Daily Journal of Commerce, Portland articles from August 2005

Daily Journal of Commerce, Portland archives from August 2005

Office leasing activity strong in Portland metro with no sign of slowing down.
August 1, 2005... Byline: Kennedy Smith You don't have to be a commercial real estate broker to know that office leasing activity is looking up this year - but it helps if you are one. The commercial real estate community is feeling pretty optimistic...

Three Oregon students earn OSHA memorial scholarships.
August 1, 2005... Byline: Justin Stranzl Oregon students from Eugene, Molalla and Monmouth have received Oregon OSHA's Workers Memorial Scholarships for the 2005-2006 academic year. Jillian Becker of Molalla, Annette Maready of Eugene and Natasha...

Drill's over: A two-year effort to bore beneath the Willamette concluded Monday.
August 2, 2005... Byline: Cody McCullough After about two years of mining work, the last of two original tunnel boring machines that dug a 14-foot diameter, three-and-a-half mile tunnel for Portland's nearly $300 million West Side Big Pipe project has...

National Assn. of Home Builders seeks entries for multi-family awards.
August 2, 2005... Byline: The Daily Journal of Commerce The National Association of Home Builders is seeking entries for its Pillars of the Industry award competition, which recognizes achievement in multi-family housing development. Apartment owners,...

Northwest utility customers purchasing power from green energy sources jumps in 2004.
August 2, 2005... Byline: Justin Stranzl The number of Northwest utility customers purchasing power from renewable or environmentally friendly power sources increased by 40 percent from 2003 to 2004, according to a report released Monday by a regional...

Portland State Univ. plans sustainability program for fall.
August 2, 2005... Byline: Justin Stranzl Portland State University will once again offer its "Implementing Sustainability" professional certificate program when its fall term begins in September. The 10-week, six-session program, which has been held...

Lake Oswego's Otak Inc. lands projects in Washington, Arizona.
August 2, 2005... Byline: Cody McCullough Lake Oswego-based Otak Inc. was recently selected to provide various services for two Washington projects and one in Arizona. Otak staff will provide architectural services for a flagship retail store,...

Wells Fargo donates $157,000 to Mt. Hood Habitat for Humanity.
August 2, 2005... Byline: The Daily Journal of Commerce Wells Fargo has donated $157,000 to the Mt. Hood Habitat for Humanity for a 14-unit affordable housing development on a one-acre site in Gresham. The Lillian's Place development includes two- to...

Oregon officials caution outdoor workers about how to work safely in the heat.
August 3, 2005... Byline: Cody McCullough As meteorologists forecast temperatures to top 90 degrees again today and Thursday, safety experts are cautioning outdoor workers to take the right steps to be safe in the heat. Working during the summer in...

Three credit unions merge, creating 12th largest credit union in Oregon.
August 3, 2005... Byline: Kennedy Smith A rare, three-way credit union merger has taken place among Oregon Central, Oregonian Federal and Mountain View Federal Credit Union, creating the 12th largest credit union in the state. Oregonians Credit Union is...

Portland State Univ. transportation center gets $16M from federal highway bill.
August 3, 2005... Byline: DJC Staff A transportation bill passed last week by Congress not only includes billions of dollars for Oregon's highways, bridges and light-rail lines but also $16 million for a transportation center at Portland State University....

State of Washington increases penalties for digging near pipelines.
August 3, 2005... Byline: DJC Staff Digging near major petroleum and natural gas pipelines without taking proper precautions is now a criminal offense and carries a stiff financial penalty in Washington. House Bill 1539, adopted by the Legislature and...

Oregon Banking Hall of Fame inducts three.
August 3, 2005... Byline: DJC Staff Three longtime Oregon bankers were inducted into the Oregon Bankers Association Hall of Fame during its recent 100th-anniversary convention in Glenden Beach. This year's honorees were George M. Henderson, retired from...

Washington County Commuter Rail project to receive federal funding.
August 4, 2005... Byline: Cody McCullough Months after an 11th-hour rule change by the Federal Transit Administration that threatened to kill the proposed Washington County Commuter Rail project, the effort is back on track, U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith announced...

Wash.-based Longview Fibre converts to REIT.
August 4, 2005... Byline: Kennedy Smith Longview, Wash.-based Longview Fibre Co., a publicly traded timberlands owner and manager, has announced plans to convert the company into a real estate investment trust (REIT). The company expects the conversion to...

Oregon's prevailing wage group to meet in September, adds members.
August 4, 2005... Byline: DJC Staff The recently formed Prevailing Wage Rate Public-Private Task Force will hold its first meeting next month, Oregon Labor Commissioner Dan Gardner announced this week. Gardner has charged the task force with making...

Three companies with offices in Portland area relocate to accommodate their expanding businesses.
August 4, 2005... Byline: Kennedy Smith Three companies with offices in the Portland area have shuffled their locations to accommodate their expanding and contracting businesses. Denver-based DEX Media has signed a 10-year lease for 44,473 square feet...

Oregon Financial Services Group creates women's advisory board.
August 4, 2005... Byline: DJC Staff Oregon Financial Services Group, an agency of Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co., has created the Women's Advisory Board of Portland with the aim of maximizing MassMutual's philanthropic initiatives for women. ...

Pedestrian bridge to link Portland's Lair Hill, South Waterfront neighborhoods.
August 4, 2005... Byline: DJC Staff A $5 million pedestrian bridge across the Willamette River will link the Lair Hill neighborhood with the emerging South Waterfront district. The planned bridge was announced Wednesday by U.S. Rep. Darlene Hooley and...

Portland's Metro hoping kaleidoscopic roof grows into a garden to inspire private sector.
August 5, 2005... Byline: Cody McCullough It might not be very colorful yet, but officials at the regional government agency Metro think their new green roof will be quite vibrant when it sprouts later this summer. With eight different kinds of...

Portland Development Commission acquires key property for planned Headquarters Hotel.
August 5, 2005... Byline: Kennedy Smith The Portland Development Commission will spend $4.25 million to purchase a property at 910 N.E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. from owner Barry Menashe, a local investor. PDC officials said securing the site was a...

Washington hits two Portland firms with pollution fine.
August 5, 2005... Byline: Daily Journal of Commerce Staff Two Portland firms, Bedrock Excavation and Construction Inc. and Ralston Investments, will share a $24,000 fine from the Washington Department of Ecology for failing to control a rush of muddy water...

Northwest advocacy group calls on utilities to embrace 'smart' grid.
August 5, 2005... Byline: Daily Journal of Commerce Staff A Northwest group that advocates energy efficiency has issued a 44-page report calling on the Pacific Northwest and its utilities to move to a "smart," computer-guided grid. The report, "Powering...

Oregon State Bar seeks Award of Merit nominations.
August 5, 2005... Byline: Kennedy Smith The Oregon State Bar Board of Directors is seeking nominations for the 2005 Award of Merit and the President's Awards, which will be presented during a dinner Dec. 1 in conjunction with the group's Conference of Bar...

Washington labor department drops oversight for surgeons.
August 5, 2005... Byline: Daily Journal of Commerce Staff Washington state's Department of Labor and Industries has dropped a layer of bureaucracy for what it considers reputable physicians, allowing more than 100 surgeons to operate on injured workers...

Oregon economy solid despite employment decreases.
August 8, 2005... Byline: Kennedy Smith Although the Portland metropolitan area's unemployment rate rose from May to June, Oregon on the whole continues to gain strength, according to two recent reports. The University of Oregon Index of Economic...

Metro auditor urges end to solid waste credit program.
August 8, 2005... Byline: DJC Staff An auditor for Metro last week issued a report urging the regional government to abandon its Regional System Fee Credit Program because the program is "not achieving its goal" of boosting the region's solid waste recovery...

Walsh Construction employees work on Habitat for Humanity houses.
August 8, 2005... Byline: DJC Staff On a hot, 90-degree weekend, about 50 Walsh Construction employees worked outside instead of relaxing indoors, framing two houses in two days for Portland Habitat for Humanity. The crew, comprising both professional...

Portland firm one of 12 LEED for Homes providers.
August 8, 2005... Byline: DJC Staff The U.S. Green Building Council last week launched its LEED for Homes pilot program, with the Portland firm Earth Advantage Inc. one of 12 firms selected to provide services to builders. The Leadership in Energy and...

Oregon's DEQ issues plan for contaminated Willamette Oaks site.
August 8, 2005... Byline: DJC Staff The Department of Environmental Quality has completed a cleanup plan for the Willamette Oaks Building site in southwest Portland, which is primarily contaminated with chlorinated volatile organics. The 6720 S.W....

Gorge Games in Hood River gone, but founder hopes resort is natural next step.
August 9, 2005... Byline: Kennedy Smith Nobody knows better than Peggy Lalor that any venture, no matter how well planned, has a chance of failure - especially when the wind turns against you. After confirming earlier this year the end of the...

Tracy Onchi once walked through Portland Community College 's doors; now she supplies them.
August 9, 2005... Byline: Cody McCullough Tracy Onchi has come full circle. Years ago, Onchi was a student attending classes at Portland Community College. Now, she's the president and owner of a door supply company that is doing work for that same...

Developers of Killingsworth in N. Portland neighborhood look to gauge, shape public opinion.
August 9, 2005... Byline: DJC Staff Developers and designers proposing a $16 million mixed-use project along TriMet's Interstate MAX light-rail line will present new renderings of the project to the public next week. The Portland Development Commission,...

HUD expands Indian area to include all of Oregon.
August 9, 2005... Byline: Kennedy Smith The Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw received approval from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development last week to expand their "Indian area" to include the entire state of Oregon. ...

Pacific University begins move into Hillsboro with campus construction.
August 9, 2005... Byline: Daily Journal of Commerce Staff Pacific University will break ground at 2 p.m. today on its new Health Professions Campus at the corner of Southeast Eighth Avenue and Washington Street in Hillsboro. The campus will be built in...

Survey by city of Portland shows disparity among different neighborhoods within same region.
August 10, 2005... Byline: Kennedy Smith Along with the 95 individual neighborhood coalitions in the city of Portland come hundreds of opinions on the state of those areas. But in the past, those voices weren't necessarily being heard by city officials. ...

OR federal court orders Metro American Homebuyers LLC to pay back wages.
August 10, 2005... Byline: Kennedy Smith Metro American Homebuyers LLC, a home remodeling and resale company, will pay 10 former employees a total of $23,000 in overtime back wages and liquidated damages under the terms of a consent judgment filed in Oregon...

Fremont Partners gets more funds from Portland Development Commission.
August 11, 2005... Byline: Kennedy Smith After experiencing delays due to what developers described as "the complicated nature of a small, mixed-use project and rising construction costs," Fremont Partners LLC was granted more funding for a...

Officials, transport groups ready to move on ConnectOregon.
August 11, 2005... Byline: Cody McCullough A little more than a week after Gov. Ted Kulongoski's multimodal transportation initiative, dubbed ConnectOregon, finally passed through the Oregon House of Representatives, state transportation officials are...

USGBC applies to national standards certification group.
August 11, 2005... Byline: DJC Staff The U.S. Green Building Council, with hopes of bolstering support for its LEED rating system, has applied with a national certification group to become an accredited developer of green building standards. The council...

Oregon State Univ. center gets $8M from transportation bill.
August 11, 2005... Byline: DJC Staff A federal transportation bill signed into law Wednesday by President Bush allocates $8 million for a biofuels research center at Oregon State University. The Sun Grant Initiative funding for OSU's Sun Grant Center...

Heated market forces would-be buyers to stay renters.
August 11, 2005... Byline: Kennedy Smith While everyone's talking about how hot the housing market currently is in the Portland metro area, some prospective homebuyers have found that they can't take the heat, a scenario that bodes well for the area's...

Ridgefield interchange project gets federal funding.
August 11, 2005... Byline: DJC Staff Ridgefield, Wash., has been allocated $9 million in federal funding for the Pioneer Street/state Route-501 interchange replacement project. City officials say the project will prepare the city for projected growth,...

Interior design firm in Portland sprouts from idea.
August 12, 2005... Byline: Cody McCullough After spending nearly 20 years of her life in the interior design industry, Tracey Simpson decided it was time to sit down and figure out why she was in the business in the first place. When she did just that,...

Environmentalists sue OR. Department of Environmental Quality.
August 12, 2005... Byline: Justin Stranzl On the same day the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality held a public hearing to take comments on a proposed polystyrene foam board manufacturing plant proposed for Gresham, environmental groups on Thursday...

Portland law office not only place alumni leader keeps busy.
August 12, 2005... Byline: Kennedy Smith Jeffrey F. Nudelman wears many hats. He's a lawyer and a board member of the Middleman Jewish Community center. He's on the Governance Council of the Jewish Federation of Portland and is the president of the Portland...

New HVAC moves AGC through Oregon's Energy Trust efficiency program.
August 12, 2005... Byline: Daily Journal of Commerce Staff The Oregon-Columbia chapter of Associated General Contractors is one of 24 Wilsonville businesses that have recently completed Energy Trust of Oregon's Building Efficiency program, installing seven...

Investors registering high yields on hotels in Portland.
August 15, 2005... Byline: Kennedy Smith With relatively little activity being seen in the hotel sector in Portland, a first glance would indicate that investors are generally staying away from the market for the time being. But in the last few years,...

Apprentice with Independent Electrical Contractors of Oregon to compete in wire-off competition.
August 15, 2005... Byline: DJC Staff Having spent his first 18 months in the IEC apprenticeship program as an apprentice with Jimco Electric, where he worked on a paper mill in Albany, and the following three years with Rite-Way Electric, where he performed...

Wells Fargo of Beaverton purchases 15,000 red wiggler worms to eat leftover cafeteria food.
August 15, 2005... Byline: DJC Staff Typically, businesses that get a worm are doomed to spend hours hunting it down, destroying it, and making sure it didn't permanently wipe out any important documents. However, one Beaverton business has gotten 15,000...

Designers say $10M 'urban village' project will reshape Milwaukie's old downtown.
August 15, 2005... Byline: DJC Staff Contractors will break ground today on an approximately $10 million "urban village" that its designers say will reshape downtown Milwaukie. The 120,000-square-foot project will bring 97 apartment, townhouse and...

Multnomah County's compromise returns property to Lone Fir Cemetery in Portland.
August 16, 2005... Byline: Cody McCullough Pieces of concrete and other rubble crashed to the ground Monday as a demolition crew began the work of tearing down the exterior of Multnomah County's Morrison building. Monday's work signaled the beginning of...

Portland Community College project builds students' construction skill, interest.
August 17, 2005... Byline: Cody McCullough Spencer Hinkle, Building Construction Technology instructor at Portland Community College, hopes that an eco-friendly weather station built at PCC's Rock Creek Campus will be a barometer in more than one way. ...

FEMA reviews Portland State University's earthquake readiness.
August 17, 2005... Byline: Cody McCullough Representatives from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency met with officials from Portland State University last week to review progress on earthquake readiness upgrades it...

Apartment-style residence hall under construction at George Fox University in Newberg.
August 17, 2005... Byline: Cody McCullough Construction has begun on a new 120-bed, apartment-style residence hall at the campus of George Fox University in Newberg. Estimated at $7.4 million, including furnishings, the residence hall is being built on...

Portland marketing firm buys Christenson Electric building.
August 18, 2005... Byline: Kennedy Smith CMD, an advertising and public relations services company, has purchased the Christenson Electric building, a four-story structure at 1631 N.W. Thurman St., between 16th and 17th Avenues in Portland's River District....

Vancouver underwater construction co. acquires vehicle that can work at depths of up to 6,000 ft.
August 18, 2005... Byline: Cody McCullough The next time one of the Russian Navy's submarines gets trapped underwater they might want to give Northwest Underwater Construction LLC a call. Having just acquired a new $420,000 remotely operated vehicle, the...

Oregon State University vehicles place high in engineering contests.
August 18, 2005... Byline: Cody McCullough Two off-road vehicles designed and built by engineering students at Oregon State University placed second and sixth out of 131 entries in this year's SAE Mini Baja West competition in Tucson, Ariz., which included a...

Oregon attorney general sues Vioxx maker, insurance broker for fraud.
August 18, 2005... Byline: Kennedy Smith Oregon State Treasurer Randall Edwards and Attorney General Hardy Myers have filed two securities fraud lawsuits on behalf of the Oregon Public Employee Retirement Fund. The suit seeks damages in excess of $15...

Ridgefield, Wash., growth continues with 330-acre mixed-use project.
August 18, 2005... Byline: Kennedy Smith After announcing several commercial and industrial projects totaling 335,000 square feet either under way or proposed - as well as predicting an influx of business growth complemented by a surge of residential...

Windmill components continue to pass through Portland-area ports.
August 19, 2005... Byline: Cody McCullough A ship from Denmark made its way up the Columbia River this week and arrived at the Port of Vancouver with a payload of 140-foot long propeller blades, hubs and turbines, all components of giant windmills. ...

Vestas Wind Technology still supplying windmills to Portland-area projects.
August 19, 2005... Byline: Cody McCullough Vestas Wind Technology, a Danish company with its U.S. headquarters located in Portland, has manufactured many of the windmill components that have passed through area ports in recent months. For the Hopkins...

PACE Engineers acquires Oregon City firm.
August 19, 2005... Byline: DJC Staff PACE Engineers Inc. of Kirkland, Wash., has announced the acquisition of Lee Engineering Inc. of Oregon City. With the acquisition, PACE Engineers expands its network of offices to three, including its main office in...

Lawyers are turning to old Web sites for evidence.
August 19, 2005... Byline: Dolan News Service (This article originally ran in Lawyers Weekly, Boston, MA, another Dolan Media publication.) Like deleted e-mail and computer files, old Web sites never die. Using an online database called the Wayback...

Bureau of Development Services of Portalnd review process goals aren't being met.
August 22, 2005... Byline: Kennedy Smith Less than half of 15 key provisions to the city of Portland's development review process have sufficiently been implemented since the Bureau of Development Services was established, according to a report from the...

Portland's Killingsworth street improvement project underway.
August 22, 2005... Byline: Kennedy Smith The Portland Development Commission has long held that revitalization of North Killingsworth Street is essential to residents and businesses in North Portland. With the goal of better connecting the area to Portland...

Quick response critical for restoration contractor in Portland.
August 22, 2005... Byline: Dan Carter Although they know they will be busy, crews at Cooper Construction Co. often don't know where they will be working next. In fact, the principals of the firm sometimes don't know either. It's because the Portland general...

Pearl personality: Portland's premier neighborhood seeks to maintain its exclusivity amid newer development.
August 23, 2005... Byline: Kennedy Smith The Pearl District is Portland's golden child of urban renewal. It's proof that with the right combination of planning, architecture and citizen support, a dilapidated area best described as an asphalt jungle can...

Motivated Oregon Tradeswomen grads prep for future.
August 23, 2005... Byline: Cody McCullough When Connie Ashbrook, the executive director of Oregon Tradeswomen Inc., watched the latest group of students to come through one of the organization's three pre-apprenticeship classes graduate from the program last...

Marketers promote Portland's South Waterfront neighborhood, even though no one lives there yet.
August 24, 2005... Byline: Kennedy Smith "Coffee with a double shot of culture." "Enjoy the gardening, avoid the yard work." "Everything your heart desires only steps from your door." "Rediscover Sunday brunch, it's just a bike ride away." ...

Interchange replaces dangerous Sunset Highway intersection in Washington County, Oregon.
August 24, 2005... Byline: Cody McCullough For the first time ever, motorists traveling on the Sunset Highway in Washington County Tuesday afternoon were able to exit the highway onto Jackson School Road, located just north of Hillsboro, without having to...

Portable On Demand Storage moves to Wilsonville Distribution Center in south Portland.
August 24, 2005... Byline: Kennedy Smith Portable On Demand Storage, better known as PODS, has signed a lease to occupy 41,845 square feet at the Wilsonville Distribution Center, bringing the facility up to 100 percent occupancy. PODS, a Florida-based...

Otak Inc. begins survey work for Vaux condo project in northwest Portland.
August 24, 2005... Byline: The Daily Journal of Commerce Otak Inc. has begun core survey work for the Vaux Condominiums project in northwest Portland. The announcement for the project work comes about a month after Otak announced it was chosen for similar...

Pacific Continental to acquire NWB Financial.
August 24, 2005... Byline: The Daily Journal of Commerce Pacific Continental Corp., the bank holding company for Pacific Continental Bank, has announced plans to acquire NWB Financial Corp., the bank holding company for Northwest Business Bank. The...

Tualatin couple travels the world examining challenging geological situations.
August 25, 2005... Byline: Cody McCullough From a landslide in the Italian Alps to sliding castles in the Slovak and Czech republics to a centuries old salt mine in Poland, Tom and Dorian Kuper of Kuper Consulting LLC, a Tualatin engineering and geological...

Medford construction icon Jack Batzer dies at 89.
August 25, 2005... Byline: Alison Ryan Construction leader and community promoter Rudolph John "Jack" Batzer, founder of Batzer Inc., died early Saturday morning after a fall at his Medford home last Wednesday put him into a coma. He was 89. Batzer's...

Oregon DEQ proposes new stormwater runoff permit.
August 25, 2005... Byline: DJC Staff The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality has proposed a new stormwater discharge permit for construction projects that would require new public notices and plan reviews and additional monitoring and reporting. ...

St. Mary's Academy of Portland wraps up capital campaign.
August 25, 2005... Byline: DJC Staff St. Mary's Academy of Portland - Oregon's oldest continuously operating secondary school and one of only 716 all-female schools in the nation - celebrated the opening of a $5.2 million rooftop addition earlier this month....

Federal legislation prompts Energy Trust of Oregon to overhaul incentives.
August 26, 2005... Byline: Alison Ryan Tax credits contained in the federal Energy Policy Act of 2005 mean breaks for energy-savvy contractors and homeowners, but the kickbacks also mean a local nonprofit will be able to do more with its dollars. The...

I-84 Industrial Center acquired by Portland-based NBS Real Estate Capital.
August 26, 2005... Byline: Kennedy Smith The I-84 Industrial Center, a 420,690-square-foot property on 14.3 acres in Gresham, has been acquired by NBS Real Estate Capital, a Portland investment manager of the Morrison Street Fund I LP. NBS, in...

Oregon's governor appoints two to Multnomah Circuit Court.
August 26, 2005... Byline: Kennedy Smith The law firm of Miller Nash and the Multnomah County District Attorney's Office are each saying goodbye to a colleague with Gov. Ted Kulongoski having recently appointed two new judges to the Multnomah County Circuit...

Weyerhaeuser Longview plant earns Oregon's top safety award.
August 26, 2005... Byline: DJC Staff Pulp and paper giant Weyerhaeuser and the company's employees in Longview, Wash., have earned Washington state's highest recognition for comprehensive and successful programs focused on occupational safety and health. ...

Salem sustainable development designers to offer public tour.
August 26, 2005... Byline: DJC Staff The design team behind a sustainable development planned for Salem's former Fairview Training Site will meet the public Saturday to discuss green features and the development's impact on the community and local waterways....

Warm weather fuels hospitality and leisure sector, says OR Employment Dept.
August 29, 2005... Byline: Kennedy Smith The hot days of July helped fuel strong employment numbers, especially in the leisure and hospitality fields, according to the Oregon Employment Department. Although Oregon's unemployment rate remained essentially...