City sparks new interest in Old Town fire station
by Kennedy Smith
02/26/2007
Daily Journal of Commerce
It looks as though Fire Station No. 1 may finally get the facelift Portlanders have been expecting since 2004.
The city of Portland on Thursday issued a request for proposals to perform structural and architectural upgrades to the public safety building at 55 S.W. Ash St., originally erected in 1952.
But this wouldn't be the first upgrade proposed for Fire Station No. 1. In May 2005, Thomas Hacker Architects Inc. won a design competition to build an entirely new facility that would include a rescue station and a museum and interpretive center in the city's Old Town/Chinatown neighborhood. The estimated budget at the time: $22 million.
When Hacker was chosen, the principal players in the competition and selection process were Portland Fire and Rescue, City Hall and the Portland Development Commission. The PDC in 2004 committed to front nearly half of the cost for construction. Other funds would come from a general obligation fund set aside for Portland Fire and Rescue, said Connie Johnson, a project manager at the Portland Office of Management & Finance. PDC also gave Portland Fire and Rescue three quarters of Block 8.
But a very large kink in the process emerged as the city, Portland Fire and the PDC realized construction costs would far exceed the estimated $22 million.
"Hindsight is a wonderful thing," Johnson said. "When we were involved with moving the station, when we thought it was a real possibility, we were 100 percent committed to it."
The PDC knew as early as July 2004 that there would be a funding gap, but the agency decided to move forward with the project and continue weighing its options.
In July 2006, Mayor Tom Potter terminated efforts to relocate Fire Station No. 1.
A fully realized but more-expensive-than-planned Fire Station No. 1 could have been like the Portland Aerial Tram, Johnson said. "I think in a couple of years people would probably have been happy about spending the money."
Funding for a renovated Fire Station No. 1 would come largely from a bond totaling $9.5 million, a far cry from the $22 million two years ago.
The design competition for Fire Station No. 1 was the first commissioned by the city for a public building since 1980, when postmodernist architect Michael Graves won the right to build downtown's Portland Public Services Building, which was completed in 1984.
"I think the fire station was a good project for a design competition," said John Heili, a partner at TVA Architects Inc. "But what we're seeing is that we need to be more realistic about the budget aspect. If we go for design excellence, there are costs that go along with that. It's not so much that the competition is the problem, it's being more realistic about the budget."
Firms weigh options
Heili said TVA hasn't yet looked into the RFP but would probably pass on the project because it doesn't fit the firm's portfolio. "We'd need to team with a firm that has fire station experience to be credible," he said. "The reason why the design competition was so appealing and got the Allied Works and Hackers (to submit proposals) was that they were pushing the design excellence."
Last week, the PDC and Portland Fire and Rescue dissolved their 2004 agreement. The PDC said it would contribute $3.9 million for use in renovating the existing station, and Portland Fire and Rescue returned to PDC the three quarters of Block 8.
The new request for proposals asks that interested parties provide architectural and engineering teams to perform seismic upgrades and a remodel, most likely to the interior of the building, Johnson said.
William Bailey of Waterleaf Architecture said Thursday his firm hadn't made a decision on whether to respond to the request for proposals, but he plans to be present at a March 5 pre-submittal hearing. Faez Soud of Michael Willis Architects said the same. Debbie Rogers, marketing manager at Hennebery Eddy Architects – which teamed with Emmons Architects in 2005 and was one of three finalists along with Thomas Hacker and Allied Works – said her firm would meet this week to decide whether to pursue the project.
The winner of the 2005 competition, Thomas Hacker Architects, hasn't made a decision on whether to compete for Fire Station No. 1 in 2007, either. William Dann, a principal who worked on the Hacker firm's winning submission in 2005, said the firm was still weighing its options.
Potential respondents
The city of Portland posted the
RFP for an upgrade to Fire Station No. 1 on its e-bidding system Thursday. Through Friday, a host of design firms had looked at the RFP, including:
• Akaan Architecture and Design, St. Helens
• DAO Architecture, Portland
• David Evans and Associates Inc., Portland
• Deca Architecture, Portland
• Emerick Architects, Portland
• Gary Bley Architects, Portland
• Group Mackenzie, Portland
• HDR Architecture, Portland
• Hennebery Eddy Architects, Portland
• Hiromi Ogawa Architect, Portland
• Leeb Architects, Portland
• MCA Architects, Portland
• Peck Smiley Ettlin Architects, Portland
• Richard Brown Architects, Portland
• RossDrulisCusenbery Architecture, Sonoma, Calif.
• Selig/Lee/Rueda Architects,
Portland
• Thomas Hacker Architects, Portland
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