Revisiting Oregon's first green buildings

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Viridian Place

It’s been nearly a decade since the U.S. Green Building Council certified its first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-rated buildings.

The first buildings to earn the LEED plaque were profiled, celebrated like royalty and extensively toured by eco-minded designers eager for a glimpse of the future.

Viridian Place, the three-story, 15,000-square-foot home of Neil Kelly Co., was the first LEED project west of the Mississippi.

Now, as Viridian Place and its fellow pioneers face their 10th birthdays, the Portland Business Journal revisited some of the most prominent early examples of green development to find out how things are going.

Have the buildings live up to their euphoric billing? What worked and what didn’t?

Would the developers and owners do it again?

Most owners and operators are happy with their decision — though there were plenty of lessons learned along the way.

Viridian Place: 15573 S.W. Bangy Road, Lake Oswego

LEED Award: Nov. 26, 2001, “certified” level.

The project: Three-story multi-tenant office building with 15,000 square feet. Built by Blazer Development and CES Northwest as headquarters for Neil Kelly Co., a Portland home-remodeling business.

Budget: $2 million ($130 per square foot)

Construction: 1999 to 2000.

The Pitch: Maximum exposure to sunlight, low-flow water fixtures to cut use by 20 percent; and efficiency measures to reduce energy consumption by 40 percent.

The backstory: Viridian Place, which means “going to green,” was a work in progress when the LEED standards came out. Portland-based Green Building Services, then a division of Portland General Electric, was looking for projects to showcase its sustainable design skills. Viridian’s owners, including Tom Kelly, president of Neil Kelly Co., jumped at the chance.

Viridian Place qualified for LEED at the “certified” level, the lowest of the four LEED levels since many of the design choices had already been made.

Lesson learned No. 1: Sourcing green building materials was tough in the early days, Tom Kelly said. That’s changed as sustainability has gained acceptance, but as the first of its kind, necessity was the mother of invention.

Lesson learned No. 2: Daylight sounds great until sunbeams flash across computer screens.

What worked: Kelly appreciates the energy savings and the caché that comes with owing and occupying the region’s first LEED project, which remains a magnet for designers. “We had people look at that building from all over the world,” Kelly said.

Would he do it again? Yes. “If we were to do another Neil Kelly building someplace, I would love to do a Living Building Challenge. I’m one of those people who likes to pioneer things.”

Clackamas High School, 14486 S.E. 122nd Ave., Clackamas

LEED Award: Dec. 2, 2003, “silver” level.

The project: 265,355-square-foot high school for North Clackamas School District.

Budget: $30.95 million ($116 per square foot)

The pitch: Extensive day lighting, on-site water management, wetlands preserved, native landscaping, 44 percent reduction in energy use, electrical vehicle recharging stations in parking lot.

Construction: 2000 to 2002

The backstory: The officials involved with constructing the North Clackamas School District’s third high school aren’t around any more. The current administration loves the building, but said many of the highly touted green systems were too complicated.

Biggest disappointment: Clackamas High should be the most energy-efficient high school in North Clackamas. It isn’t. The power bill for Putnam High School, circa 1963, was $1.03 per square foot in 2009, eight cents less than Clackamas High School and 31 cents less than much-older Milwaukie High School.

Can it be fixed? No. After numerous efforts to fine-tune the mechanical systems, the district concluded Clackamas is as efficient as it’s going to get.

Other disappointments: The daylighting controls were too complex and “over-designed,” said Ron Stewart, assistant superintendent for operations. Also, Clackamas High was supposed to have electrical vehicle charging stations in the parking lot. They were never installed.

What works well: “It’s a beautiful building. It’s a great building. But the energy savings have not been what was anticipated,” Stewart said.

Would North Clackamas do another LEED project? Not exactly. The district uses LEED’s sustainable design criteria to guide its building projects, but doesn’t seek formal certification. It has completed $170 million in capital projects in the past 39 months. None are LEED-rated.

Jean Vollum Natural Capital Center, 721 N.W. Ninth Ave., Portland

LEED Award: Dec. 12, 2001, “gold” level.

The project: Redevelopment of old warehouse into a 70,000-square-foot mixed use office and retail complex.

Budget: $12.4 million ($177 per square foot)

Construction: 1999 to 2001

The pitch: On-site storm water management, 16 percent water use reduction, 22 percent energy use reduction, extensive use of natural light, 98 percent reuse of construction debris, extensive reliance on public transportation.

The backstory: The project was named for Ecotrust founder Jean Vollum, the benefactor whose money purchased the building. It is best known as the “Ecotrust Building.” Tenants include Hot Lips Pizza, Patagonia, Cascadia Region Green Building Council, the Certified Forest Products Council, the Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, the Pearl Clinic and Pharmacy and a recent arrival, Laughing Planet Cafe.

The Ecotrust building was designed to serve as the green capital of Portland, and does.

Lesson learned No. 1: The building includes incubator space for green-oriented operations. Growing businesses quickly outgrew their quarters.

Lesson learned No. 2: Ecotrust boasted the first commercially installed waterless urinals in Oregon. To work, the cartridges that channel waste to the sewer line must be changed often. Really often.

What works well: The building is meeting its energy goals, according to a study conducted by the Cascadia group. “We’re running an amazingly energy-efficient building that is helping us as owners save energy,” said Sydney Mead, a LEED-accredited professional and director of events and programs for Ecotrust.

Would it do another LEED project? Yes. “We talk about the building being the physical manifestation of our mission,” said Mead, who adds that the cost premium has dropped to perhaps 1 percent over traditional construction costs. “Almost anymore you have to have a reason not to.”

Balfour-Guthrie Building, 733 S.W. Oak St., Portland

LEED Award: March 10, 2003, “silver” level.

The project: Transform a 19,470-square-foot historic warehouse into a sun-lit two-story office suited to architects.

The backstory: The four principals of Thomas Hacker Architecture and a developer-partner set out to transform the warehouse into office space it could use. The building, constructed in 1913, was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Aug. 1, 2002, which severely limited changes to its appearance and windows. Thomas Hacker enlisted staff architect Alex Lungershausen to design the project.

Budget: $3 million, including a $318,000 loan from the Oregon Department of Energy and $50,000 in Business Energy Tax Credits.

The pitch: Daylight the basement, 20 percent reduction in energy use, 30 percent reduction in water use and healthy indoor air quality.

The results: The building achieved a 40 percent energy reduction, twice the level expected. “We were within reach of LEED ‘gold.’ If we had known about the energy savings, I think we would have gone for it,” Lungershausen said.

By taking care to use no formaldehyde or VOC-containing products, Thomas Hacker Architects recorded a notable reduction in absenteeism after it moved from its old building.

Lesson learned No. 1: Sustainable design was in its infancy when the Balfour-Guthrie project launched. Sometimes, there just weren’t products available to meet its needs, such as a zero-VOC sealer for the concrete floors. Lungershauser used no-VOC wood sealer to achieve the desired effect. “It worked fine,” he said.

Lesson learned No. 2: If you’re going to turn a basement into a work area, you have to find a way to get daylight into the space. At Balfour-Guthrie, a 900-square-foot hole in the floor transformed the lower floor into an atrium like space.

Would it do a LEED project again? Yes, LEED has become the firm’s signature. “Almost every project we do is LEED, or LEED-equivalent.”

Trick question: What was it like to design a building for four architects who own your company? “It became this joke: I didn’t leave. My relationship with my principals stayed good,” said Lungershauser, who then paused and admitted that corralling his bosses for project meetings “was sort of like chasing kittens.”