LAKE OSWEGO – Like many new developments, Patrick Kessi’s 200-unit luxury apartment project started with a relationship.

Around a decade ago, Kessi served on the University of Portland board along with Gene Wizer, a local businessman who owned a keystone block in downtown Lake Oswego. Wizer had long had notions of redeveloping the block, which was home to small shops, and had discussed the possibilities with a succession of developers.

The recession scared off most firms. With few developers interested in tackling a big project, Wizer asked Kessi for his impressions.

“He had talked to multiple developers for years and years,” Kessi said of Wizer, who died in 2015. “I knew him from the board, and when the market went down, he asked me to take a look at it.”

Kessi liked what he saw. Lake Oswego’s community could support an expensive project. The city had invested in the area, and opened Millennium Plaza Park. Another developer built Lakeview Village, bringing high-end shopping to the neighborhood.

Housing could be the missing ingredient, Kessi thought.

“It was a very good time to start looking at new properties in this location,” he said.

A decade later, The Windward is opening to residents. The first tenants can begin moving in on March 15.

The opening marks a milestone for Kessi and his company, PHK Development, which has focused on developing condos and apartments in the Portland area.

PHK fought opponents of the project for years. Lake Oswego’s Development Review Commission denied the project, but Kessi successfully appealed to the City Council. The Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals and then the Oregon Court of Appeals affirmed the City Council’s decision, until finally the state Supreme Court declined to hear the case. The appeals were lodged by the Evergreen Neighborhood Association and a group called Save Our Village.

Kessi, a Portland-based developer who grew up on a dairy farm in Scappoose, was confident enough in the eventual outcome that he had his general contractor, Lease Crutcher Lewis, break ground before the Supreme Court turned down the case in November 2015, letting the favorable appeals court ruling stand.

After some community backlash, the design was reduced from five stories to four.

Kessi said he’s pleased his patience was rewarded.

“If you do the right thing, the right thing will happen,” he said.

The Windward is nearing completion, with 200 luxury apartments, more than 42,000 square feet of commercial space and 430 underground parking spaces, including 135 public spaces.

“From the outside, the building looks really good,” said Jackie Manz, a Lake Oswego city councilor. “There’s quality materials. It’s amazing how quickly it has come to fit into our downtown streetscape.”

Apartment configurations range from studios to three bedrooms, spanning 650 square feet to 2,400 square feet and renting for rates of $1,600 to approximately $6,000 a month – an eyebrow-raising rate that could pay down a hefty home mortgage.

Kessi said the initial tenants are mostly Lake Oswego residents and former residents with ties to the tony suburb southwest of Portland who are interested in the downtown lifestyle.

“It’s the person who doesn’t want the yard maintenance, the house maintenance, who wants the security,” he said.

The ability to walk to restaurants and shops nearby has also proved a popular draw. Early interest for the apartments has been strong, Kessi said.

The development is also attracting commercial operations. So far, ice cream maker Salt & Straw, pizzeria Chuckie Pies, Bamboo Sushi, fitness studio StarCycle, Richard Henry Barber Co. and clothing retailer Adorn have signed deals for space in The Windward. Some of the commercial spaces have been offered for sale.

“We have a good mix of Portland best-in-class and Lake Oswego best-in-class commercial tenants,” Kessi said.

The Windward is composed of three buildings, each of which follows a Lake Oswego design style: “Oregon Rustic,” “English Tudor” and “Arts and Crafts.”

The structures are largely concrete and steel studs, not wood-framed, opening the possibility of a later condo conversion. Kessi said any conversion to condos would not happen until years in the future. The apartment tenants are on one-year leases.

Kessi said the building will be rated Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design gold for environmental performance.

Lake Oswego’s redevelopment agency is subsidizing the development with $5.2 million for development costs and permits and $749,000 for construction. The city received from PHK Development public parking, a public easement that allows pedestrian access between First and Second streets and assurances that the commercial spaces facing First Avenue and A Street would be active-use retail, said Elaine Franklin, a spokeswoman for The Windward.

The project was designed by ZGF Architects and Ankrom Moisan Architects. A public pension fund provided financing.

PHK Development is also building a 162-unit condo project at Northeast 21st Avenue and Multnomah Street in the Lloyd District.

After that?

“And then, we’ll just keep going,” Kessi said. “It’s what we do.”

The post Perseverance prevails in suburbia appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

Lake Oswego’s Wizer Block project has been branded The Windward.

The 200-unit luxury apartment project in the tony Portland suburb is expected to begin leasing this summer. Residents are anticipated to move in during the first quarter of 2018.

The Windward consists of three buildings, modeled as “English Tudor,” “Arts and Crafts” and “Oregon Rustic,” respectively.

The $100 million project comes from Patrick Kessi’s PHK Development. The Windward also offers 42,000 square feet of commercial space and 430 parking spaces, including 135 public spaces.

Bentall Kennedy U.S. Core Fund is the project’s major investor.

The name The Windward was chosen to reflect the property’s location above Lake Oswego, Kessi said in a prepared statement.

The Windward is the first mixed-use development to be built in downtown Lake Oswego in at least 17 years, according to the developer.

The post Wizer Block gets new name appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

(Editor’s note: This post has been updated to include the two architecture firms working on the project.)

PHK Development‘s Block 137 mixed-use project continues to take shape on a downtown Lake Oswego superblock. Lease Crutcher Lewis is the general contractor on the project, which was designed by ZGF Architects and Ankrom Moisan and includes three four-story concrete and steel buildings.

Major structural concrete work is now complete, with around 20,000 cubic yards poured. Form work and shoring are being removed from Building B, and crews are installing wall panels that have been assembled off-site and preparing for steel stud framing. On Buildings A and C, crews are installing sheathing and flashing, windows, elevators, preparing for mechanical, electrical, and plumbing rough-ins, and installing brick facades.

The project will have a total of 200 residential units ranging in size from studios to three bedrooms, including four townhome units, as well as over 40,000 square feet of commercial space fronting A Avenue and First Street, and below-grade parking. It is slated for completion in early 2018.

The post Photos: Work progesses on Lake Oswego project appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

LAKE OSWEGO – A big-city project sited smack-dab in the middle of a sleepy Portland suburb has been drawing looky-loos since getting going.

“It’s the kind of thing you see all your life and you never stop and really look at,” said resident Glen Williams, who was peering through the cyclone fencing along First Street last week with his wife, Bonnie. “Now that I’m retired, I’ve been watching this every day. It’s amazing, the logistics of it … I think this project will definitely be good for the city.”

After a fraught development path involving a stop at the state Supreme Court, developer Patrick Kessi’s Wizer Block project is now a reality. Matt Baker, project manager for contractor Lease Crutcher Lewis, said the team is on track to top out concrete work on buildings A and C by September, and building B by late November.

“Right now this is probably the most complex post-tension project we’ve done,” Baker said. “This building was designed from the outside-in. None of the floorplates really stack. None of the units really stack. There’s only a few really typical units – a lot of the other units are going to be unique.”

Whether it’s the initial controversy or the site’s central location, the public seems interested in the project, Baker said. Lease Crutcher Lewis spent extensive time doing outreach in pre-construction, including meeting door-to-door with business owners.

Baker said people passing by have commented on the cleanliness of the site, but the project started as a wet mess. This December was the rainiest in 75 years, and the initial geotechnical report for the site did not show nearly the amount of boulders buried below. In the end, Lewis hauled away 11,000 pounds of boulders.

With the site now cleared, the $86 million (hard construction costs) mixed-use development is humming along, and now about 25 to 30 percent complete.

For years, the lakeside community had avoided the heavy development common to other Portland suburbs. When Kessi proposed a multi-building project on a block in the middle of town, it drew criticism for being out of step with the town’s “character.” A petition filed by two community groups wended its way through the state Land Use Board of Appeals, before failing at the Oregon Supreme Court.

Lease Crutcher Lewis is self-performing all the concrete work for two of the three buildings. With only one surrounding street open to haulers, concrete is pumped from B Street to one of the four masts at different sites around the block.

The post Wizer Block project draws a crowd appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

Take a look at the project teams for the most visible – and successful – projects completed recently in both the Portland-metro area and Oregon, and there’s a good chance Lease Crutcher Lewis will be listed as general contractor on more than a few of them.

The 130-year-old company is involved in some of the most newsworthy projects in the metro area, from the 290,000-square-foot Wizer Block development in Lake Oswego to a nine-floor tenant improvement at Park Avenue West for law firm Stoel Rives.

The secrets to the company’s longevity and success lie in no small part to a willingness to keep an eye out for the next big trend in the industry and embrace innovation.

“We’re always trying to come up with a better mousetrap,” Bart Ricketts, the company’s CEO, said.

When Bill Lewis, the great-grandson of company founder N.T. Lease, was preparing to retire, he and the other leads of the firm knew they didn’t want to sell the firm to an outside owner. Instead, the decision was made to shift the company to an employee-ownership model.

The firm also took a path into uncharted territory when it signed on to build the University of Oregon‘s Lillis Business Complex at the University of Oregon in the early 2000s. The project became the university’s first LEED-rated building. At the time work started, however, that distinction didn’t mean a whole lot. Sustainability was still a word that few people were acquainted with, and Lease Crutcher Lewis found itself taking a crash course in green building.

“It’s all run of the mill now, but none of that was going on then,” Ricketts said.

These days, with sustainability firmly under its belt, Lease Crutcher Lewis is looking to push the envelope in other areas of construction. A couple of years ago, the company worked on the Allison Spa and Inn in Newberg, and was able to marry its commercial project efficiency with a residential approach.

More recently, the general contractor wrapped up work on the Oregon Zoo‘s Elephant Lands. While the firm had worked on veterinary facilities for universities in the past, the zoo project was a different animal altogether.

“It was our first chance to delight animals and the community,” Ricketts said. “It was a great project, and fun for our team.”

The post Newsmakers 2016: Lease Crutcher Lewis appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

If things had gone differently for Patrick Kessi, he might have ended up as a stockbroker on Wall Street instead of a developer creating mixed-use projects in the Portland-metro area.

Kessi began investing money in the stock market while he was in high school and studied finance at the University of Portland. In the summer of his sophomore year, however, his life took a different turn. He bought a house that he rented out to some of his college buddies. One house led to two more during his junior year.

After Kessi graduated from college, he began working on single-family, duplex and four-plex remodels. Around 2003, he started doing mixed-use and multifamily developments. He hasn’t looked back since.

For Kessi, the projects he works on through his firm PHK Development are as much about making other people’s dreams come true as about realizing his own vision. While working on the design of Marvel 29, a mixed-use project in the St. Johns area of Portland, Kessi brought together residents as well as the owners of small businesses in the area. He took their suggestions – and their concerns – to heart.

For his current project, the Wizer Block development in Lake Oswego, he’s helping realize the goal of Gene Wizer. The former owner of the property wanted it to become a contribution to the city’s downtown area.

“He wanted a mixed-use development there,” Kessi said. “He wanted to bring people into the downtown core.”

Although Gene Wizer died last year, he did get to see ground broken on the 290,000-square-foot project as well as hear that the Oregon Supreme Court had ruled in favor of allowing work to move forward despite some neighborhood opposition.

“He heard that and he was delighted,” Kessi said.

Even in the face of opposition, Kessi’s buildings often win people over once the last brick is set in place, the last nail is hammered and the doors finally open for business.

For the Marvel 29 project, the strong ties Kessi had built with the community were evident when neighborhood residents turned out in full force recently to celebrate Marvel 29 being officially recognized as a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design platinum building.

“Sometimes we have to do tough things to do great things,” Kessi said.

The post Newsmakers 2016: Patrick Kessi appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

Midsize builder Lease Crutcher Lewis is busy with public and private work in the Portland-metro area:

• Work on the $103 million Wizer Block project is under way in Lake Oswego. The controversial redevelopment will include 201 residential units and 42,000 square feet of retail space. Deconstruction of the Wizer shopping center has begun, with construction scheduled to conclude in fall 2017. Opponents have criticized the project for being too bulky and dense. Recently, a challenge of project approval was denied review by the Oregon Supreme Court.

• Lewis is modernizing Roosevelt High School in Portland’s St. Johns neighborhood. Demolition and site work for the $65 million project began in the summer. Construction of a new classroom building, a performing arts center and an athletic complex is under way. The historic auditorium building is undergoing a seismic upgrade and renovation to accommodate a new library and classrooms. Work should wrap up in fall 2017. The project is one of three major high school modernizations funded by a Portland Public Schools bond. The architect is Bassetti Architects.

• The Oregon Zoo‘s $48 million, 6.25-acre Elephant Lands habitat project, which began in February 2012, will finish later this fall. The Metro project includes an elephant viewing area and modifications to the zoo railway. The local architect is SRG, in partnership with CLR Design of Philadelphia. The project is the first in Oregon to incorporate cross-laminated timber, and the largest of those funded by a $125 million bond passed in 2008.

• Lewis is constructing a nine-floor tenant improvement for Stoel Rives at the Park Avenue West skyscraper. The project involves renovating 135,000 square feet to accommodate a two-floor conference center, five floors to serve attorneys and two floors to serve administrators. The construction value is $15 million.

• Lewis in spring 2016 will start a 175,000-square-foot headquarters renovation and addition for SAIF, Oregon’s not-for-profit state-chartered workers’ compensation insurance company. The project will include a seismic upgrade, a building façade modernization and a major addition.

Lease Crutcher Lewis in 2013 was the city’s 10th-largest general contractor, with $93.6 million in local billings. CEO Bart Ricketts splits his workweek between the firm’s Portland office above Tasty n Alder at 550 S.W. 12th Ave. and its Seattle office. The firm self-performs all concrete work and relies on predominantly union carpenters, laborers and operators, according to Lewis Marketing Director Janice Westcott. – Garrett Andrews

Builder’s Choice is a new 91��Ƶ feature offering a look at the projects being tackled by local architecture, engineering and construction firms. To have your firm’s projects considered, contact 91��Ƶ construction reporter Garrett Andrews at 503-802-7226 or garrett.andrews@djcOregon.com.

The post Builder’s Choice: Lease Crutcher Lewis appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

Opponents of the Wizer Block development in Lake Oswego have lost their appeal to the Oregon Supreme Court.

Chief Justice Thomas A. Balmer on Thursday issued an order denying review of an appeal by two groups opposed to developer Patrick Kessi’s proposed four-story, 201-residential-unit project in downtown Lake Oswego – the first multifamily development there in more than 50 years.

Opponents who believe the $92 million project doesn’t adhere to Lake Oswego’s “village character” first took their fight to the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals. When that challenge failed, the Evergreen Neighborhood Association and Save Our Village went to the Oregon Court of Appeals. That appeal failed in August.

Demolition and erosion-control permits were issued last month to general contractor Lease Crutcher Lewis. A traffic control plan around the construction site is now in place.

ZGF Architects will be the project design architect, and work in partnership with Ankrom Moisan Architects, the architect of record. Landscape architecture will be performed by Lango Hansen Landscape Architects. Structural engineering will be done by Froelich Engineers and civil engineering will be handled by Harper Houf Peterson Righellis. GeoDesign will be in charge of geotechnical engineering; Interface Engineering will provide mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineering.

The post Review of Wizer Block challenge denied appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

The state Court of Appeals this week upheld a decision by the Land Use Board of Appeals to allow a $92 million development in Lake Oswego to proceed.

In coming to its decision, the court rejected a claim by the group Save Our Village that PHK Development’s Wizer Block project did not adhere to the city’s “village character.”

The court affirmed an earlier determination by the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals that the proposed project on Block 137 in downtown Lake Oswego is consistent with the city’s development code. The Court rendered the decision without comment.

Plans for the Wizer Block development call for demolishing the Wizer Building at 140 A Ave. and constructing three four-story buildings with 201 residential units and 36,500 square feet of commercial space along with underground parking.

Save Our Village, along with the Evergreen Neighborhood Association, filed a lawsuit earlier this year against the PHK Development that was unsuccessful at the LUBA level.

Lake Oswego Mayor Kent Studebaker said he is happy with the court’s decision and expects the project to move forward.

“I’m glad they made a decision and I’m glad they upheld LUBA,” he said. “I’m also glad that it seems to be something that will resolve the appeals issue and that they gave a decision without an opinion.”

Save Our Village attorney Greg Hathaway said he was surprised the appellate court did not include written comments in the case and doesn’t know yet if his client will request the case be reviewed by the state Supreme Court.

“We’re still digesting what’s happened here,” Hathaway said. “I notified the client, but we have not had a conversation yet about what would be the next step.”

Lease Crutcher Lewis of Portland will serve as general contractor for the project. ZGF Architects LLP will be the project design architect, working in partnership with Ankrom Moisan Architects Inc., the architect of record. Landscape architecture will be by Lango Hansen Landscape Architects. Structural engineering will be by Froelich Engineers Inc. and civil engineering will be handled by Harper Houf Peterson Righellis. GeoDesign Inc. will be in charge of geotechnical engineering; Interface Engineering will provide mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineering.

The post Wizer Block gets go-ahead from Court of Appeals appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

A local Lake Oswego group called Save Our Village is fighting to stop a development they say is not in character with the city. The group sent out a press release this week urging people to email the Lake Oswego city staff and city councilors and ask a series of questions.

The questions concern whether construction of the proposed Wizer Building development will disrupt local businesses, how parking will be addressed and how much upgrading adjacent streets will cost the city.

Lake Oswego Mayor Kent Studebaker said he’s seen a recent uptick in emails about the proposed project, but the city is not responding to them.

“Those questions have all been discussed before,” he said.

Save Our Village, along with the Evergreen Neighborhood Association, filed an unsuccessful appeal against the developer earlier this year to the state Land Use Board of Appeals. The basis of the suit was that the proposed development did not adhere to the city’s “village character,” said Greg Hathaway, an attorney representing the groups.

The suit is now before the state Court of Appeals, Hathaway said, and oral arguments will begin at 9 a.m. on July 15 in the Oregon Supreme Court hearing room in Salem.

The $92-million project calls for razing the existing Wizer Building at 140 A Ave. and constructing three four-story buildings, totaling 201 residential units and 36,500 square feet of commercial space along with underground parking.

The project is being developed by PHK Development. ZGF Architects is the project design architect working in partnership with Ankrom Moisan Architects, the architect of record. Lango Hansen Landscape is the project landscape architect. Plans call for Froelich Engineers to do structural engineering; Harper Houf Peterson Righellis to serve as civil engineer; GeoDesign Inc. to handle geotechnical engineering; and Interface Engineering to provide mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineering services.

Last August, the Lake Oswego Development Review Commission denied a project approval request by the developer, so PHK turned to city councilors. After several hours of testimony, the city council reversed the development commission’s decision.

The LUBA decision sided with the city council’s interpretation of the “village character” section of the city code that serves as a guideline and does not mandate against development taller than three stories.

But Hathaway said the basis of the current appeal is that the project will violate city code and LUBA didn’t consider the right evidence.

“The problem is that it’s too massive and too large in scale in comparison with uses on either side of Block 137,” Hathaway said. “LUBA didn’t do a comparative evaluation, and the question mark is why they didn’t address what we thought was the most critical issue to the case.”

Hathaway stressed that the groups he represents are not trying to stop development.

“We are just trying to maintain the village character like Lake Oswego established years ago,” he said.

Elaine Franklin, speaking for PHK president Patrick Kessi, said the developer is just waiting for the court’s decision. She said a decision could take from two weeks to a month.

“Meanwhile, everything’s going on schedule,” she said. “Financing is on schedule and we’ll be ready to kick in as soon as the Court of Appeals makes its decision.”

Groundbreaking is expected for this fall, as planned, she said.

The post Wizer Block headed to state Court of Appeals appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.