Daily Journal of Commerce, Portland articles from April 2004

Daily Journal of Commerce, Portland archives from April 2004

South Waterfront condos moving ahead.
April 1, 2004... Byline: Aimee Curl After years of planning, the first project in Portland's newest urban neighborhood will soon rise from the banks of the Willamette River's South Waterfront. Pending approval by the Portland Design Commission,...

Portland Mall public testimony stresses desire for auto access.
April 1, 2004... Byline: Jessica Swanson The Portland Planning Commission Tuesday night heard the first public testimony on the Portland Mall Revitalization, a project that would add light rail to Fifth and Sixth avenues and extend the downtown transit...

Waterproofing consultants offer shelter from storm.
April 1, 2004... Byline: Rich Riegel From apartment complexes to a stadium at the University of Oregon, one Portland firm is helping buildings weather the Pacific Northwest's soggy climate. Located on Southwest Westgate Drive in Portland, Western...

Clackamas County commissioners approve service development charge increase.
April 1, 2004... Byline: The Daily Journal of Commerce The Clackamas County Board of Commissioners last week approved an increase in a service development charge for the North Clackamas Park and Recreation District. The increase is the first since the...

Solar energy systems spark growing interest in Oregon, spur grants.
April 1, 2004... Byline: The Daily Journal of Commerce Oregon is emerging as a bright spot for solar energy, according to Energy Trust of Oregon. As proof of that claim, the nonprofit organization, which promotes energy efficiency and renewable energy...

Washington County's Rood Bridge dedicated Friday.
April 1, 2004... Byline: The Daily Journal of Commerce A celebration to dedicate the new Rood Bridge across the Tualatin River on Rood Bridge Road will take place Friday. Washington County, the Oregon Department of Transportation, OBEC Consulting...

Oregon State Univ. starts MBE program for contractors.
April 2, 2004... Byline: Jessica Swanson Robert C. Wilson's 2001 gift to Oregon State University is finally paying off. The well-known Benton County contractor's idea of graduate level business training for contractors will become a new master's degree in...

Portland Development Commission looking for takers for Holman Building.
April 2, 2004... Byline: Aimee Curl The Portland Development Commission is looking for someone with a vision and a plan to turn an aging eastside building into a city gem. The Holman Building, built in 1951 and located a block from the east bank of the...

Villebois, a planned pedestrian-friendly village, does green in big way.
April 2, 2004... Byline: Rich Riegel Sustainability is one of the tenets underlying Villebois, a planned pedestrian-friendly village at the site of the former Dammasch State Hospital in Wilsonville. As part of a multi-disciplinary team, architecture,...

Open house offers look at South Waterfront Greenway design.
April 2, 2004... Byline: Aimee Curl The latest design concept for the South Waterfront Greenway will be presented during a public open house from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. The greenway was stipulated in an agreement struck by the city and developers...

Law firm Garvey Schubert Barer wins award for identity launch.
April 2, 2004... Byline: Jessica Swanson Law firm Garvey Schubert Barer has a new look to match an old philosophy that pairs irreverence with expertise. Last month, the firm accepted the 2004 "Your Honor" Award from the Legal Marketing Association for...

Velocity Sports finds space in Tualatin.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Aimee Curl Velocity Sports Performance - a growing company that trains young athletes to become stronger, faster and more agile - has leased 12,750 square feet at Boones Ferry Center in Tualatin. This will be the Atlanta-based...

Aquarium's in-house construction crew faces challenges.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Rich Riegel Building an exhibit for the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport requires the coordination akin to a well-practiced football team. And exhibits coordinator Rich Sullivan pulls together a tight in-house construction crew...

Volatile steel prices shouldn't tank contractor confidence.
April 5, 2004... Byline: The Daily Journal of Commerce John Cross has a message for contractors wringing their hands when they compare the prices of today's steel market with last year's price tag. Instead of decrying unpredictable steel prices,...

Harsch Investment Properties buys Tacoma industrial business park.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Aimee Curl Harsch Investment Properties, based in Portland, has purchased Fife Business Park - a 290,789-square-foot, multi-tenant industrial park in the Port of Tacoma area - for more than $28.2 million. The 11-building,...

Portland turns to public for help with infill issues.
April 6, 2004... Byline: Aimee Curl The Portland Planning Bureau hopes input from the community will help the city better guide developers in making infill fit in with surrounding neighborhoods. The project, part of an ongoing planning effort to update...

Science expo projects link real life, industry.
April 6, 2004... Byline: Jessica Swanson Sixth graders Nini Tran and Katherine Ham couldn't have predicted a major chemical spill into Southeast Portland's Johnson Creek when they tested the water's pH, turbidity and dissolved oxygen levels last winter....

Report finds Fire Station No. 1 move positive.
April 7, 2004... Byline: Aimee Curl A report released Tuesday by the Portland Development Commission finds that moving Fire Station No. 1 from the corner of Southwest Ash Street and Naito Parkway to a site three blocks north between Davis and Couch streets...

Course connects MacLaren inmates with construction professionals.
April 7, 2004... Byline: Jessica Swanson Twenty-two-year-old Antonio James has been an inmate at MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility in Woodburn for six years. In less than 30 days he will attempt to enter the Oregon workforce as a convicted felon with no...

Oregon University System to upgrade three buildings with FEMA money.
April 7, 2004... Byline: Jessica Swanson The Oregon University System and the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Affairs received a $2.8 million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for seismic upgrades on three campus facilities. ...

Commercial broker Kidder Mathews settling into Portland.
April 8, 2004... Byline: Aimee Curl Less than nine months after opening its first office here, GVA Kidder Mathews now boasts a roster that reads like a who's-who of Portland commercial brokers. The list includes Tony Reser and Joe DeJager, both...

Library wins international masonry award.
April 8, 2004... Byline: Jessica Swanson The four masons who completed the brickwork on the Eugene Public Library in 2002 have retired, and they are sorely missed by Davidson's Masonry project superintendent Dean Hatzenbihler. "The craftsmen that I had...

Allwest Underground relocates to new facility.
April 8, 2004... Byline: The Daily Journal of Commerce Allwest Underground, which bills itself as the Pacific Northwest's oldest supplier of trench safety equipment, is heading south. It won't be a long trip, however. The company is relocating a...

Architecture, engineering firms buying into Bonneville's green tags program.
April 8, 2004... Byline: Rich Riegel Portland-based David Evans and Associates Inc. recently announced a purchase of green tags in support of Northwest wind energy. In doing so, the company joined a growing number of local and national companies within the...

Wal-Mart could resort to initiatives in Oregon.
April 9, 2004... Byline: Aimee Curl Stymied by increasing local opposition nationwide, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has turned to the ballot box to win the right to build its mammoth stores in some cities, a strategy that failed this week in Inglewood, Calif.,...

Multnomah County to light Hawthorne Bridge this spring.
April 9, 2004... Byline: Jessica Swanson Over the next three months, Multnomah County bridge crews will hang 30 metal-halide floodlights on the Hawthorne Bridge. After years of planning, the Willamette Light Brigade and County Commissioners this week...

ODOT seals contract with private firm for bridge delivery.
April 9, 2004... Byline: Jessica Swanson The Oregon Department of Transportation signed a contract Monday with Oregon Bridge Delivery Partners, the private-sector firm that will manage the $1.3 billion state bridge replacement program funded by the 2003...

St. Johns Bridge rehabilitation reaches milestone.
April 9, 2004... Byline: The Daily Journal of Commerce Work finished this week on the first stage of rehabilitation of the St. Johns Bridge as Max J. Kuney Co., the project's general contractor, finished replacing decking on the northernmost lane of the...

National Institute brings trial skills building to Northwest.
April 9, 2004... Byline: Jessica Swanson This summer, the National Institute for Trial Advocacy will bring its Building Trial Skills program to the Seattle University School of Law as part of NITA's nationwide trial and deposition skills programming. ...

National survey proves architecture, construction link.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Jessica Swanson Since November 1995, the national American Institute of Architects has been collecting monthly inquiry and billing information from their member firms for Work-on-the-Boards, a regular index of industry activity by...

Reed Harris exits Portland's Pearl District, leaves behind prime real estate site.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Aimee Curl Reed Harris, a printing and direct-mail company that settled in Portland's Pearl District long before the neighborhood earned its current name, is the latest manufacturing firm planning to move out of the now-trendy...

Washington County seeking candidates for planning commission.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Aimee Curl Washington County is seeking candidates to fill two positions on its planning commission. The current members' terms expire June 30. Commissioner Dick Schouten is vacating a position that covers District 1, which...

Seattle architect Tom Kundig presents lecture at Portland State Univ.
April 12, 2004... Byline: The Daily Journal of Commerce Chicken Point Cabin...The Brain. To the design-deficient, those names most likely sound like recently released science-fiction or horror movies. But to members of the Pacific Northwest...

Trammell Crow Co. breaks ground on Rivergate addition in Portland.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Aimee Curl Trammell Crow Co. has begun construction on a 204,550-square-foot addition to Rivergate Corporate Center II, located on the Northwest corner of North Ramsey Boulevard and North Lombard Street in Portland. The project...

New Seattle library nears May opening.
April 13, 2004... Byline: Jessica Swanson The screws are all but tightened on the new central Seattle Public Library, and a grand opening is scheduled for next month. The 11-story, 362,987-square-foot building on a full city block in downtown Seattle is...

Henry's 12th Street Tavern opens in Brewery Blocks.
April 13, 2004... Byline: Aimee Curl Henry's 12th Street Tavern opens today, bringing life to the signature ground floor space in downtown Portland's 1.7-million-square-foot Brewery Blocks development. The restaurant pays homage to the Blitz-Weinhard...

George Fox Univ. to purchase Providence Hospital building.
April 13, 2004... Byline: Aimee Curl George Fox University announced Monday it will purchase the Providence Newberg Hospital building and property for $3 million. The university plans to take occupancy of the 58,900-square-foot building by April 2006...

Panel tackles construction defect litigation.
April 13, 2004... Byline: The Daily Journal of Commerce If you design it - or build it - will they sue? These days, with a boom in design- and construction-defect litigation, more and more architects, engineers and contractors are afraid the answer is...

Renovations bring major changes to Ione Plaza.
April 14, 2004... Byline: Aimee Curl In keeping with the pockets of revitalization cropping up around Portland State University, the Ione Plaza - one of the largest and more recognizable apartment buildings in the neighborhood - is getting a new look. ...

Friday Harbor Ferry Terminal preservation to start this summer.
April 14, 2004... Byline: Jessica Swanson The Washington State Department of Transportation will spend an estimated $9.4 million on preserving the Friday Harbor Ferry Terminal, a one-slip terminal on San Juan Island off Washington's north coast. On Monday,...

Chown Hardware celebrates 125 years.
April 14, 2004... Byline: Rich Riegel When F.R. Chown Hardware opened on Sept. 15, 1879, Portland was a city of 17,577 people. The Willamette River could be crossed only by ferryboat, East Portland was a separate municipality, and the country road known...

Memorial scholarship helps students build careers.
April 14, 2004... Byline: The Daily Journal of Commerce Fourteen students will build on their dreams of careers in construction and related fields with recent awards from a scholarship fund created by a father to honor his son. Konrad Schweiger was one...

Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Partnership awards endowment scholarship.
April 14, 2004... Byline: The Daily Journal of Commerce David Hamilton, a student pursuing a master's degree in architecture at the University of Virginia, is the first recipient of an endowment scholarship recently established by Zimmer Gunsul Frasca...

Metro identifies industrial parcels for urban growth boundary expansion.
April 15, 2004... Byline: Aimee Curl Metro Chief Operating Officer Michael Jordan will brief the Metro Council today on his recommendation for parcels of industrial land to be included as part of the tri-county region's urban growth boundary expansion. ...

Portland learning from challenges of first 'Green Street Demonstration Project'.
April 15, 2004... Byline: Jessica Swanson Since the Northeast Siskiyou Green Street Demonstration Project was unveiled last October, Portland's weather has taken some historic turns. Kevin Perry, a stormwater project designer with Portland's Bureau of...

State considers plan to help contractors obtain liability insurance.
April 15, 2004... Byline: The Daily Journal of Commerce In an effort to determine whether the state should create a marketing assistance plan for construction contractors having trouble getting liability insurance, the Oregon Department of Consumer &...

Aviation aid grants will spur construction, improvement projects at Washington airports.
April 15, 2004... Byline: The Daily Journal of Commerce Twenty-seven airports in Washington will share just under $1.5 million for 38 different construction projects, according to the aviation division of the Washington State Department of Transportation....

Final schematics complete for Portland's aerial tram.
April 16, 2004... Byline: Aimee Curl Little more than a year after Los Angeles- and Zurich, Switzerland-based Angelil/Graham/Pfenninger/Scholl won the international competition to design Portland's aerial tram, the final schematics are complete and ready...

Portland Legal Briefs: April 16, 2004.
April 16, 2004... Byline: Jessica Swanson No one at the Multnomah Bar Association can pinpoint exactly when the annual Community Law Week got its start, but most agree it has only gained momentum in recent years. A celebration of the American Bar...

Mold seminar to present new design techniques.
April 16, 2004... Byline: Jessica Swanson A seminar called "Water Intrusion and Molds in Building: How to Save Money and Improve Your Projects" is the annual spring workshop held by the Cascade Section of the Association for the Advancement of Cost...

Indian law symposium examines 'Corps of Discovery'.
April 16, 2004... Byline: Jessica Swanson Robert J. Miller says explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark were the vanguard of American policies that ultimately robbed indigenous peoples of nearly everything they possessed. Miller, associate...

Conference promotes alternatives to smart growth.
April 19, 2004... Byline: Aimee Curl In a city where progressive urban planning is revered with almost religious fervor, and words like livability and smart growth come up in common conversation, one group gathered last weekend to challenge the...

Seattle landmark gets second life as performance hall.
April 19, 2004... Byline: Rich Riegel Nearly 90 years after its construction, the historic Sons of Norway Hall on Boren Avenue in Seattle has been reborn as a main performance space for the Cornish College of Arts. Since its construction, the timbered...

Oregon American Society of Landscape Architects singles out eight projects.
April 19, 2004... Byline: The Daily Journal of Commerce What's new in landscape architecture in Oregon? The answer is plenty, judging by the results of the 2004 Design Awards, which were handed out Saturday by the Oregon Chapter of the American Society...

Cleanup continues at McCormack site, contractor chosen.
April 19, 2004... Byline: The Daily Journal of Commerce The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality has signed a contract with Remtech Inc. to construct an in-river sediment cap at the contaminated McCormick & Baxter Creosote Co. Superfund site along the...

Digimarc inks deal for space at Creekside Corporate Park.
April 19, 2004... Byline: Aimee Curl Digimarc Corp. has leased 46,083 square feet at Creekside Corporate Park, a 600,000-square-foot office campus located in Beaverton on Oregon Highway 217. The firm will take up the entire building at 9405 S.W. Gemini...

Surveyors take 3D laser scanner into the field.
April 20, 2004... Byline: Jessica Swanson Twelve years ago, Cyra Technologies Inc. manufactured the first prototype of a high-definition laser scanner for use in surveying. Last week, Washington-based engineering and surveying firm Skillings-Connolly Inc....

Deals keep Stockyards Commerce Center 87% occupied.
April 20, 2004... Byline: Aimee Curl Two deals at Harsch Investment Properties' Stockyards Commerce Center mean the property will keep its vacancy down, even after losing two large tenants. Expeditors International recently moved into 111,000 square...

Enterprise Mercantile historic mercantile building study finished.
April 20, 2004... Byline: The Daily Journal of Commerce On Thursday, Waterleaf Architecture of Portland will present the results of a year-long feasibility study for restoring the Enterprise Mercantile and Milling Co. Building, a historic structure on the...

Open house planned for pedestrian wayfinding signage project.
April 20, 2004... Byline: The Daily Journal of Commerce The Portland Development Commission is seeking public comment at an open house Wednesday for the new Pedestrian Wayfinding System to be installed on both sides of the Willamette River in 2005. The...

Testimony sought on International Building Codes amendments.
April 21, 2004... Byline: Jessica Swanson The Building Codes Division of the Oregon Department of Consumer & Business Services is taking public testimony this week on the proposed amendments to the International Building Code, which is expected to go into...

Associated General Contractors pinning hopes on candidates to beat incumbent.
April 21, 2004... Byline: Aimee Curl Members of the Oregon-Columbia Chapter of Associated General Contractors got a firsthand look last week at two of the Republican candidates vying for the District 1 seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Tim...

Portland State Univ. forum on Pearl, South Waterfront sustainability.
April 21, 2004... Byline: The Daily Journal of Commerce Portland State University will present a forum on "Designing the Pearl and South Waterfront: Putting Some Green in Our Brownfields," Friday. Held from 3 to 5 p.m. at PSU's Urban Center, 506 Mill...

State may help contractors with insurance market assistance plan.
April 22, 2004... Byline: Jessica Swanson Cece Newell and her colleagues at the state's Construction Contractors Board have fielded 1,800 phone calls from Oregon contractors in the last 18 months. Ninety percent of them were small- to medium-sized...

Columbia Corridor holding steady, poised for upturn.
April 22, 2004... Byline: Aimee Curl Members of the Columbia Corridor Association met Wednesday to hear the annual barrage of trends and predictions for leasing and development in the industrial area that parallels the Columbia River from Rivergate to...

Green grant helps ReBuilding Center expand.
April 22, 2004... Byline: Rich Riegel It's a retail business specializing in offering used building materials. It's part of the local green, or sustainable, industry. It's the ReBuilding Center, located at 3625 N. Mississippi Ave. in Portland. And...

Multnomah Building Green Roof receives People's Choice award from landscape architects group.
April 22, 2004... Byline: The Daily Journal of Commerce The 2004 Design Awards were handed out April 17 by the Oregon Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects. A People's Choice award went to the Multnomah Building Green Roof. ...

Bridge delivery partners featured at American Council of Engineering Companies dinner.
April 22, 2004... Byline: The Daily Journal of Commerce Members of the Oregon Department of Transportation bridge rebuilding team, including project management firm Oregon Bridge Delivery Partners LLC, will be featured at a dinner on April 29 hosted by the...

Oregon guardsmen were builders, teachers in Iraq.
April 23, 2004... Byline: Jessica Swanson When the Oregon Army National Guard's Bravo Company was deployed to Iraq with the 52nd Engineer Combat Battalion (Heavy), it faced a situation not uncommon during war. When troops arrived early last year, there was...

Conference on green roofs heading for Portland in June.
April 23, 2004... Byline: Rich Riegel If you haven't noticed, Portland is becoming a nexus of sustainable thinking, green technologies and environmentally friendly development. And the city's going to be getting greener in a few months. "Greening...

Lake Oswego prohibits annexation of stripped property.
April 23, 2004... Byline: Aimee Curl Lake Oswego City Manager Douglas Schmitz has enacted an administrative policy that prohibits the future annexation of property that has been stripped of its natural resources. The action, which occurred earlier this...

Atty. earns merit award for work on MBA law week.
April 23, 2004... Byline: Jessica Swanson As Community Law Week swings into action Monday, attorney Doug Palmer will be in his element. The Multnomah Bar Association's Young Lawyers Section will be honoring Palmer next month with a merit award for his...

Forty projects win Excellence in Concrete Awards.
April 26, 2004... Byline: Jessica Swanson The 24th Annual Excellence in Concrete Awards, a banquet and awards ceremony, was held April 22 at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland. From a pool of 57 entries, 14 projects earned bragging rights as top...

Top sustainable businesses recognized at environmental awards.
April 26, 2004... Byline: Aimee Curl The 12th annual Businesses for an Environmentally Sustainable Tomorrow, or BEST Awards, began on a sobering note this year. Keynote speaker Richard Heinberg told the more than 400 gathered Friday morning at the...

Longview Fibre to lease part of historic 'White House'.
April 26, 2004... Byline: The Daily Journal of Commerce Longview Fibre Co. has leased the north half of the "White House," one of the oldest buildings in Longview. Port of Longview Commissioners approved the lease agreement in a special meeting held April...

Parametrix to lead environmental assessment of state's bridge project.
April 27, 2004... Byline: Rich Riegel It's a daunting project. Faced with the demand of replacing more than 400 deteriorating bridges around the state in less than 10 years, the Oregon Department of Transportation knew it needed to develop a fundamentally...

Counties pick Otak Inc. for bridge fixes.
April 27, 2004... Byline: Jessica Swanson Oregon-based design and engineering firm Otak Inc. has been selected by Jackson and Josephine counties to provide preliminary engineering and construction engineering services for three bridges in each county. More...

Commercial Real Estate Women's event challenges students with real world problem.
April 27, 2004... Byline: Aimee Curl Lots of kids grow up spending hours of playtime pretending to be doctors or lawyers, teachers or astronauts, but most probably never play "developer" or "real estate broker." Last week, fifty high school kids got to do...

Washington County to present Farmington Road project.
April 27, 2004... Byline: The Daily Journal of Commerce Washington County is hosting an open house for the next phase of the Farmington Road improvement project. The open house will present the project's final design to the community as well as introducing...

UO student honored as top undergraduate in computer science and engineering.
April 27, 2004... Byline: The Daily Journal of Commerce Anna Cavender, a University of Oregon senior, has been named North America's 2004 Outstanding Female Undergraduate in Computer Science and Engineering by the Computing Research Association of...

Products and services fair returns to Portland.
April 27, 2004... Byline: The Daily Journal of Commerce The 30th annual Portland Products and Services Fair, sponsored by the Construction Specifications Institute, will be held from 2 to 8 p.m. today at the Oregon Convention Center, Hall E, 777 N.E. Martin...

Legislative priorities set for Realtors' association.
April 28, 2004... Byline: Aimee Curl The next regular session of the Oregon Legislature may be more than eight months away, but for the Oregon Association of Realtors, spring is the perfect time to start setting the agenda. The association, which...

It takes a village: Volunteers, builders join forces for May building convergence.
April 28, 2004... Byline: Rich Riegel It's all a matter of perspective. Recently, Portland's City Repair Project received a $3,000 grant from the city of Portland's Office of Sustainable Development to support the 2004 Village Building Convergence, an event...

Oregon State Univ. launches plan to create new research park.
April 28, 2004... Byline: The Daily Journal of Commerce With a focus on drawing technology-oriented companies to Corvallis, Oregon State University yesterday announced plans to develop a research park on 52 acres of land near the southern end of the school's...