The Oregon Association of Minority Entrepreneurs (OAME) has selected DAY CPM, a division of Otak, as Construction Company of the Year. This award recognizes the commitment and advancement Day CPM and Otak have achieved in providing meaningful opportunities to minority, women, POC, and MWESBSDV, businesses, and employees. DAY CPM’s strong partnership with OAME to achieve its mission to promote and develop entrepreneurship and economic development for ethnic minorities in Oregon and SW Washington is another factor that stood out in an industry of committed peers.
Formed in 1987, OAME is a non-profit, tax-exempt, organization whose 850 members include entrepreneurs, public agencies, large businesses, and partner non-profits. The organization provides free technical assistance and business counseling and has the overarching goal of eliminating discrimination and racism under its motto “Everybody’s In, Nobody’s Out.”
DAY CPM has long recognized that construction is a sector ripe with opportunity for minorities and women to grow into industry leaders. Otak has always been driven to create inclusive communities in the projects it undertakes and is proud to be recognized for creating a business community that is also inclusive. We show the values we hold in our own workplace are the same as those we take to our work.
The award was presented during OAME’s 32nd Annual Conference, entitled “Diversity is Practiced” held virtually on Thursday, October 8.
A school bond program for Tigard-Tualatin School District created the opportunity to make improvement to its facilities, including a new addition to Creekside Community High School. A projected surplus in annual energy savings of $13,000 is anticipated to offset the expanded use of the existing buildings onsite.
Leveraging a School Bond for a Unique, Net Zero K-12 Building
Formerly the Durham Education Center, the updates offer a central commons and cafeteria with a kitchen accessible to instructional programs. A new centralized main office with breakout rooms for collaboration between students and staff, outdoor recreation space, science classroom, and maker space to enhance the STEM program. One of the most unique aspects of the building’s design is that it has been developed to be one of the first fully Net Zero K-12 education buildings in the state. Students will have an opportunity to learn from the building as a teaching tool and participate in maximizing the building’s performance with access to metrics through an “energy dashboard” and weather station in the school’s commons.
With over 121,000 square-feet added across a three-site expansion, the Vancouver Clinic would grow its ability to provide healthcare services for communities across Southwest Washington. Close coordination with city and agency stakeholders helped navigate complex site challenges and a compressed schedule to completion ahead of schedule and under budget. As owner’s representative, Otak managed project delivery in the development of the new multi-specialty medical facilities.
Managing An Integrated Design Approach to Deliver a Multi-Site Healthcare Facility Expansion
Utilizing a Lean Integrated Design / Design Build approach, the Vancouver Clinic expansion designed all three facilities concurrently. The design processes were augmented by full-scale mock-ups to confirm functionality while leveraging the experiences of clinical staff and medical consultants to prioritize patient care with optimal clinic workflows. An established governance process including the Vancouver Clinic’s executive sponsorship team and two physician board structures led to efficient approvals while maintaining a high degree of integration with Vancouver Clinic operational leadership. In providing a full scope of owner’s representation across each expansion, the Otak team managed planning and design, medical equipment coordination, construction management, as well as move in and close out. For the Salmon Creek expansion, the team guided the project through various jurisdictional approval processes, including a full Certificate of Need application in Washington state. After a change in financing brought on by the pandemic, the team’s role shifted to become a strategic advisor through the completion of construction. This effort helped the client convert the project from an owner financed and constructed project to a turn-key build-to-suit with Pacific Medical Buildings, retaining all original design-build team members.
The Ridgefield Outdoor Recreation Complex (RORC), an ambitious 53-acre outdoor facility for sports, recreation, and education has received the APWA-Washington Chapter Project of the Year Award. Hired as the Construction Manager and Owner’s Rep for the City of Ridgefield and the Ridgefield School District, Otak guided the $22M project to successful completion in the Spring of 2019.
Jointly owned by the City and the School District, the RORC was built in conjunction with a new Intermediate and Middle School campus. The partnership between the city and the school district offered a tremendous opportunity for the community to develop a new recreation complex while also saving millions of dollars on land acquisition, road improvements, and recreational and community space infrastructure.
The RORC features an innovative two-floor Community Building with concessions, kitchen, and meeting facilities; six multipurpose sports fields; a playground and trails; and a large plaza with connections for food and concessions carts and trucks. The RORC project is the first installation of Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) in Clark County. From supporting beams to the roof structure itself, the Community Building is an architect’s and structural engineer’s dream, showcasing the strength, durability, and architectural look and feel of CLT from both inside and outside of the Community Building.
Continuous and comprehensive communication and cooperation were key to completing the project. In addition to the complex design, concurrent construction, utility projects, frontage improvements, site work, and community-building efforts, all required continuous coordination between a multitude of contractors, community schedules, and events—over the past two years the site hosted the annual Ridgefield Oktoberfest and Experience Ridgefield, together, attracting as many as 10,000 visitors! The complex is also home to the Ridgefield Raptors, a West Coast League baseball team. During construction, project partners decided they wanted to add something else to set the RORC apart from others: a rollup door on the second floor overlooking Field 1, so Raptor fans would be able to “hear the crack of the bat” during baseball games.
Consideration was also given to protecting and preserving the surrounding natural wetlands. Measures were taken to protect the environment, as well as private property, property access, and utility service. As the construction manager and owner’s rep, Otak’s team was in continuous contact with utilities, contractors, and property owners when sensitive and potentially disruptive construction phases were underway, including utility cutovers, paving, and restoration.
Under the leadership of Tim Leavitt, PE, CESCL; and Chuck Green, PE, Otak guided the project through to completion on time and on budget providing construction engineering expertise, as well as construction management, inspections, and design review and support. Additional Otak team members included Mike Hale, Nick Redinger, Kyle Farnsworth, and Robert Dethlefs, PE.
Projects like the Ridgefield Complex are not only representative of Otak’s expertise in multi-disciplinary work, but also represent the community and environmental stewardship that have become Otak hallmarks. The RORC is a prime example of a project that promotes outdoor recreation, community cohesion through events, healthier lifestyles, and improved quality of life.
In January 2019 the Oregeon Department of Administrative Services (DAS) became aware of a building for sale along the I-5 corridor in Wilsonvillethat has turned out to be an ideal location and size for the DAS to achieve their vision of bringing multiple state agencies under one roof. Working through existing State contracts, SERA was hired to perform a due diligence study and subsequently building opportunity studies for various tenants. After the purchase of the building, Otak/DAY CPM was brought in as the Owner’s Representative and SERA has been retained to continue design based on the earlier studies.
The 175,000 SF building housed a Microsoft manufacturing facility with an office/warehouse that sat on a 425,146 SF (9.76 acres) lot in a Planned Development Industrial Zone. After performing a due diligence study and building utilization exercise the state purchased the building in December of 2019 with the support of the Legislature and the Capital Projects Advisory Board.
Since the purchase, the state, working with Otak/DAY CPM and SERA has been focusing on establishing a holistic “One State” vision for the building that would be a collaboration between state agencies that perform regulation and inspection functions and reduce the amount spent on maintenance requirements in having offices housed in several buildings in and around Portland.
The project mission driving the design is to: “Enhance the DAS property portfolio with the adaptive reuse of space for the State’s tenants in a “One State” collaborative environment using sustainable construction and operations techniques including provisions to support critical services response”. The intent is to create synergies between tenant needs and shared resources such as laboratories, security systems, and electrical facilities.
Tenants and activities to be included are the:
Department of Agriculture for testing animal and plant health including entomology, metrology, and other regulatory services provided by the agency.
OSHA
Department of Administrative Services Operations and Maintenance
Flexible space for Emergency Response.
Oregon State Police for long term evidence storage
While early design plans were being formatted, the arrival of COVID gave the building a new temporary function which supported the business case for the building purchase. The facility was converted into a home for Emergency Response Teams and included office space for 400 temporary employees in a call center. Accommodating emergency response efforts and providing temporary workspace is a function that the building will be able to provide in the future as well. This use and the corresponding response is one example of the flexibility that this building/project will provide DAS.
While the return of students to classrooms across the country this fall is in a state of flux due to the pandemic and COVID19, school districts across the region have been moving forward with construction and renovation projects supported by voter-approved bonds. One such project in Oregon City is the Ogden Middle School remodel and expansion which broke ground in March and is slated to be completed in time for the 2021/2022 school year.
DAY CPM has been the owner’s representative for the Oregon City School District, providing bond oversight and guiding the 34 million dollar renovation of Ogden Middle School. DAY CPM’s Stephen Wasserberger, bond manager and senior project manager, and Tracy Goodman, PM CM, have been working with district leaders, including Superintendent Larry Didway, project architects and general contractors since early 2019 to ensure the newly envisioned middle schools will satisfy the vision set forth by the district and the community.
The passage of the bond at the end of 2018 “presented a generational opportunity for the district to invest in the future and to reimagine the way middle school students are taught,” Stephen stated, adding that “it has been exciting to be a part of such a significant project in our community.” The DAY CPM team is providing budget oversight, managing the scope of the project and the schedule, acting as a liaison between the design team and the owner, and orchestrating the complex logistics inherent with moving classrooms. They have been involved every step of the way, initially advising the district with pre-bond services to both meet the vision and allow for contingencies.
During the design phase, in January of 2019, Stephen and Tracy, along with the team of designers, Superintendent Didway, and other school officials and teachers visited six schools in San Diego. The targeted schools are on the cutting edge of public education and are setting the example for the rest of the country with their successful implementation of design-thinking method, which is student-centered, project-based learning. The new Ogden Middle School design will incorporate much of what these leading schools have set as the new standard and it will become an example for other schools in the region to follow.
Oregon City Middle School students also participated in the design phase and were able to share their own needs and goals, as well as their anxieties and concerns. “Involving the kids was a crucial decision and instrumental to the overall design,” Stephen said. For example, “we learned how important a connection to the outside and nature is to their positive school experience.” The newly renovated school will include ample natural light and connections to the outdoors.
The Bond project includes two middle schools. In addition to the remodel of Ogden Middle School, the project is replacing Gardiner Middle School with a new state of the art 78 million dollar facility. Originally the two projects were going to be staggered, but to keep costs down, minimize disruption to the teachers and students, and better meets the goals of the District, the two projects have moved forward in tandem. This is also allowing the district to address concerns of equity and parity. DAY CPM is also involved with move-management – taking everything out of the classrooms to a staging area in the gym, then moving everything into modular units, and finally back to the new classrooms.
The team at DAY CPM is also overseeing the procurement of all the furniture, fixtures and equipment for both schools, based on the architect’s specs and a “furniture fair” the team held to get feedback from teachers and students. As Stephen points out, “the district is really making an effort to support the teachers and help them be successful in the new schools.” To that end, a life-size, 3-D mock-up of a learning neighborhood was built in the old high school gym. The furniture fair was held in the model neighborhood, where teachers and students were able to try out the furniture and also become more accustomed to the new classroom setting.
Both schools are projected to be completed in time for the fall of 2021, and teachers will be able to move into their new classrooms in August 2021. They will have a full month to get set-up, acclimate to the new space, and learn how to function and teach in the new classrooms.
An Oregon City School District $158 million school bond aims to improve schools in 3 key areas by reducing overcrowding, enhancing learning spaces, and improving safety. Together, the projects provide the opportunity to change curriculum by designing schools for a new cutting-edge way of teaching that enhances student-centered and project-based learning.
Prioritizing School Improvements Through Bond Management
Management of the school bond allowed the district address priorities. Those aimed to reduce overcrowding by replacing Gardiner Middle School and enhancing learning spaces with an extensive remodel of Ogden Middle School improving safety and security throughout the district, and updating school facilities by replacing HVAC systems, plumbing, roofs and electrical systems, and by installing LED lighting. Services also include lighting and energy upgrades through the Energy Trust of Oregon and SB1149 grants. As owner’s representative, Otak is provided services to the Oregon City School District as the Bond Manager for the Bond Program.
Otak has been named a Top 100 Construction Management/Program Management for Fee company by the Engineering News-Record. Otak ranked 85th this year, a jump from last year when the company was unranked.
ENR ranks companies based on total 2019 revenue in $ millions for both domestic and international project/program management services performed as a professional service for a fee.
Otak has seen, as referenced in an article by ENR, that the use of professional services firms to plan and deliver projects is increasing. Complex planning, financing, and cost estimating is becoming the norm and necessitates more efficient and cost-effective delivery. The use of professional service firms is seen by owners as the best solution. Firms like Otak can provide additional expertise that may not be found among owners’ available resources.
The rise in use of professional service firms is reflected in this year’s ENR Top 100 Construction Management-for-Fee and Top 50 Program Management Firms list. Revenue for the CM-PM group in 2019 was up 2.7%, to $24.43 billion in 2019 from $23.78 billion in 2018. Domestic revenue from their work was stronger, rising 3.8%, to $18.88 billion. The gains were, however, not seen in foreign projects and programs that fell 0.6%, to $5.54 billion in 2019.
Looking ahead to next year, there is uncertainty due to the impacts from COVID-19, however, Otak’s work has remained steady as we have benefitted from our strong reputation and from being located in states that deemed construction essential. We anticipate being listed among the Top 100 again in 2020.
Times are challenging as we all face the impacts of COVID-19. But as our day to day lives have been disrupted, mother nature continues on unabated. Flowers have come up, migrating birds have returned, and temperatures are rising.
In recognition of all that nature provides, Earth Day is celebrated throughout April. While this year there won’t be group events as we practice social distancing, Otak is still taking this time to celebrate the great outdoors.
Otak has again signed on as a business partner for Earth Day Oregon to recognize, support and celebrate our planet and those organizations that work hard every day for our natural world. Through Earth Day Oregon, Otak donated to Depave, a nonprofit that works to turn paved spaces into greenspaces to create more livable cities. We understand the environmental and social benefits greenspace can have and gladly stand behind and have volunteered for the many projects Depave has undertaken to green the landscape of Portland. We look forward to working together with Depave on its next project.
On the homefront, Otak’s GO Committee and Operations Team remind us that Earth Day is really every day and there are things we can do in our daily lives to get back to nature.
Start a small garden. You can build raised beds in your yard, or simply pot some herbs and veggies to grow on your porch.
Bike and walk more. Do you live near your local grocery store? Consider if it is possible to walk or bike for your next trip to the store (while following proper PPE and social distancing guidelines). A win-win for getting outside and getting your essential errands done.
Start a home compost. Many of us are already doing this. Check-in with your local trash service to see if they offer compost pick up. If not and if space allows, you can start composting in your backyard by purchasing something like a “Bio Monster” or “Worm Factory” bin and use the compost for your garden.
Shop locally, eat seasonally. With stay-at-home orders in place during the opening weeks for farmers’ markets, your local market or farm might be offering pick-up or delivery!
Play Earth Day Bingo! Get the family involved in this great activity from the City of Kirkland.
Getting outside is one of the recommendations for keeping COVID-19 at bay, as well as a way to maintain your mental health. We want our employees to stay healthy so we encourage you to get out and show your love for the planet, on earth day and every day!
Jordan Schnitzer, President of Harsch Investment Properties, and Helping Hands Reentry Outreach Centers announced that they are working with the Oregon Health Authority to expedite the renovation of the Wapato property, also known as the Bybee Lakes Hope Center, in anticipation of high community need for bed spaces for patients to safely isolate and recover from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
According to state officials, it is likely that there will be a major shortage of medical bed space in the coming weeks. The Bybee Lakes Hope Center team believes this vacant property will be an asset to the regional community and the State of Oregon in response to the unprecedented public health crisis. “There will be a huge need for medical quarantine and transitional housing for those impacted by COVID-19,” said Oregon State Senator Elizabeth Steiner Hayward, a family physician on faculty at OHSU and advisory board member for the Bybee Lakes Hope Center. “Helping Hands’ Bybee Lakes building and their skilled team are a perfect fit for responding to this community crisis.”
Oregon State Senator Betsy Johnson, board member of Helping Hands Reentry Outreach Centers and advisory board member for Bybee Lakes Hope Center, underscored the sense of urgency in identifying a comprehensive response to the novel coronavirus. “This is a serious situation, and it’s time to act,” Senator Johnson said. “We have to think outside the box to develop a multi-pronged plan to increase capacity to treat the sick in our community, and the Bybee Lakes property can provide hundreds of much-needed beds.”
Jordan Schnitzer, the current owner, purchased the property in 2018 and has been working with Helping Hands to raise over $4 million dollars in private donations to renovate the site into a valuable resource for the homeless population. “COVID-19 is a crisis impacting every citizen in our state. Working with Helping Hands and the state of Oregon, I am pleased that Wapato could be used as a facility to help Oregonians survive this health emergency,” Schnitzer said.
DAY CPM was hired by Helping Hands as the Bybee Lakes Hope Center construction project management firm in February 2020. Terry Shanley, Principal at DAY CPM, and his team are working to quickly identify necessary building improvements for COVID-19 patients, including an upgraded ventilation system, utilities and equipment, and ensuring the rest of the facility can be operational as soon as possible. “It’s times like these that call for collaboration and pursuing new ideas and different solutions,” Shanley said. “DAY CPM is proud to be on this team cooperating with public and private entities to build a viable solution to this crisis.”
COVID-19 has impacted the short-term plans for Helping Hands with postponement of several community awareness and fundraising events. However, the Helping Hands team remains steadfastly committed to opening the Bybee Lakes Hope Center to serve community members experiencing homelessness as soon as it’s appropriate to do so. “Responding to the crisis is what Helping Hands does best,” said Helping Hands founder and CEO, Alan Evans. “We will open Bybee Lakes when the time is right, but for now, availability of medical beds has to be a higher priority so we’re working on a crisis response plan using this facility for the community good.”
Harsch Investment Properties and the Helping Hands team will have a timeline for expedited renovation of the facility before the end of the month and will update the community as information becomes available.
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DAY CPM has long recognized that construction is a sector ripe with opportunity for minorities and women to grow into industry leaders. Otak has always been driven to create inclusive communities in the projects it undertakes and is proud to be recognized for creating a business community that is also inclusive. We show the values we hold in our own workplace are the same as those we take to our work.
Start a home compost.