

Portland City Council last week approved construction financing not to exceed $8.475 million for the Division Street Apartments, at 11332 S.E. Division St. The project is the first of two to be awarded funding through the Portland Housing Bureau‘s 2018 notice of available funding for permanent supportive housing. All 60 low-barrier housing units in the building will rent for $500 per month; 40 will serve homeless individuals with mental health issues, and 10 will be reserved for individuals with severe mental illness.

According to Ryan Hood, a project manager with Related Northwest, the project team is planning to close on the property on May 28 and break ground at the beginning of June. Construction of the three-story building is expected to require about 13 months.

The four-story 115th at Division will rise on a 1.02-acre lot at 11518 S.E. Division St. The new building will feature a large central courtyard and 87 vehicle parking spaces. Shapiro Didway Landscape Architecture is the project’s landscape architect. A Type II adjustment review will address locating vehicle access from a driveway near the property’s southern end, as the Portland Bureau of Transportation will not allow curb cuts on Division Street.

Funding for the project will come from a $258.4 million housing bond approved by voters in November 2016. The development team is hoping to close on the property in late October and break ground shortly afterward, Hood said. Construction is expected to require about 16 months.

The building is primarily intended to serve households making between 30 and 60 percent of the area median income. Seven of the units are to be set aside as permanent supportive housing. The proximity of the building to the Division Street Apartments will allow for residents elevating out of permanent supportive housing units to remain in the immediate community by transitioning to living at 115th and Division. Further, both buildings’ proximity to Central City Concern’s Blackburn Center will allow residents to access that facility’s comprehensive services, which include health care, addiction treatment and employment assistance.

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Under construction for a long while now, Renaissance Commons (formerly called the Argyle Street Apartments) is due to open in Portland’s Kenton neighborhood later this year.

The building is rising at 2133 N. Argyle St., on property left over following construction of TriMet‘s MAX yellow light-rail line along North Interstate Avenue.

The vast majority (185) of the 189 units at Renaissance Commons are intended to house current or former North or Northeast Portland residents who were displaced in recent years.

MWA Architects designed the complex, which is technically a single structure. However, it closely resembles a pair of separate buildings connected by a second-story sky-bridge. The building will have a total of 151,555 square feet of floor space.

General contractor Walsh Construction is building the project for developer REACH Community Development Corp. Ground was broken in early 2019, and completion is expected by June.

Currently, crews from several subcontractors are on site performing interior and exterior work. Some include: sheet metal technicians with Pioneer Sheet Metal, electricians with O’Neill Electric, drywall installers with Bridgeport Interiors, HVAC specialists with Jacobs Sheet Metal, finish carpenters with RDF Builders and masons with Kraft Masonry. Tapani Plumbing, Vale Insulation and KO Construction also are working on the project.

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