Daily Journal of Commerce, Portland articles from June 2007

Daily Journal of Commerce, Portland archives from June 2007

Q&A with Robert Dortignacq, Portland architect.
June 1, 2007... Byline: Alison Ryan Past and the present intersect in Portland's built environment. And as the city grows up and out, passions rise for the way the pieces fit. "Buildings are static once they're built," Robert Dortignacq says. "So how do...

Sauvie bridge arch in Portland almost ready to float.
June 1, 2007... Byline: Libby Tucker Support cables dangle in a sunburst pattern from the newly built arch of the Sauvie Island Bridge, waiting. After four months of metalwork at the Port of Portland's Terminal 2, the weathered steel center section is...

Tigard treatment plant turns waste into fertilizer.
June 1, 2007... Byline: Kennedy Smith Municipal representatives from Oregon cities Eugene, Corvallis and Salem and Washington's King County headed to Tigard on Thursday to check out a trial experiment at Durham Advanced Wastewater Treatment Facility....

Oregon remodelers set to sell wares at ReBuilding Center.
June 1, 2007... Byline: DJC Staff The Oregon Remodelers Association will hold its annual yard sale from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the ReBuilding Center, 3625 N. Mississippi Ave., in Portland. The sale will include windows, pallets of...

Measure 37 rewrite advances in Oregon Legislature.
June 1, 2007... Byline: DJC Staff Lawmakers on Thursday were putting the finishing touches on a measure they plan to submit to Oregon voters this fall to scale back rural development under the Measure 37 property rights law. The new measure has already...

Oregon looks to adopt stricter energy codes.
June 4, 2007... Byline: Libby Tucker Oregon home builders with green building expertise may soon need to raise their standards to stay ahead. The Oregon Building Codes Division is considering aggressive changes to home building codes that would reduce...

Portland Construction Briefs: June 4, 2007.
June 4, 2007... Byline: Alison Ryan Zimmer Gunsul Frasca ZGF of Portland has designed a new facility on the University of California's Berkeley campus that will house teaching and research focused on the fundamental molecular mechanisms underlying human...

Portland-based Lease Crutcher Lewis will build wine country inn.
June 4, 2007... Byline: DJC Staff Springbrook Properties has hired Portland construction firm Lease Crutcher Lewis to build the hotel and planned community it's developing in the heart of wine country in Newberg. The 450-acre Springbrook development will...

Portland seeks inventory of accessible homes.
June 4, 2007... Byline: DJC Staff The Bureau of Housing and Community Development on Friday issued a request for proposals seeking individuals or firms to inventory the city-funded residential units accessible to people with disabilities. In 2005, the...

CB Richard Ellis aims for carbon neutrality by 2010.
June 4, 2007... Byline: DJC Staff National commercial real estate firm CB Richard Ellis Group is pushing to become "carbon-neutral" by 2010 with a plan to assist clients with energy efficiency programs at the 1.7 billion square feet of space it manages....

Portland-based Stoel Rives opens Minneapolis office.
June 5, 2007... Byline: DJC staff Stoel Rives on Monday said it had expanded its renewable energy and agribusiness law practices by opening a new office in Minneapolis. The business law firm, headquartered in Portland with offices in Washington, Utah and...

Beaverton firm Voxtel lands DOE nanotech work.
June 5, 2007... Byline: DJC staff A Beaverton company Monday said it had landed four contracts with the federal Department of Energy worth a combined $400,000 to research and develop nanotechnologies. Voxtel Inc. said the contracts, which have options...

Supreme Court backs 2 insurance companies in credit case.
June 5, 2007... Byline: Reuters Business Report WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Monday reversed a ruling against two insurance companies that were sued for violating a federal law requiring consumers be told when their rates have been increased based on...

Bridgehead project in Portland stuck in Burnside-Couch jam.
June 5, 2007... Byline: Kennedy Smith Back in 2005, residents of the Central Eastside were abuzz about Burnside Bridgehead, a multi-block, mixed-use, $200 million development the Portland Development Commission planned for the foot of the east side of the...

Metals theft bill in Oregon passes, heads to governor's desk.
June 5, 2007... Byline: DJC staff The Oregon House on Thursday unanimously passed a bill to crack down on metals theft and better regulate metal recyclers. House Bill 3026 was supported by a coalition of law enforcement officials, agriculture companies...

Portland Bureau of Environmental Services finishes Hollywood District sewer work.
June 6, 2007... Byline: DJC Staff The city of Portland Bureau of Environmental Services has finished all major underground work on the Hollywood sewer reconstruction project. The $5.4 million project, started in April of 2006, rebuilt all of the...

Truck stop in Aurora is 1st in Oregon with B99 biodiesel.
June 6, 2007... Byline: DJC Staff Leathers Truck Stop in Aurora is the first truck stop in Oregon to offer B99 biodiesel, a blend of 99 percent biodiesel and 1 percent traditional diesel, and E85 ethanol. The station, located near Exit 278 on Interstate...

Portland International Airport adds nonstop service to Mexico City.
June 6, 2007... Byline: DJC Staff Mexicana de Aviacion on Friday began nonstop service from Portland International Airport to Mexico City. The flight gives customers access to Mexico, Central America, South America and the Caribbean through Mexico City,...

Construction job fair at Oregon Association of Minority Entrepreneurs today.
June 6, 2007... Byline: DJC Staff The Oregon Association of Minority Entrepreneurs will play host to a construction job fair from noon to 6 p.m. today at the OAME office, 4134 N. Vancouver Ave., in Portland.

Vancouver port's $100M rail project gets on track.
June 6, 2007... Byline: Libby Tucker The Port of Vancouver USA this week will begin developing a $100 million rail extension to ease congestion for passenger train traffic between Seattle and Portland and boost freight train access to the port from the...

Portland's Metro picks 15 to advise on land acquistions.
June 6, 2007... Byline: DJC Staff Regional government Metro has put together an oversight committee for its Natural Areas program, an initiative that pays for land acquisition and capital improvement projects to protect water quality and fish and wildlife...

Portland Construction Briefs: June 6, 2007.
June 6, 2007... Byline: Dan Carter The main street of Gervais is getting a face lift through a grant from the Oregon Community Development Block Grant Program and additional money from the city. Two blocks are getting new streets, sidewalks, curbs,...

Port, city of Portland could rezone around PDX.
June 7, 2007... Byline: Libby Tucker The Port of Portland and the city Wednesday entered uncharted waters, embarking on an almost three-year land-use planning effort that could lead to rezoning in Northeast Portland to make way for a third airport runway....

Oregon governor signs renewable energy standard into law.
June 7, 2007... Byline: DJC Staff Gov. Ted Kulongoski on Wednesday signed into law Senate Bill 838, a renewable energy standard in Oregon requiring the state's largest utilities to meet 25 percent of their electric load with new renewable energy sources...

Commentary: Can sexual orientation talk spark harassment claim?
June 8, 2007... Byline: Rich Meneghello Problem: You walk past the break room and turn your ear toward the employees milling around the water cooler, hoping to pick up on the latest office buzz. And you hear: "They're always doing stuff like that.... I...

Commentary: Courts will enforce appropriate workplace arbitration agreements.
June 8, 2007... Byline: Jeff Brecht A recent decision by the U.S. District Court in Oregon shows courts will enforce valid arbitration agreements, even if doing so means dismissing an employee's court action in order to send the parties to an arbitrator....

Barbur office, warehouse in Portland sell for $1.58M.
June 8, 2007... Byline: DJC Staff Local developer Heather Park sold an 8,000-square-foot office and 4,000-square-foot warehouse to general contractor Todd Hess for $1.58 million. The building, located at 9414 S.W. Barbur Blvd. in Portland, sold 10 days...

Production firm relocates to S.E. Portland.
June 8, 2007... Byline: DJC Staff Portland video production company Big Shot Pictures has moved to a 5,000-square-foot commercial building at 606 S.E. Ninth Ave. The facility, which Big Shot refurbished into an open working environment, includes a fully...

Oregon governor signs bill mandating e-recycling.
June 8, 2007... Byline: DJC Staff Gov. Ted Kulongoski on Thursday signed into law House Bill 2626, creating a statewide program for recycling personal computers, televisions, laptops and monitors. The bill requires manufacturers to provide free collection...

Goodman takes 1st step to build on downtown Portland lots.
June 8, 2007... Byline: Kennedy Smith City Center Parking, headed by Greg Goodman, has gained sole ownership of two downtown parking lots, the first step to eventually building towers on the sites. Goodman, whose family owns more land downtown than any...

Portland State University takes design from Rose City to Big Easy.
June 8, 2007... Byline: Alison Ryan The projects that Rudy Barton's architecture students will unveil to the public tonight follow the mixed-use, housing-above-store concept that's popped up in neighborhoods across Portland. But the site the future...

MLK-Grand nexus pegged for makeover as 'gateway' to Portland.
June 11, 2007... Byline: Kennedy Smith The 15,500-square-foot, triangular parcel would hardly go noticed were it not for some multi-colored, flag-shaped sculptures and a yellow sign welcoming drivers to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard that looks more like...

Freight advocates want Portland Development Commission's MLK gateway effort steamrolled.
June 11, 2007... Byline: Libby Tucker A proposed gateway to Northeast Portland on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard is drawing ire from freight advocates protective of the throughway's status as a major truck route. The Portland Development Commission's MLK...

At Portland's SERA Architects, building design isn't only kind of art.
June 11, 2007... Byline: Alison Ryan SERA Architects creates buildings. But as firm members found out Thursday, some of their colleagues do a little creation of other things on their own time, too. Works by SERA employees and their family members were...

Portland neighborhood association, developer scrap N.W. parking talks for now.
June 11, 2007... Byline: Kennedy Smith Portland City Council on Thursday voted unanimously to scrap a proposed parking lot development on Northwest Irving Street and 23rd Avenue after the developer and the Northwest District Neighborhood Association halted...

Portland Design Commission supports floor-area-ratio shift.
June 11, 2007... Byline: Alison Ryan The Portland Design Commission on Thursday expressed early support for changes, including a floor-area-ratio shift, sought by developers of Ladd Tower. Developer Opus Northwest announced in March that Ladd Tower,...

Portland Construction Briefs: June 11, 2007.
June 11, 2007... Byline: Alison Ryan MCA ARCHITECTS MCA is designing a new branch office for Pacific Continental Bank in Tualatin. The 6,590-square-foot, two-story building will be located on the east side of Interstate 5 at Nyberg Street, immediately...

Commentary: As buyouts continue, when is it a bid too far?
June 11, 2007... Byline: William Rutherford News of numerous buyouts of companies, some costing tens of billions, has been reported recently. May went down as a record, with $115.5 billion in private equity deals announced. Buyout firms, with large sums of...

Univ. Oregon index: Oregon economy to grow in near term.
June 12, 2007... Byline: DJC Staff The University of Oregon's Index of Economic Indicators edged up 0.1 percent in April, suggesting continued economic growth in Oregon over the next three to six months, the report's author said. The index, which tracks...

Solar builders' future brighter with new efficiency mandate in Oregon.
June 12, 2007... Byline: Libby Tucker A new state law is shining attention on the use of solar energy in Oregon's public buildings. Gov. Ted Kulongoski on Monday signed a law requiring the developers of new or renovated public buildings to set aside 1.5...

Interface buys boutique Portland firm DuPont.
June 12, 2007... Byline: Alison Ryan DuPont Engineering and Interface Engineering both got what they wanted in a recent deal that made the 17-member firm part of the 165-member firm. DuPont, founded by longtime engineer Paul DuPont in 1999, is a boutique...

Erosion prevention program highlights efforts in Oregon, Washington.
June 12, 2007... Byline: DJC Staff An erosion prevention program handed out awards to 30 companies operating in 17 jurisdictions for their work mitigating stormwater runoff last week in Wilsonville. Production home builder Centex was the lone company to...

Commentary: Your returns, records not always confidential.
June 12, 2007... Byline: David L. Canary Each year, Oregon taxpayers are required to provide confidential and sensitive information to the Oregon Department of Revenue in income tax returns, personal returns and real property tax returns or in response to...

AIA offers sneak peek at Center for Architecture in Portland.
June 12, 2007... Byline: DJC Staff Architects have already seen what's planned for the Portland chapter of American Institute of Architects' new Pearl District space. Tonight, contractors, developers and the rest of the building community can get a look at...

Portland Construction Briefs: June 13, 2007.
June 13, 2007... Byline: Dan Carter After sitting on the same downtown lot since 1888, the Ladd Carriage House at the corner of Southwest Broadway and Columbia Street will go on a short trip to the corner of Southwest 10th Avenue and Columbia. The historic...

Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco picks PGE's Peggy Fowler for branch board in Portland.
June 13, 2007... Byline: DJC Staff The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco board of directors on Tuesday said it appointed Portland General Electric CEO Peggy Fowler to its Portland Branch board. Fowler joins six other directors on the Portland Branch...

California solar manufacturer to open in Oregon.
June 13, 2007... Byline: DJC Staff A California company said Tuesday it will open a Portland factory to make silicon wafers for the photovoltaic industry. Santa Clara, Calif.-based Solaicx said it leased a 136,000-square-foot building in the Port of...

Student housing at Pacific University is 1st on coast to earn LEED gold.
June 13, 2007... Byline: DJC Staff A residence hall at Pacific University has been awarded a LEED gold rating, the first such designation given to a West Coast student housing project. Pacific said Friday its 59,000-square-foot Burlingham Hall had earned...

San Francisco-based Kennedy/Jenks, Meurer & Associates merge.
June 13, 2007... Byline: DJC Staff Consulting engineering firms Meurer & Associates and Kennedy/Jenks Consultants have merged. Meurer & Associates provides water consulting services in metropolitan Denver. Kennedy/Jenks Consultants, based in San...

Portland warms to outside developers.
June 13, 2007... Byline: Kennedy Smith When the Portland Development Commission began seeking redevelopers for Centennial Mills in March, the agency issued a request to "thousands" of potential candidates, Steve Shain, project manager at the PDC, said. The...

New Rinker concrete plant to serve downtown Portland.
June 13, 2007... Byline: Libby Tucker Rinker concrete and aggregate company in July will open a concrete plant just four miles from downtown Portland, its closest plant to the city center. Construction of the new combination wet and dry mixing facility on...

New Pearl center in Portland designed to meet creative need.
June 13, 2007... Byline: Alison Ryan New places to live and work have popped up across Portland - and the boom is one of the reasons local interior designers say a design center planned for the Pearl District will meet a big need in the city. "Just think...

Portland's Park Block 5 a catalyst for surrounding streets.
June 14, 2007... Byline: Alison Ryan A park. A parking lot. A performance venue. A meeting place. A dining and drinking spot. The creation of Park Block 5 is operating under a near-perfect something-for-everybody model - even users of the slim streets that...

Hayden Island reaches tentative agreement with city of Portland on new transportation plan.
June 14, 2007... Byline: Libby Tucker Hayden Island residents and property owners have reached a tentative agreement with the city of Portland on a new transportation plan for Jantzen Beach. Plans for the shopping area west of Interstate 5 involve tearing...

Jump Start program boosts Oregon-Columbia Laborers Joint Apprenticeship Training.
June 14, 2007... Byline: Dan Carter Two years ago, the Oregon-Columbia Laborers Joint Apprenticeship Training Council was having a problem. The council was losing more than two-thirds of the workers that started its apprenticeship program. Then came Tim...

Commentary: Oregon's Measure 37 an exercise in paleo-legal research.
June 14, 2007... Byline: Ed Sullivan A recent case exposed yet another legal difficulty created by the passage of Measure 37 by Oregon voters in November 2004. For those of you who have been visiting other planets since that time, Measure 37 provides a...

Commentary: Questions still hang as Oregon Legislature nears end.
June 14, 2007... Byline: Tammy Bachofner One constant message - "We will finish in six months" - marked the beginning of the 2007 legislative session, and by all accounts it appears the Legislature will keep its promise. For those of us in the business...

House passes ConnectOregon 2.
June 14, 2007... Byline: DJC Staff The Oregon House on Wednesday approved $100 million in lottery-backed bonds for air, marine and rail transportation projects. House Bill 2278, known as ConnectOregon 2, comes on the heels of a $100 million ConnectOregon...

Portland to hire architecture firm Walker Macy for SoWa greenway.
June 14, 2007... Byline: DJC Staff The city of Portland on Tuesday announced it intends to hire landscape architecture firm Walker Macy to implement phase one of the South Waterfront Greenway Development plan. A May 19 request for proposals solicited...

Portland Business Alliance to hold membership event today.
June 14, 2007... Byline: DJC Staff Current and potential members of the Portland Business Alliance are invited to a networking event from 4 to 6 p.m. today at the PBA's lobby conference room, 200 S.W. Market St., in Portland. The afternoon will include 30...

New state park in Oregon to open July 8.
June 14, 2007... Byline: DJC Staff Stub Stewart State Park, the first new state park in Oregon in more than 30 years, will open July 8, the state Department of Parks and Recreation said Wednesday.

Correction.(Correction notice)
June 14, 2007... Byline: DJC Staff Solar builders' future brighter with new efficiency mandate, a Page 1 story in the June 12 DJC, reported that Kacia Brockman of the Energy Trust of Oregon said the total energy saved as a result of House Bill 2620 likely...

Agreements prompt developers to buy contaminated land in Portland area.
June 15, 2007... Byline: Libby Tucker It used to be that developers purchasing contaminated land took a tremendous risk that they'd be held liable for the cost of cleanup. But new agreements between the state and developers provide a higher level of...

Bills determining regional growth await Oregon governor's signature.
June 15, 2007... Byline: DJC Staff Two bills that would affect regional government Metro's role in the state's growth are headed to Gov. Ted Kulongoski for approval. The Oregon Senate on Wednesday approved a measure that would enable Metro and counties...

Commentary: Contractors eyeing Washington must heed state statutes.
June 15, 2007... Byline: Karl F. Oles Every state has its own statutes and case laws affecting the construction industry. For contractors intending to do business in Washington, you'll find this article is a good introduction to some issues that you may...

American Institute of Architects' Architecture Billings Index: Design services in strong demand.
June 15, 2007... Byline: DJC Staff The first five months of 2007 have shown solid demand for nonresidential design services, according to the American Institute of Architects' Architecture Billings Index. The ABI, a leading economic indicator of...

Donation enough to build research facility at Oregon State University.
June 15, 2007... Byline: DJC Staff An $8 million donation from deceased philanthropist Hallie Ford will go toward building the Hallie Ford Center for Healthy Children and Families at Oregon State University in Corvallis. The center will be part of OSU's...

Founder and CEO of Portland-based Homestead Capital to retire.
June 15, 2007... Byline: DJC Staff The founder and CEO of Homestead Capital, Deborah Saweuyer-Parks, has handed over her duties and will retire next June, she said Tuesday. William McCormick, a member of the company's board, will serve as president until...

Hardware chain opens 4th store in Portland's metro area.
June 15, 2007... Byline: DJC Staff Harbor Freight Tools USA, a Camarillo, Calif.-based hardware store chain, has leased 15,000 square feet at Cedar Hills Shopping Center in Beaverton. The transaction marks commercial real estate firm NAI Norris, Beggs &...

City of Portland, advocates differ on affordable housing supply.
June 18, 2007... Byline: Kennedy Smith Susan Emmons would like nothing more than to close all of the city's homeless shelters. A staunch advocate for pumping more affordable housing into metropolitan Portland, Emmons said boarding up shelters would be a...

Naito family to spearhead Legacy Fountain in Portland's Old Town.
June 18, 2007... Byline: Libby Tucker Standing with her mother near a freshly paved Naito Parkway, developer Anne Naito-Campbell on Thursday announced a new project she said was "close to my heart." Naito-Campbell, daughter of the late real estate mogul...

Portland Construction Briefs: June 18, 2007.
June 18, 2007... Byline: Alison ryan Mahlum Architects Mahlum has designed two new elementary schools for Hillsboro School District. The designs of Elementary School No. 24 in Cornelius and Elementary School No. 26 in Orenco incorporate "pods," which...

Commentary: New Supreme Court ruling greenlights brownfield development.
June 18, 2007... Byline: Don Pyle and Alexandra Smith Owners and developers of polluted properties in Oregon got a big boost from the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday when it ruled private parties that voluntarily clean polluted sites can sue other responsible...

Port of Portland picks Kodiak Benge for Airport Way realignment.
June 18, 2007... Byline: DJC Staff The Port of Portland on Wednesday awarded a nearly $6.8 million contract to Kodiak Benge Construction Co. for phase two of an Airport Way realignment. The project will make way for a new port headquarters and parking...

Northwest College of Construction graduates 13.
June 18, 2007... Byline: DJC Staff The Northwest College of Construction last week graduated 13 construction craft laborers and carpenters as part of its apprenticeship programs. The carpenter program involves four years of classroom training in framing,...

Portland transportation commissioner says gas tax could fix road work backlog.
June 19, 2007... Byline: Libby Tucker Naito Parkway is arguably the most polished street in Portland. After a $10 million reconstruction, the downtown waterfront boulevard has new traffic signals, wide sidewalks and crisp, white bike lanes that accentuate...

Camas-Washougal port ready for redevelopment.
June 19, 2007... Byline: Kennedy Smith Camas, a town of about 15,000 people on the eastern edge of Clark County, is by most accounts provincial. Once thriving on its economic engine, lumber and paper production, the city along the bank of the Columbia...

A look at some of the stories featured in the 1985 through 1988 issues of the DJC.
June 19, 2007... Byline: Theresa McKinlay This month we take a look at the news from the second half of the 1980s, specifically 1985 and 1988, when the Portland Development Commission argued against relocating Interstate 5. June 4, 1985 "Development...

Broker pushes LEED silver for Cascade Station in Portland.
June 19, 2007... Byline: DJC Staff Commercial real estate firm CB Richard Ellis, as part of its sustainability-focused Corporate Citizenship Initiative, will push developer Trammell Crow Co. to earn silver designation from the U.S. Green Building Council's...

Ore. building law forum slated for this week.
June 19, 2007... Byline: DJC Staff The Seminar Group will hold a conference, "Oregon Construction Law," on Thursday and Friday at the World Trade Center, 121 S.W. Salmon St., in Portland. The conference for attorneys, developers, contractors, real estate...

'OK deal' will open two Vancouver waterfront blocks for development.
June 19, 2007... Byline: Kennedy Smith The future livability, walkability and economic stability of Vancouver's waterfront rest largely on a man from Lake Oswego. Barry Cain, president of Gramor Development, will sign a lease with the Port of Vancouver...

Porous street test in Salem, Oregon, paves way for future use.
June 20, 2007... Byline: Alison Ryan Rain fell Friday in Salem in a sheer drizzle - barely enough to dampen the roads, and definitely not enough to put the large-scale system of porous streets at Pringle Creek Community to serious work. The narrow black...

Portland Construction Briefs: June 20, 2007.
June 20, 2007... Byline: Dan Carter Developer Stark Group LLC is completely renovating the former home of a welding company to become the Pearl Design Center in Northwest Portland. Two buildings totaling 20,000 square feet between Northwest 14th and 15th...

Australian firm buys Portland's WRG Design.
June 20, 2007... Byline: DJC Staff An Australian engineering conglomerate Tuesday bought Portland-based WRG Design for $28 million. Cardno Ltd., headquarted in Brisbane, said the transaction involved cash and shares. WRG, a consultancy that offers land-use...