Capital projects: an overview

The Academic and Student Recreation Center is still awaiting the conclusion of some legal proceedings that would make it fully operational as an academic, recreational and commercial space.

Not all partners—most noticeably, the City of Portland Archives—have fully moved in, so the formation of a building association that would govern the use of the common space in the ASRC cannot occur, said Associate Vice President of Finance and Administration Mark Gregory in an e-mail.

A building association would be a standard part of the condominium agreement the ASRC is contracted under which enabled it to create a public-private partnership.
 
“The ASRC building is a partnership with the City of Portland, the Chancellor’s office, PSU academic space, and the rec center—with some retail tenants thrown in,” Gregory said.

Portland State has attempted to conserve as much space as possible throughout the construction process, which explains why construction in the Urban Plaza continues and vacant retail space has yet to be filled, even while the ASRC is in use.

“Really, the finishing touches on the building are being completed while it is in use,” Gregory said, “which is a reasonable approach since so much of the building is already usable.”

Gregory expects that once all tenants are moved in and operational—most likely in early April—an agreement will be reached regarding the use of common spaces.

“I fully expect student events, academic events, city events, and other uses to happen [in the common spaces],” he said.

New capital projects

According to Robyn Pierce, director of Facilities and Planning at PSU, projects like the ASRC have become commonplace over the last decade.

This trend is partially a response to a City of Portland regulation, which says that all ground-level spaces of newly constructed buildings must be coded for retail use, Pierce said.

While the space doesn’t necessarily have to be contracted out, the capability must be there nonetheless. In the Epler Hall dormitory building, for example, the space is being used for university offices rather than retail.

Pierce also explained that when the university contracts with private partners on major construction projects, it can create opportunities for the future.

Such endeavors most often occur when PSU develops a project plan—such as a plan to build a new dorm—and then opens up the contract for bidding from private partners.

The private partner will then, in many cases, absorb the majority of the costs of construction, permitting and maintenance of the building in exchange for the patronage of PSU and possibly retail space. Contract terms will then stipulate that after a certain period of time, the university gains full ownership and use of the space.

A project that would follow this model of development is currently being considered by the university, and would result in a new student housing building at Southwest Fifth Avenue and Jackson Street, according to Pierce.

As of yet, it is not certain what the budget for this housing project will be, or where funding will come from.

Other potential capital projects included on FAP’s wish list are a major upgrade and renovation of Millar Library facilities and an estimated $90 million School of Business Administration project.

These developments come at an opportune time for workers in a state with a seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 11 percent, calculated in December by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Despite a recession that has tightened both state and university budgets, PSU is trying to continue building and contracting with local companies and suppliers, Pierce said.

“The recession means lower labor and materials costs,” Pierce said.

For this reason, the $1.5 million PSU received from Oregon University System economic stimulus funds were able to contribute to purchasing and installing all new energy-efficient windows for Lincoln Hall that were made here in Oregon.    

For Pierce, it’s an important step forward to be able to contract with Oregonians, to help stimulate the local economy, and most of all, to buy sustainable whenever possible.

To accomplish this, capital bidding and procurement projects’ requirements must be made more stringent, to ensure that the lowest-cost option is also the most sustainable and the best for the university in the long term.

“The market is really turning in a sustainable direction,” Pierce said.  This increases the availability of product choices and improves projects’ long-term cost outlooks.

She also added that the university has developed its own set of standards for sustainability as a part of its mission, and is not regulated by the state in any specific terms.

However, there are certain standards which apply when seeking “green” certification through the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) scheme.

LEED certification (running up to platinum-level standards) evaluates buildings and communities on a set of sustainable criteria and determines whether it “was designed and built using strategies aimed at improving performance across all the metrics that matter most: Energy savings, water efficiency, CO2 emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality and stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impacts,” according to the project’s Web site.

According to Pierce, PSU has internalized these standards and attempted to push them further to “ratchet up our own benchmark to be cost effective, healthier, and safer.”

It is especially important as we move ahead to consider deferred maintenance projects that can be completed using new, energy-efficient systems, which are both cost saving in the long run and more environmentally conscious.