Daily Journal of Commerce, Portland articles from July 2005

Daily Journal of Commerce, Portland archives from July 2005

Oregon homebuilders prepare for slowdown.
July 1, 2005... Byline: Justin Stranzl With Oregon's chief economist predicting a decrease in new home construction starts in 2006, the state's building industry is preparing to adjust. After years of growth, homebuilders will construct 28,000 homes...

Washington County's Highway 217 improvement options under consideration.
July 1, 2005... Byline: Cody McCullough The process of determining how Washington County's Highway 217 corridor should look and function in the future continued to move forward on Wednesday afternoon as about 20 members of a Metro committee gathered to...

President Bush expected to sign junk fax amendments.
July 1, 2005... Byline: Kennedy Smith An act sponsored by Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., that creates an opt-out list for fax solicitations has passed the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate and is expected to be signed by President Bush. The...

Lake Oswego-based Otak Inc. selected for Sound Transit project.
July 1, 2005... Byline: DJC Staff Lake Oswego-based Otak Inc. has been selected by Sound Transit to perform final design services for the South Tacoma Commuter Rail Station, a multimodal commuter rail station, for which Otak has already provided...

New IEC board president hopes to expand workforce.
July 1, 2005... Byline: DJC Staff The new president of the Oregon chapter of Independent Electrical Contractors' board of directors promises "few changes" in direction but a greater emphasis on training and workforce expansion. Emerson Smoker Sr., who...

Generation of lawyers makes work-life balance a high priority.
July 1, 2005... Byline: Nora Lockwood Tooher (This article originally ran in Lawyers Weekly USA, Boston, MA, another Dolan Media publication). Christopher Gilreath, 33, is a lawyer, like his father, Sidney W. Gilreath, 68. Well, sort of. Like his...

Family leave act regulations in state of flux.
July 4, 2005... Byline: Reni Gertner (This article originally ran in Lawyers Weekly USA, Boston, MA, another Dolan Media publication.) Employment attorneys and lobbying groups across the country are debating possible changes to the Family and Medical...

U.S. House revives bill to ban union-organizing practice of salting.
July 4, 2005... Byline: Jeremy Harrell (This article orginally ran in The Daily Reporter, Milwaukee, WI, another Dolan Media publication.) Federal lawmakers are reviving a bill to outlaw the union-organizing practice known as salting. Last week,...

Legislation in U.S. House to ban bid shopping on federal projects gains momentum.
July 4, 2005... Byline: Paul Snyder (This article orginally ran in The Daily Reporter, Milwaukee, WI, another Dolan Media publication.) Legislation aiming to halt the practice of bid shopping on federal projects is gaining momentum in Washington, D.C....

Graduation day arrives for local Pacific Northwest ABC apprentices.
July 5, 2005... Byline: Cody McCullough Graduation day arrived last week for more than 30 of the most recent graduates of an apprenticeship program run by the Pacific Northwest Chapter of the Associated Builders and Contractors. Held at Clackamas...

Work begins on historic Masonic Lodge renovation.
July 5, 2005... Byline: DJC Staff Portland general contractor B.J. Cummings Co. has begun construction on an extensive renovation project of the historic Masonic Lodge on Foster Road in Southeast Portland. For the project, the lodge will be renovated...

U.S. Government study hits Department of Energy over contracting goals.
July 5, 2005... Byline: Janice Francis-Smith (This article originally ran in the The Journal Record, Oklahoma City, OK, another Dolan Media publication). Small businesses haven't been getting their fair share of subcontracts from contractors working...

OSHA rewriting outdated rules on electrical power generation.
July 5, 2005... Byline: Sean Ryan (This article originally ran in The Daily Reporter, Milwaukee, WI, another Dolan Media publication.) The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is rewriting its outdated rules guarding workers on electrical...

City of Ridgefield, Wash, anticipating development, population growth.
July 6, 2005... Byline: Kennedy Smith The city of Ridgefield, Wash., nestled 10 miles north of Vancouver in northern Clark County, is a combination of rural charm and natural beauty. With its estimated population hovering around 2,600, a sprinkling of...

Amid new development opportunities, brownfield conference returns to Oregon.
July 6, 2005... Byline: Justin Stranzl A state conference on brownfields is coming to Oregon amid a business climate that's now more receptive to infill development, according to organizers. The work of two state agencies and the Northwest...

Trammell Crow to handle EDS global real estate.
July 6, 2005... Byline: Kennedy Smith EDS, an information technology services company, will outsource the management of its global real estate function to Trammell Crow Co. Under the agreement, Trammell Crow will provide EDS with portfolio management,...

Portland's George Fox University's expansion project now underway.
July 6, 2005... Byline: Cody McCullough George Fox University began a $4.1 million expansion and renovation project of its Hoover Academic Building on Tuesday to provide facilities for its new bachelor of science in nursing program and its growing...

Killingsworth Station developers ready to show their plans.
July 7, 2005... Byline: Kennedy Smith Residents of the North Portland Overlook Neighborhood have anticipated a change near TriMet's North Killingsworth Street MAX station ever since the Portland Development Commission announced plans for a high-density...

Oregon Environmental Council grant could improve farms, ranches' sustainability efforts.
July 7, 2005... Byline: DJC Staff The Oregon Environmental Council on Wednesday secured a three-year, $235,000 grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, funding the council says will ultimately benefit state ranchers and farmers committed to sustainability....

Developers, designers of Bellevue project have Portland ties.
July 7, 2005... Byline: DJC Staff Gerding/Edlen Development Co. of Portland and ScanlanKemperBard have acquired property two blocks from Bellevue Square and Bellevue Downtown Park, where they'll develop Bellevue Towers, a two-tower, 42-story mixed-use...

McKay Investments plans Eugene medical center.
July 7, 2005... Byline: DJC Staff An 80,000-square-foot medical building for Orthopedic Healthcare Northwest is coming to Eugene in late 2007. McKay Investments will develop the project on property it owns adjacent to Coburg Road, Martin Luther King...

Oregon Supreme Court stresses to beware of nondisclosure when cross-marketing.
July 8, 2005... Byline: Kennedy Smith A recent Oregon Supreme Court ruling stresses that law firms are treading risky waters when they don't disclose their relationships with joint-venture service providers. The warning came in the form of a ruling...

Seattle tops list of Wi-Fi communities; Portland fourth.
July 8, 2005... Byline: Daily Journal of Commerce Staff The Pacific Northwest is again home to America's most "unwired" city, but this time it's not Portland. Seattle, with wireless, or Wi-Fi, Internet access available in such hot spots as the Space...

Report by American Planning Association studies racial steering by real estate agents.
July 11, 2005... Byline: Kennedy Smith Racial steering by real estate agents is still practiced, despite federal legislation prohibiting such actions, according to a report published in the American Planning Association. The APA recently released an...

AMEC acquires Shapiro & Associates Inc.
July 11, 2005... Byline: DJC Staff AMEC, a project management and services firm with offices in Portland, Seattle and Tacoma, Wash., has acquired Shapiro & Associates Inc., a natural resources and environmental consulting firm with offices in Seattle and...

City of Gresham to make decision on Wal-Mart application in August.
July 11, 2005... Byline: DJC Staff The public comment period is over for a proposed Wal-Mart in Gresham, with the city receiving approximately 1,181 comments and a petition with 6,290 names. The agency comment period will conclude this week and is...

Eleven members of Pacific NW Chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors win safety awards.
July 11, 2005... Byline: DJC Staff Eleven members of the Pacific Northwest Chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors have won the association's STEP award. The award recognizes firms that have successfully completed ABC's Safety Training and...

Newer industrial space in Portland fills while vacancy rate declines.
July 12, 2005... Byline: Kennedy Smith Progressive employment rates and the perception of stability have caused industrial vacancies to decline for the ninth straight quarter, according to market reports from Colliers International. The second-quarter...

Portland Community College partners with Caterpillar Inc. for ThinkBig program.
July 12, 2005... Byline: Cody McCullough Portland Community College recently became the first college in the Pacific Northwest to partner with Caterpillar Inc., an international heavy-equipment manufacturer, to host the company's ThinkBIG program. The...

World Forest Institute to host globalization conference in Portland.
July 12, 2005... Byline: Daily Journal of Commerce Staff The professional division of the World Forestry Center, a nonprofit organization headquartered in Portland that promotes sustainable forests, will host a two-day conference in September that will...

Portland's Bureau of Development Services' programs to go from pilot to permanent basis.
July 13, 2005... Byline: Cody McCullough A new law means Portland's Bureau of Development Services will soon no longer have to label some of its most popular and innovative programs, such as the Major Projects Group, as temporary. House Bill 3304,...

OR's Project Ready program speeds industrial development in state.
July 13, 2005... Byline: Kennedy Smith Five hundred Web hits a day might not seem like much for some organizations, but for the Oregon Economic and Community Development Department, 500 site visits to OregonProspector.com means 500 opportunities to improve...

City of Portland, Multnomah County recreate Sustainable Development Commission.
July 13, 2005... Byline: Justin Stranzl The city of Portland and Multnomah County have revived their dually operated Sustainable Development Commission, and the two governmental agencies are now seeking applicants for a citizen panel that will advise the...

Construction begins on delayed Gateway medical complex in Portland.
July 13, 2005... Byline: DJC Staff Construction of an 80,000-square-foot medical office complex for the Oregon Clinic, Portland's seventh-largest physician group, began last week in the Gateway District. The project, which was originally scheduled to...

Peter Stott selected as Portland-based ScanlanKemperBard board vice chairman.
July 13, 2005... Byline: Kennedy Smith ScanlanKemperBard, a local real estate merchant banking firm, has named Peter Stott vice chairman of the board and principal of SKB. Stott was president and chief executive officer of Crown Pacific Partners, a...

National real estate survey predicts growth in hiring, compensation.
July 14, 2005... Byline: Kennedy Smith Despite lackluster hiring in the Portland metro area, the real estate industry will continue to grow stronger on the heels of aggressive hiring levels in 2004 and the first half of 2005, according to a survey by...

New hospital, projects to help Oregon's Kaiser Permanente expand services.
July 14, 2005... Byline: Cody McCullough With plans to build a $285 million hospital on a 15-acre site in the Tanasbourne area of Washington County and add about 200,000 square feet of space to its one existing Oregon hospital, the nation's largest...

Channel deepening project continues to progress.
July 14, 2005... Byline: Cody McCullough A little more than two weeks after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began deepening the Columbia River Federal Navigation Channel from 40 to 43 feet through a contract with Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. of Oak...

Portland's Northwest 21st building's new style is old-world.
July 14, 2005... Byline: Kennedy Smith The signs say 21st Place, but the building at the corner of Northwest 21st Avenue and Everett Street has a new name, according to WDC Properties, the developer of the office and retail space at the site of the former...

Portland Development Commission revises Headquarters Hotel plan to include fewer rooms.
July 14, 2005... Byline: DJC Staff The Portland Development Commission has issued an updated request to the four firms vying to build a planned Portland Headquarters Hotel, seeking information on reducing public investment by decreasing the number of rooms...

Oregon Senate endorses construction defect legislation.
July 15, 2005... Byline: Cody McCullough With a 27-to-1 vote earlier this week, the Oregon Senate passed House Bill 2078, which could eventually help to solve the mounting construction defect problem in Oregon. The bill, which has drawn support from...

Coastal Oregon city finds its 'center' in new City Hall.
July 15, 2005... Byline: Dan Carter A project that's been in the works "for seven long years" and is nearing completion is quickly becoming "the center" of Rockaway Beach. The nearly complete 6,000-square-foot, two-story City Hall/Community Center...

Multnomah Bar Association appoints new board members.
July 15, 2005... Byline: Kennedy Smith The Multnomah Bar Association recently elected new officers and directors. Officers serve one year and directors four. Kelly T. Hagan was appointed president of the Multnomah Bar Association. He and other newly...

Statistics show that federal courts better utilize those called for jury service.
July 15, 2005... Byline: Rochester Daily Record Staff (This article originally ran in The Daily Record, Rochester, NY, another Dolan Media publication). According to information released by the federal judiciary earlier this month, federal courts in 2004...

Wisconsin court rules in favor of subcontractors in construction defect case.
July 15, 2005... Byline: Paul Snyder (This article originally ran in The Daily Reporter, Milwaukee, WI, another Dolan Media publication). The Wisconsin Supreme Court last week upheld a decision maintaining that two subcontractors accused of insufficient...

Sales at Eliot Tower in Portland rise faster than building itself.
July 18, 2005... Byline: Kennedy Smith Although the Eliot Tower at Southwest 10th Avenue and Jefferson Street is not scheduled to be completed for an entire year, condominium sales in the high-rise are at near-capacity, with only 16 units of the 231...

Beaverton-based Digimarc, Activated Content fight digital piracy.
July 18, 2005... Byline: Daily Journal of Commerce Staff Beaverton-based Digimarc Corp. and Activated Content of Bellevue, Wash., have renewed and extended their multi-year licensing agreement to assist the music and video-game industrie's fight against...

Portland-based Elcon Associates acquires Power Systems Engineers.
July 18, 2005... Byline: Daily Journal of Commerce Staff Portland-based Elcon Associates Inc. has acquired Power Systems Engineers Inc. of Tigard. PSE is a 10-year-old consulting firm that specializes in transmission and distribution planning and...

Portland retail market strong on lifestyle centers, wary of big-box.
July 19, 2005... Byline: Kennedy Smith The retail market in metropolitan Portland continues to be dominated by "lifestyle centers" such as the Streets of Tanasbourne and Bridgeport Village, while big-box stores remain absent from close-in areas, as...

Pioneering partnering job leads to courthouse's completion.
July 19, 2005... Byline: Cody McCullough One hundred and thirty years after it was first completed, Portland's Pioneer Courthouse is now ready to withstand the punishment it would face in the event of a major earthquake. The milestone was reached...

Port of Portland transfers property to city for restoration project.
July 19, 2005... Byline: DJC Staff Port of Portland commissioners approved the transfer of five acres of property on the southwestern bank of the Columbia River Slough to the city of Portland's Bureau of Environmental Services last week for purposes of...

Workshop to explore citywide wireless Internet.
July 19, 2005... Byline: DJC Staff City Commissioner Sam Adams will be the keynote speaker during a July 28 workshop for the Unwire Portland project, an initiative to bring broad-range wireless Internet access to Portland. On June 29, Portland City...

Interview with pres./CEO of Vancouver, Wash.-based excavation firm, Nutter Corp.
July 20, 2005... Byline: Cody McCullough "Timing was everything," said Jerry Nutter, the president and chief executive officer of Vancouver, Wash.-based Nutter Corp., as he discussed how the excavation firm that he started with his father 13 years ago...

Proposed federal legislation would offer $50M for sustainability degrees.
July 20, 2005... Byline: Justin Stranzl Legislation introduced by U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer could spur the creation or enhancement of sustainability education programs at universities across the United States, including Portland State University. ...

Metro Council recreates Boundary Appeals Commission.
July 20, 2005... Byline: DJC Staff Metro Council last week recreated the Metro Boundary Appeals Commission, a board of three appointed representatives that will decide contested boundary-change decisions that are made by local jurisdictions. Council...

Students participate in Portland Community College's Building Construction Technology program.
July 20, 2005... Byline: Cody McCullough About a dozen students from Aloha, Franklin and Benson high schools are taking part in their second year of a three-year project for Portland Community College's Building Construction Technology program, which has...

Business employees travel less frequently than in 2000, survey shows.
July 20, 2005... Byline: DJC Staff The bleary-eyed business traveler is becoming a less frequent sight in airports and hotels across the country, a new survey suggests. Nearly half - 48 percent - of employees polled said they travel for work less...

Lovejoy Square developer: Tenants 'took a chance with us'.
July 21, 2005... Byline: Kennedy Smith A common mantra popular among developers - and music to their ears when it turns out to be true - is: "If you build it, they will come." That seems to hit the nail on the head when it comes to Lovejoy Square, the...

PGE to use NW Natural's Mist gas storage facility.
July 21, 2005... Byline: Kennedy Smith NW Natural Gas Co. and Portland General Electric have entered into a 10-year agreement under which PGE will be allowed to store up to 1.26 million dekatherms of natural gas in NW Natural's Mist gas storage facility in...

Applications in for electric utility board of directors.
July 21, 2005... Byline: Kennedy Smith The Regional Electric Utility Advisory Council received 41 applications for a spot on a nine-member Regional Electric Utility Board of Directors that would run PGE if it were to become publicly owned. The city of...

Oregon-based Fiber Sensys expands to Suntech Corporate Park.
July 21, 2005... Byline: Kennedy Smith Fiber Sensys has relocated from a 20,000-square-foot space in Tualatin to more than 30,000 square feet of flex space at the Suntech 3 building in Suntech Corporate Park in Hillsboro. The six-year lease is expected to...

The life of the law: A conversation with new Multnomah Bar Assn. president Kelly Hagan.
July 22, 2005... Byline: Kennedy Smith Kelly Hagan has the distinctive experience of heading one of the West's oldest legal organizations, the Multnomah Bar Association, during its 100th year of existence. A pretty daunting challenge, some might consider,...

Oregon Gov. Kulongoski signs 'Homeowner Bill of Rights' into law.
July 22, 2005... Byline: Cody McCullough In an effort to protect Oregon homeowners from insurance company practices that have prompted hundreds of complaints to state insurance regulators in recent years, Gov. Ted Kulongoski signed a bill, known as the...

Oregon Department of Transportation kicks off workforce development initiative.
July 22, 2005... Byline: Cody McCullough A statewide workforce development initiative designed to boost diversity in employment, increase apprenticeship participation and increase training resources and opportunities for highway construction jobs debuted...

Portland-based Hoyt Street Realty undertakes new role.
July 22, 2005... Byline: Daily Journal of Commerce Staff Hoyt Street Realty, the real estate agency responsible for the brokerage of several Pearl District properties, has moved its office, changed its name and launched a new Web site to reflect its...

Oregon projects net national American Society of Landscape Architects' awards.
July 25, 2005... Byline: Cody McCullough A pair of Oregon projects are among 33 projects, mostly from the United States, that have netted awards in the American Society of Landscape Architects' 2005 Professional Awards competition. The projects, which...

Nonprofit invests $2.8M into North Bend RV Park.
July 25, 2005... Byline: Kennedy Smith ShoreBank Enterprise Pacific, a nonprofit community development organization serving rural coastal communities, is pumping $2.8 million into the city of North Bend with the aim of sparking the Coquille Indian Tribe's...

City seeks to fill vacancies on Portland Planning Commission.
July 25, 2005... Byline: Kennedy Smith Mayor Tom Potter and Planning Director Gill Kelley are seeking to fill two vacancies on the Portland Planning Commission. The nine-member commission advises the City Council on applications of Portland's policies...

Renovation of Lloyd Center Mall in Portland to begin immediately.
July 25, 2005... Byline: Cody McCullough The Lloyd Center Mall has announced that it plans to immediately begin work on a mall-wide renovation project that is being designed by Atlanta-based Thompson, Ventulett, Stainback & Associates. For the project,...

CEOs not as optimistic about economy in U.S. as consumers.
July 25, 2005... Byline: Kennedy Smith Although consumer confidence rose to better-than-expected levels in June, chief executive officers aren't feeling as optimistic. Chief executives across the United States are less confident about the state of the...

Breakfast forum to cover Gresham-Rockwood Urban Renewal Area.
July 26, 2005... Byline: Daily Journal of Commerce The Columbia Corridor Association will host a breakfast forum to discuss the new Gresham-Rockwood Urban Renewal Area from 7:30 to 9 a.m. Wednesday at the Four Points by Sheraton East, 1919 N.E. 181st Ave.,...

Portland Development Commission manager resigns following investigation.
July 26, 2005... Byline: Daily Journal of Commerce Tracy Smith has resigned her position as organization development manager for the Portland Development Commission following an investigation into whether she helped consultant Anthony Harris win a PDC...

New bridge construction begins on Timber Road.
July 26, 2005... Byline: Daily Journal of Commerce Washington County's Department of Land Use and Transportation has begun work to replace a deteriorating culvert on Timber Road at Beaver Creek with a new bridge. A new, one-span, 48-foot long concrete...

Biggest bridge beams to travel across Oregon.
July 26, 2005... Byline: Daily Journal of Commerce A caravan of what will be the biggest precast concrete beams ever used on a highway bridge in Oregon will travel Wednesday from Harrisburg to a bridge one mile north of Chemult on U.S. Route 97. The...

Port of Portland in game of 'musical chairs'.
July 26, 2005... Byline: Cody McCullough "It's like a game of musical chairs, and Portland is one of the last seats," said Eric Hedaa, a spokesman for the Port of Portland, as he discussed the job of trying to lure additional container carriers to...

Portland metro area's most occupied submarket grows.
July 26, 2005... Byline: Kennedy Smith Kruse Woods Corporate Park, the lowest-vacancy office submarket in the Portland metro area, is expanding. Just weeks after Equity Office Properties Trust announced that its Kruse Woods V office building had...

Albina Community Bancorp reports gains in Q2.
July 26, 2005... Byline: Kennedy Smith Albina Community Bancorp, the parent company of Albina Community Bank, reported a net income of $122,806 for the second quarter of 2005, a 53.9 percent increase from the same period in 2004, when the net income was...

Youngs appointed interim director of Oregon Department of Transportation.
July 26, 2005... Byline: Cody McCullough Gov. Ted Kulongoski announced Monday that Lorna Youngs will serve as the interim director of the Oregon Department of Transportation, effective Aug. 1. Youngs currently serves as ODOT's administrator for driver and...

OR Dept. of Transportation issues mileage tax report, preps pilot program.
July 27, 2005... Byline: Cody McCullough The Oregon Department of Transportation has released its latest report on a proposal to tax Oregonians according to miles driven rather than through gasoline consumed to state legislators, hoping to correct...

Oregon U.S. Senators Wyden, Smith land $19M for thirteen state projects.
July 27, 2005... Byline: DJC Staff Oregon's U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Gordon Smith jointly announced that they have obtained more than $19 million for various projects throughout Oregon as part of the Fiscal Year 2006 Transportation, Treasury, Judiciary,...

Seattle Pier project receives American Society of Civil Engineers award.
July 27, 2005... Byline: DJC Staff The United States Coast Guard and a design team from BERGER/ABAM Engineers Inc. of Federal Way, Wash., were recently awarded the 2005 Outstanding Award for Excellence in Ports and Waterways by the American Society of...

Consumer confidence dips slightly in July.
July 27, 2005... Byline: Kennedy Smith The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index, which had increased in June, dipped in July to 103.2, down 2.8 percent from 106.2 last month. The Present Situation Index decreased to 118.5 from 120.8, a decline of...

JOHN ROSS CONDOMINIUM TOWER: Style and cost are giving the tower South Waterfront's youngest clientele.
July 28, 2005... Byline: Kennedy Smith For marketers of new condominium buildings popping up throughout the Portland landscape, empty-nesters have been the demographic du jour, especially in places like downtown's Eliot Tower and the South Waterfront's...

Stormwater Management, Vortechnics merge, form new company.
July 28, 2005... Byline: DJC Staff Portland's Stormwater Management Inc. has merged with another water treatment company, Vortechnics Inc., to form a new company, Stormwater360. The two companies began meshing operations in April, when Vortechnics...