Salem

[PuyoPiyo]

Tuesday, August 28, 2007
By JONATHAN NELSON, Columbian Staff Writer

IQ Credit Union expects to close Wednesday on its $3.2 million purchase of two buildings owned by the city of Vancouver that will become the company's new corporate headquarters.

The design phase of the new offices should take up to three months and construction would start by the end of this year, according to the company.

The credit union is buying the former Citizens Service Center at 1313 Main St. and the Eberle Building at 110 East 13th St. IQ's business lending, business services and the existing downtown branch will eventually be moved to the new location. The credit union has 40,335 members, eight branches and $374.2 million in assets.

http://www.columbian.com/business/bu...news189816.cfm

(I copied from other member's post from other thread to make the building to have its own thread, hope you don't mind! )

[MarkDaMan]

Hoffman will build $240M state hospital
Barring a protest, state will award a contract Thursday for the 620-bed facility
POSTED: 06:00 AM PDT Wednesday, October 24, 2007
BY LIBBY TUCKER
Daily Journal of Commerce

Hoffman Construction Co. is the top bidder to build the state’s new psychiatric hospital in Salem.

The Oregon Department of Health and Human Services will award the project to the Portland contractor Thursday barring a protest from New York-based runner-up Turner Construction Co.

The state says construction of the new 620-bed hospital will cost as much as $240 million.

“We’re excited. It’s a great project for Oregon,” Dan Harmon, a Hoffman vice president, said.

“Our plan is to demolish the existing hospital and build a new hospital, (but) it’s entirely possible some of the collateral buildings will be renovated.”

The new hospital will be built on the same site as the current hospital – an eight-building complex in Salem that was featured in the 1975 film “One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” The state will soon move patients from the century-old building to make way for construction, which the state says will begin in 2009.

The state also plans to replace its Junction City psychiatric hospital with a new 360-bed facility.

Combined, the state says, construction of the two new hospitals will cost $413 million, to be paid for with state bonds. The new Salem hospital is scheduled to open in 2011; Junction City’s hospital should open in 2013.

The Legislature this year called for the replacement of the two state psychiatric hospitals, which have drawn scrutiny for their poor conditions.

“There’s an extensive pre-construction period; we’re working with the owner to determine what we’re going to do with the remaining patients,” Harmon said. “There’s a whole effort that’s got to go on.”

To speed the process, the Department of Human Services won approval to bypass the traditional design-bid-build contracting method, which is based on the bidders’ lowest cost estimates, according to the agency. DHS instead will award a construction manager-general contractor contract for the project based on the bidders’ qualifications.

Only two contracting firms, Hoffman and Turner, responded to the DHS call for proposals.

“There was really no question of the qualifications of both firms,” Mike Hewitt, a senior contracts consultant for the state, said. “It was simply a matter of evaluating those proposals that ended up with Hoffman being higher-ranked.”

Turner has until Thursday to protest the award.

The state in August awarded Englewood, Colo.-based CH2M Hill a $10 million contract to oversee construction of the two new state hospitals, according to the Associated Press.

A joint venture between Portland-based SRG Partnership and San Francisco firm HOK will design the new hospital in Salem, according to Hoffman.
http://www.djcoregon.com/articleDeta...hursday-for-th

[pdxman]

I hope they at least keep the facade from the old entrance(used on cuckoos nest) because it would be a shame to lose something that beautiful. The rest of the building they can bulldoze...

[PuyoPiyo]

Good news for Salem..

[pdxman]

State enlists team to plan, build new psychiatric facility
Portland builder likely will win bid for the Salem site

ALAN GUSTAFSON
Statesman Journal
October 25, 2007

Hoffman Construction Co. of Portland is expected to land a state contract to build a new $270 million, 620-bed psychiatric hospital in Salem to replace the 124-year-old Oregon State Hospital, officials said Wednesday.

The state now has enlisted a team of contractors to design and build the facility.

"They're all world-class. I think it's an amazing team," said Linda Hammond, hospital replacement administrator for the state Department of Human Services.

Project management will be provided by CH2M-Hill, an international engineering and construction company founded in Corvallis.

Under a nearly $10 million contract with the state, CH2M-Hill will oversee development of the Salem facility, plus a $148 million, 360-bed psychiatric facility to be built in Junction City.

Architectural and engineering services for both projects will be provided by SRG Partnership Inc. of Portland and HOK Group Inc., which has offices around the world.

SRG's design projects include the Oregon Coast Aquarium, the Mount St. Helen's Visitor Center and the University of Oregon's Museum of Art.

HOK's design credits include Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore and the Environmental Protection Agency's headquarters in Washington, D.C.

The state's pending contract award to Hoffman applies only to the Salem project, Hammond said. Contract terms still have to be negotiated, she said.

Plans call for the Salem psychiatric complex to be built south of Center Street NE, within a 90-acre section of the existing 144-acre hospital campus. The south campus contains the J Building -- used in filming of the 1975 movie "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest."

Whether some or all of the J Building will be razed has not yet been determined, Hammond said.

"That's what these consultants will tell us," she said. "They'll look at everything that has happened around the historic issues ... and what we need to do to ensure that we've got the best (new) facility."

agustafs@StatesmanJournal.com or (503) 399-6709

[Xing]

Originally Posted by PuyoPiyo

Good news for Salem..

I agree.

[pdxman]

Airport expansion funds sought
Salem City Council approves grant-seeking effort to tap lottery money for improvements

RUTH LIAO
Statesman Journal
November 14, 2007

Salem City Council voted Tuesday night to apply for $4.75 million in grant funding to improve and expand Salem's airport.

City councilors Dan Clem and Brent DeHart recused themselves from voting on the item.

The council agreed to allow staff to apply for Connect Oregon II, which provides state lottery funds in competitive grant funding for transportation projects that include air, rail, water and transit systems.

Salem-Keizer Transit District also plans to submit an application under the same program for a transit center in South Salem.

Airport officials said the grant would help attract other airline carriers and expand the airport's service.

Since June 7, when Delta Airlines began daily flights, through the end of October, about 21,000 passengers had gone through the airport, said airport administrator Alan Alexander.

"We're a small airport and we recognize that, but we hope to make the experience of the passengers as pleasant and as efficient as we can," Alexander said.

About $3.25 million is requested to extend the runway and safety area as much as 1,000 feet.

This would provide an additional safety margin for existing service and also allow the city to market to additional air carriers, Alexander said.

The current runway is 5,811 feet. The city owns enough property to allow for a runway expansion, Alexander said. The cost also would go toward an environmental impact study and an engineering assessment, he said.

The application also asks for another $1.5 million to expand the passenger terminal area. Improvements include additional bathrooms, extra space for baggage screening, additional paving of the parking lot and expansion of the front lobby.

"When there's an inbound/outbound flight- overlap, it can get pretty crowded out front," Alexander said. The terminal improvements also would help attract additional air carriers if extra ticket counter space is added.

About 20 percent of the grant will be matched by the city's airport budget and federal entitlement funds, Alexander said.

The grant's application deadline is Nov. 21. Grant winners will be announced in June 2008. If approved, improvements to the terminal could be completed in eight months, and extension of a runway could be completed within a year, Alexander said.

Southeast Salem resident Rob Gould has voiced concerns about noise that the airport generates. Gould said he first confronted city officials when he opposed Delta's arrival to Salem and was assured that the airline would be limited to four flights per day.

Gould said he was most concerned that the runway expansion would bring in larger planes and more frequent flights.

"It's really getting to the tipping point in terms of an airport located so close and inside the city boundaries," Gould said.

[joeplayer1989]

how close is the airport to downtown? What are the height restrictions down there and does the airport cause any of these restrictions?

[pdxman]

^^^I'd say its about 3-4 miles away from DT or about a 5-10 minute drive. Its fairly close in to a lot residential to the north, businesses to west and nothing really to the east and south.

[Northeast79]

This is a very preliminary image of a condo/office building in Salem.

[pdxman]

Interesting. I know where that is--right across from city hall and the library. They must be tearing down that Tudor Rose tea place. Good to know! Thanks.

[Northeast79]

This on is under construction.

[Northeast79]

The Tudor Rose will be gone soon.

I think they are taking out the city center motel as well.

[Northeast79]

Here is a city of Salem project on Trade and Church. You can find on the city of salem website.

[joeplayer1989]

3 pretty good renderings, nothing im that amazed with... some more height would be nice, but you got to start somewhere.

[Northeast79]

I couldn't agree more about the height. It would be great to get an urban scale to downtown Salem. I think these projects are moving in the right direction though.

Here's a couple more images of projects under construction on Broadway from the city's website.

[Northeast79]

Sorry those last two images are so big.

Here's a rendering of the new hospital currently under construction.

[CouvScott]

I was at a HS playoff game last week at Willamette University and I noticed an 8 story or so building that was about to top out. Is that a condo project?

[pdxman]

^^^Yes. Its called the Meridian(?). It has doctors offices on the bottom half and then condos on the top. I believe it was posted in this section. I think we all agreed it was butt ugly as well.

[Northeast79]

Yes the Meridian is ugly and it is to the north and west of Willamette's field. The hospital is probably what you are refering to. It is about topped out and is directly north of the field. The Meridian has a couple more floors before it tops out.