Daily Journal of Commerce, Portland articles from March 2004

Daily Journal of Commerce, Portland archives from March 2004

Columbia Corridor Assn. members host forum for Portland's mayoral candidates.
March 1, 2004... Byline: Aimee Curl Members of the Columbia Corridor Association heard a similar refrain from candidates for Portland's mayor's race during a forum Friday - they are pro-business and will make keeping and bringing business to the area a top...

Roosevelt Robinson Minority Scholarship names first recipient, Rahna Epting.
March 1, 2004... Byline: Jessica Swanson In less than three months, Oregon's law community and friends raised $63,000 to establish an endowment scholarship at Lewis & Clark Law School in tribute to retired Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Roosevelt...

Klamath Falls-based Jeld-Wen acquires California window manufacturer.
March 1, 2004... Byline: Staff Jeld-Wen Inc., a Klamath Falls-based window and door manufacturer, has acquired Windowmaster Products of El Cajon, Calif. Windowmaster Products is a privately held company that manufactures high-quality vinyl and aluminum...

KPFF Consulting Engineers and Ankrom Moisan Associated Architects win "Canstruction" contest.
March 1, 2004... Byline: Staff KPFF Consulting Engineers and Ankrom Moisan Associated Architects teamed up to become big winners in the 2004 "Canstruction" competition. The contest benefiting the Oregon Food Bank was held in conjunction with last...

Portland-based Norris Beggs & Simpson hired to lease Vancouvercenter.
March 1, 2004... Byline: Aimee Curl Norris, Beggs & Simpson has been tapped to manage the long-term office and retail leasing of the $100 million Vancouvercenter. The four-building, mixed-use project - which encompasses two square blocks in the heart...

Portland State University to finalize DoubleTree hotel purchase.
March 2, 2004... Byline: Aimee Curl Portland State University will close on its purchase of the downtown DoubleTree hotel today, renaming the property University Place at Portland State University. Although PSU ultimately plans to convert the land into...

Oregon remains committed to green-building agenda.
March 2, 2004... Byline: Rich Riegel Meant to be the first of many, the North Mall Office Building is an Oregon legacy that has been passed from one state governor to the next. The building, located on the Capitol Mall in Salem, is the first state...

Oregon counties gear up for road, bridge projects.
March 2, 2004... Byline: Staff Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties are seeing some projects come online in 2004, in part because of funds from the Oregon Transportation Investment Act III. Because many of these projects are still in the early...

City of Portland closes on Superfund land from port.
March 2, 2004... Byline: Jessica Swanson The Portland Bureau of Environmental Services closed Friday on the purchase of 17 acres of land and wharf area that it had been leasing from the Port of Portland since Aug. 1, 2002. The city had leased the land to...

Oregon Transportation Commission set to approve local bridge package.
March 3, 2004... Byline: Jessica Swanson The Oregon Transportation Commission is expected to approve a $300 million package for repair or replacement of local bridges at its March meeting held by telephone conference today. The Oregon Transportation...

Portland real estate community told to stay involved in planning to protect natural resources.
March 3, 2004... Byline: Aimee Curl Property owners and developers were encouraged to continue their participation in a process that will determine how land inside the Portland metro area's urban growth boundary can be developed. The call went out...

Housing Authority of Portland's pilot program opens door to apprenticeships.
March 3, 2004... Byline: Ray Hughey A new program will give low-income graduates of a preapprentice program run by the Housing Authority of Portland a better chance at paying construction apprenticeships and jobs on the New Columbia redevelopment project....

Multnomah County expected to move forward on siting new courthouses.
March 4, 2004... Byline: Jessica Swanson The Multnomah County court system is not in crisis - yet. However, structural and system ruin is fast approaching the downtown Multnomah County Courthouse in Portland, which is why the county Board of...

Oregon Aero, now a multimillion dollar company, plans expansion.
March 4, 2004... Byline: Aimee Curl Oregon Aero - which began in 1989 because of a headache - is now a multimillion dollar company whose future and expansion is limited, as owner Mike Dennis likes to say, "only by the imagination." Dennis, a former...

Seattle high-tech engineers open office in Portland.
March 5, 2004... Byline: Jessica Swanson Sparling engineer and Chief Operating Officer Eric Overton makes no bones about it: "We don't do mechanical, and we don't do plumbing." And that focus, in short, largely contributes to the Seattle firm's...

Portland barbershop competitors offer different services and surroundings.
March 5, 2004... Byline: Aimee Curl Somewhere between Supercuts and a $60 salon haircut lies the likes of Bishops and Rudy's - a Gen-X twist on the old-school barbershop that caters to the young and hip with blaring music, concert posters and an...

Port of Kalama industrial park lands first tenant.
March 5, 2004... Byline: Aimee Curl ViaTech Publishing Solutions will relocate its Longview, Wash., plant to the Kalama River Industrial Park this summer. The company recently signed a lease for a new 23,000-square-foot anchor building built last year...

Clean Water Services receives first watershed-based permit.
March 5, 2004... Byline: Staff Clean Water Services in Hillsboro has received the first Clean Water Act integrated, municipal, watershed-based permit in the nation. The integrated permit, handed out from the state Department of Environmental Quality,...

California jury finds mobile-home seller and mobile home park not negligent in mold lawsuit.
March 5, 2004... Byline: Staff A California jury last week deliberated for three hours before deciding in favor of a mobile-home seller and mobile home park in what is believed to be the country's first wrongful-death mold trial. Dayton et al v....

LEED credits now given for steel fabrication location.
March 5, 2004... Byline: Staff The location of a steel fabricator, rather than the location of the steel mill, may now be used as the manufacturing location when calculating the amount of local and regional material used for a project, according to a...

Lewis & Clark student team wins national competition.
March 5, 2004... Byline: Jessica Swanson A team from Lewis & Clark Law School has won the National Environmental Moot Court Competition for the fourth time. The competition was held at Pace Law School in White Plains, N.Y., last month. Lewis & Clark's...

Portland consulting firm growing nationally.
March 8, 2004... Byline: Aimee Curl "Life is too short not to have fun at work," says Edward Starkie, one of the founding partners of Urban Advisors. "We're trying to have fun here. Fun is good." Starkie and Glenn Kellogg, who together founded the...

Walkway at Portland State University recognize heroines.
March 8, 2004... Byline: Jessica Swanson What began as an idea for a simple plaza on the Portland State University campus - a small circle with a water feature - has blossomed into a $4.2 million partial city block honoring significant women and the...

Portland's Pioneer Courthouse to get renovation and high-tech seismic upgrading.
March 8, 2004... Byline: Ray Hughey New technology will put an old building on firmer footing as Portland's historic Pioneer Courthouse undergoes seismic upgrading. Work began this month on the seismic upgrade and renovation of the 129-year-old...

Vancouver law firm moving location after 30 years.
March 8, 2004... Byline: Aimee Curl After 30 years at Pacific Tower, the Vancouver law firm of Landerholm, Memovich, Lansverk & Whitesides PS is moving next door to the Bank of America Financial Center. The firm will occupy about 15,000 square feet on...

Design of Portland's New Seasons Market lets building tell story of its own history.
March 8, 2004... Byline: Ray Hughey The $3.5 million New Seasons Market under construction in the Seven Corners neighborhood of Southeast Portland will tell its own story. The two-story, 37,000-square-foot market is being built at 2543 S.E. 20th Ave.,...

Commercial Association of Realtors of Oregon/Southwest Washington names honorees.
March 8, 2004... Byline: Aimee Curl Brokers from Norris, Beggs & Simpson and Grubb & Ellis were among those recognized during the annual awards banquet held by the Commercial Association of Realtors of Oregon/Southwest Washington. Jack McConnell and...

Sales begin at The Embassy condominiums in Northwest Portland.
March 9, 2004... Byline: Aimee Curl Robert Ball is onto his next project, and this time he's not converting old warehouses into lofts but restoring what he calls a "crown jewel" of Northwest Portland. Even before sales began last weekend at The...

Portland Tour of Remodeled Homes features green demo house.
March 9, 2004... Byline: Jessica Swanson Marking its fifth anniversary this weekend, the annual Tour of Remodeled Homes will open 14 Portland-area houses to the public. Thirteen family homes and one "green" demonstration home will showcase the design...

Portland making gains in growth management.
March 10, 2004... Byline: Aimee Curl Portland got points for containing sprawl on a regionwide scorecard that ranked the largest seven cities in the Northwestern United States and Western Canada. The Rose City finished ahead of Seattle; Eugene; Spokane,...

Tice Electric Co. of Portland receives national recognition as equal opportunity employer.
March 10, 2004... Byline: Ray Hughey Tice Electric Co. of Portland has received national recognition for its equal opportunity employment practices. In ceremonies last month in Washington, D.C., U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao presented Tice...

Portland business leaders lobby in D.C. for transportation, technology investments.
March 10, 2004... Byline: Jessica Swanson A 36-person delegation is headed to Capitol Hill today to lobby for investments in three areas: transportation, technology research commercialization and economic health through tax relief. The delegation, organized...

Wallack steps into role as dean at Portland State.
March 10, 2004... Byline: Aimee Curl Dr. Lawrence Wallack, director of Portland State University's School of Community Health, has been named dean of university's College of Urban and Public Affairs. He will replace the college's founding dean, Nohad...

Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance receives U.S. recognition.
March 10, 2004... Byline: Ray Hughey The Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance has been recognized by the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy for its efforts encouraging energy conservation. The nonprofit...

Portland City Council votes to extend downtown urban renewal.
March 11, 2004... Byline: Aimee Curl The Portland City Council voted 3-1 Wednesday to extend the life of the Downtown Waterfront Urban Renewal Area for four more years. The extension - which grants the city time to sell up to $82 million in bonds to...

Hillsboro getting new, upgraded water reservoirs.
March 11, 2004... Byline: Dan Carter A new 15-million-gallon water reservoir on Northwest Evergreen is nearly complete and a 6-million-gallon reservoir on Northeast 24th Avenue is being upgraded for the city of Hillsboro. The 40-year-old Northeast 24th...

Oregon Dept. of Transportation starts $10.8M electrical upgrade on Interstate Bridge.
March 11, 2004... Byline: Jessica Swanson The Oregon Department of Transportation has agreed to delay electrical testing on the Interstate Bridge, just as a $10.8 million project to upgrade the bridge's electrical functions got under way this month. ...

Oregon-based Slayden Construction weathers the elements to meet project timeline.
March 11, 2004... Byline: Ray Hughey The weather will play an important role for Slayden Construction Inc. as the Oregon company builds a $51.5 million water-reclamation plant expansion in Truckee, Calif. The city, with a population of 15,781, sits...

Portland-based Bob's Red Mill to double distribution space.
March 12, 2004... Byline: Aimee Curl After 16 years at Gramark Industrial Park on Southeast International Way in Milwaukie, Bob's Red Mill simply needed more space. The Portland-based producer of natural whole grain products will move its distribution...

Agencies help Oregon's small businesses understand federal contracting.
March 12, 2004... Byline: Jessica Swanson Sam Brooks is in the business of helping disadvantaged businesses succeed. That's why the president and chairman of the board of directors of the Oregon Association of Minority Entrepreneurs will talk to hundreds of...

Portland chapter of the American Institute of Architects lecture features NY architects.
March 12, 2004... Byline: Ray Hughey The Portland chapter of the American Institute of Architects will sponsor a free Monday lecture featuring New York architects Everardo Agosto Jefferson and Sara Elizabeth Caples. The husband-and-wife team will speak...

Olympia, Wash.-based Lumbermens to buy FSC lumber.
March 12, 2004... Byline: Ray Hughey Lumbermens of Washington Inc., a chain of building material stores, has agreed to buy Forestry Stewardship Council-certified lumber from the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs and Warm Springs Forest Products Industry....

Crisis services help workers return to Oregon Health & Science University's job site.
March 15, 2004... Byline: Aimee Curl Construction workers building Oregon Health & Science University's new patient care facility return to the job today following the death of one of their own last week. Larry Fry, 47, of Battleground, Wash., was...

New schools accommodate changing priorities.
March 15, 2004... Byline: Jessica Swanson In today's budget-tight times, school spaces are being created not only to serve a number of purposes for children, faculty and staff - they are also designed to serve the community. This fall, the...

Greenbuild International Conference & Expo to open in Portland at Oregon Convention Center.
March 15, 2004... Byline: Rich Riegel Hosted by the U.S. Green Building Council, the Greenbuild International Conference & Expo will bring the green building industry together under one roof in Portland at the Oregon Convention Center Nov. 10 to 12. ...

Portland's Lincoln High School opens its renovated track-and-field facility.
March 15, 2004... Byline: Ray Hughey Lincoln High School has officially opened its renovated track-and-field facility for the 2004 track season. The high school at 1600 S.W. Salmon St. inaugurated the facility Saturday with a celebration and an "Elite...

Architecture Foundation of Oregon seeks grant applicants.
March 15, 2004... Byline: Ray Hughey The Architecture Foundation of Oregon is seeking applications for its 2004 grants program. Each year, the foundation awards grants to Oregon organizations for projects that further the foundation's mission of...

New Providence Newberg hospital seeks LEED rating.
March 15, 2004... Byline: Ray Hughey Providence Health Systems is building a new medical center in Newberg with an eye toward having the structure qualify as one of the few green-certified hospitals in the country. The new $41.7 million Providence...

Oregon Society of Industrial and Office Realtors names The Round as office development of the year.
March 15, 2004... Byline: Aimee Curl The Round in Beaverton has been awarded the Office Development of the Year honor by the Oregon Chapter of the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors. A mixed-use development built around TriMet's Beaverton...

ODOT's Cape Creek Tunnel project extended.
March 16, 2004... Byline: Jessica Swanson The Oregon Department of Transportation will be finalizing construction plans next month to replace the concrete liner in the Cape Creek Tunnel on U.S. Highway 101, just south of Lane County's Heceta Head...

Gerding/Edlen Development wins Alice B. Toeclips award.
March 16, 2004... Byline: Aimee Curl Gerding/Edlen Development Co. was one of this year's recipients of the Bicycle Transportation Alliance's ninth annual Alice B. Toeclips Award. This is the first time in six years a developer has won the award, which...

Vancouver port site chosen for steel fabrication project.
March 16, 2004... Byline: Aimee Curl A group of four local companies has chosen 25 acres at the Port of Vancouver USA, Wash., as the preferred site to manufacture 32,000 tons of steel components for replacement of the East Span of the San Francisco-Oakland...

Second phase underway at Habitat for Humanity complex.
March 16, 2004... Byline: Jessica Swanson The walls went up last week on the sixth Habitat for Humanity duplex in Northeast Portland during the organization's nationwide Collegiate Challenge. Ten Carroll College students, on spring break from Milwaukee,...

Portland commissioner pitches development review proposal.
March 17, 2004... Byline: Aimee Curl As part of his quest to make the city more customer-service oriented, Portland Commissioner Randy Leonard is pitching a way to pinpoint and resolve development review delays. Leonard's proposal - which will go before...

'Operation Safe' containers head to Port of Tacoma.
March 17, 2004... Byline: Jessica Swanson The first shipping containers in the federally-funded pilot project Operation Safe Commerce are headed for the Port of Tacoma and are expected to land next Thursday. Operation Safe Commerce was designed by...

City, builders reach agreement on Sherwood system development charges.
March 17, 2004... Byline: Ray Hughey The city of Sherwood last week adopted increased parks system development charges that area home builders found they could live with. But it took months of lobbying, persuasion and cooperation between the city and...

Vancouver Chamber of Commerce continues push to change bridge lift times.
March 17, 2004... Byline: Jessica Swanson Despite protests from the Greater Vancouver Chamber of Commerce in Washington, the Oregon Department of Transportation began electrical testing yesterday on the north- and southbound spans of the Interstate Bridge....

Trio starts new architecture firm in Bend, holds open house.
March 17, 2004... Byline: Ray Hughey Architects Mike Gorman, Gary Gunville and Jim Landin have founded GGL Architecture LLC, a new firm in Bend. Gorman, Gunville and Landin each have more than 17 years of experience. They all recently worked as...

River Park Center's owner banking on executive suites.
March 18, 2004... Byline: Aimee Curl River Park Center owner Eli Morgan had an all-too-familiar dilemma: How to fill a large chunk of space when your tenant vacates in short order. Morgan's answer to the dilemma: Revamp the 3-story, 50,000-square-foot...

Radiant floor heat highlights Head Start sustainable project.
March 18, 2004... Byline: Jessica Swanson Last week, crews tied down four miles of tubing for a hydronic radiant floor heating system at the new 14,000-square-foot Albina Head Start center in North Portland. Portland-based Otak incorporated the...

Dept. of Environmental Quality evaluates, cleans asbestos from fire.
March 18, 2004... Byline: Jessica Swanson Monday's four-alarm fire at Thermo Fluids, an oil recycling facility at 6400 S.E. 101st Ave. in Southeast Portland, may have resulted in the release of asbestos into the air, potentially affecting residents in...

Portland State University's engineering college receives $8M gift.
March 19, 2004... Byline: Jessica Swanson Portland State University received its largest gift ever - $8 million - from alumnus Fariborz Maseeh for the College of Engineering and Computer Science, which will be renamed for Maseeh. In a crowed room on the...

Pavilion planned as star of 2004 Oregon State Fair.
March 19, 2004... Byline: Ray Hughey Officials say a new multipurpose pavilion, estimated at a cost of nearly $8.3 million, will be ready to debut later this year as the star of the 2004 Oregon State Fair. Making that plan come true, however, has put...

Portland-based Houserworks LLC relies on Drill Doctor.
March 19, 2004... Byline: Rich Riegel Houserworks LLC, a cavernous metal machine shop and design studio in Southeast Portland, keeps busy prototyping, fabricating and building contemporary public art. But, Houserworks' metal artwork also requires a lot of...

Waterleaf's McCulloch helping guide Milwaukie development.
March 22, 2004... Byline: Rich Riegel Waterleaf Architecture's Mike McCulloch was hired by the city of Milwaukie last year to help the city interpret whether or not a current development proposal for Main Street in downtown can meet the city's newly created...

Oregon Chapter of American Society of Landscape Architects names recipients of 2004 Design Awards.
March 22, 2004... Byline: Jessica Swanson At the 2004 Design Awards next month, the Oregon Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects will honor local landscape architects, planners and designers for their work over the last two years as well...

Oregon Dept. of Transportation project will add passing lanes to Highway 26.
March 22, 2004... Byline: Ray Hughey Two new passing lanes will be available this summer to drivers traveling U.S. Highway 26 from Portland to Warm Springs. The two miles of lanes will be constructed between the Warm Springs River and Mill Creek Bridge....

Oregon State University team wins national construction competition.
March 22, 2004... Byline: Ray Hughey Six Oregon State University construction students won their division in the recent Associated Schools of Construction national competition. The competition, held during the Associated General Contractors national...

German firm buys Camas, Wash.-based pressure-washer company.
March 22, 2004... Byline: Ray Hughey C-Tech Industries of Camas, Wash., a leading American manufacturer of pressure washers, has been acquired by the German firm Karcher, one of the world's leading manufacturers of cleaning equipment. Karcher bought the...

J.E. Dunn Construction-Northwest triumphs over elements to finish Alaska hospital.
March 22, 2004... Byline: Ray Hughey J.E. Dunn Construction-Northwest is a few months away from completing construction of a new hospital in Alaska. Company crews are 70 percent along on the new $21 million Valdez Regional Health Care Center project,...

Portland-based ScanlanKemperBard purchases first Colorado property.
March 22, 2004... Byline: Aimee Curl Portland-based ScanlanKemperBard Cos. has made its first Colorado acquisition in Denver with the purchase of Towne Center at Brookhill. SKB acquired the 305,633-square-foot property from Gallagher & Associates, a New...

CICP awards honor foes of construction crime.
March 23, 2004... Byline: Ray Hughey The Construction Industry Crime Prevention Program of the Pacific Northwest honored members and law enforcement agencies Friday for helping prevent job site thefts and vandalism. Both construction company members and...

Ups-and-downs: Telegram Building boasts new generation of elevator technology.
March 23, 2004... Byline: Rich Riegel It's a one-of-a-kind building with a first-of-its-kind elevator. The recently renovated Telegram Building at 1101 S.W. Washington St. in downtown Portland will sport the Gen2, a super-compact elevator system...

Deadline set for watershed stewardship grants.
March 23, 2004... Byline: The Daily Journal of Commerce Portland's Bureau of Environmental Services has announced May 14 is the deadline to apply for the agency's Community Watershed Stewardship grants. The grants of up to $5,000 help pay for community...

Engineering-related projects receive grants.
March 24, 2004... Byline: Jessica Swanson Intel Corp. will award a total of $217,000 to seven engineering and computer-science related projects at Oregon University System schools. Faculty members at OUS schools drive the projects, which focus on curriculum...

Venerable Properties to renovate Fifteenth Avenue Market.
March 24, 2004... Byline: Aimee Curl Venerable Properties has entered into a lease-purchase agreement with George LoPiparo Jr. of Platinum Properties for the Fifteenth Avenue Market building in Northeast Portland's Irvington neighborhood. The company...

Seven companies ready for annual 'Street of New Beginnings' showcase.
March 24, 2004... Byline: Ray Hughey On your mark, get set - build. Seven residential-building companies are ready to dig into the site of the fifth annual RE/MAX Street of New Beginnings with last week's groundbreaking at the event site on Holladay...

Asbestos cleanup continues at site of fire.
March 25, 2004... Byline: Jessica Swanson The state Department of Environmental Quality is continuing with an asbestos abatement in the Lents neighborhood of Southeast Portland and does not know when the cleanup will be finished. Crystostile asbestos...

Postal Service takes remaining space at PDX CargoCentre.
March 25, 2004... Byline: Aimee Curl The U.S. Postal Service has leased the remaining 72,250 square feet at the 159,000-square-foot Portland International Air CargoCentre at Portland International Airport. Developed by Trammell Crow Co. for AMB Property...

Home builders find elbowroom at 2004 Street of Dreams.
March 25, 2004... Byline: Ray Hughey Portland area contractors are thinking big for the 2004 NW Natural Street of Dreams. And this year's event, scheduled to run Aug. 5 to Sept. 6 at Hidden Lake Estates in Clackamas County, gives them room to do it. ...

Use of satellite technology to track freight becomes more common for trucking companies.
March 26, 2004... Byline: Aimee Curl Using satellite technology to track freight is no longer a futuristic idea for trucking companies big or small. For most, it's just a way of doing business. At Salem-based May Trucking Co., there's...

Oregon State University researchers study technology to replace gas tax.
March 26, 2004... Byline: Jessica Swanson David Kim and David Porter may be helping to eventually do away with Oregon's gas tax, but they aren't activists or legislators. Instead, the two men are researchers at Oregon State University, commissioned by the...

Students in Portland State Univ. transportation lab study traffic problems.
March 26, 2004... Byline: Jessica Swanson A dozen college students huddled around monitors and six big-screen televisions, laughing with each other as they peer at high-tech, real-time computer graphics doesn't look like work. It looks even less like the...

Oregon Dept. of Transportation's Trucking Online program gains momentum.
March 26, 2004... Byline: Aimee Curl Now in its second year of operation, the Oregon Department of Transportation's Trucking Online program continues to gain momentum. The Web site, http://www.odot.state.or.us/trucking/online, which allows truckers to...