Oregon Sustainability Center gets green light from city

Enlarge Image

Artist rendering of the Oregon Sustainability Center

The Oregon Sustainability Center has cleared a major hurdle. The Portland City Council on Wednesday unanimously passed a resolution agreeing to become a financial partner in the project, share some of the risk and buy a condo-like share in the building to be leased by the city’s Bureau of Planning and Sustainability.

In addition, Oregon’s congressional delegation — Rep. David Wu, D-Ore was in attendance — announced a $300,000 earmark, included in the U.S. Senate Energy and Water bill, to support the OSC.

The team working on the project, including government leaders, building design and development professionals and companies including Intel Corp. and GE, will move forward with schematic plans, at a cost of $900,000. The city and the Oregon University System will pay for the work, contributing $450,000 each. OSC officials will come back to the city with a more specific plan and budget by January, at which time the council will again vote on whether to move the project forward.

"Sustainability has served us well. It has reaped economic development benefits," said City Commissioner Dan Saltzman, who had previously voiced concerns about the OSC. "This is just the type of ambitious project we should be taking on, but failure is not an option. We have to ask the hard questions."

The OSC has been in the works for several years and aims to set an example by being the first high-rise "living building," an emerging designation for buildings that produce all the energy they need, recycle water and use locally produced, low-impact products during construction. The building will be jointly occupied by the Oregon University System, the City of Portland and a coalition of nonprofits.

According to projections, the 150,000-square-foot OSC is slated to cost $75.4 million. To date, project financing falls $8.5 million short of that number. In addition to office space, the OSC would include an exhibit center to showcase what’s being billed as the first net-zero energy, water and waste building.

Officials estimate that the construction costs will be $420 per square foot. That's 22 percent higher than the $350-per-square-foot average construction cost for a comparably sized LEED Gold building. They project 1,300 jobs will be created.

City Commissioner Nick Fish, who worked this week with Mayor Sam Adams on the council resolution to address some of Saltzman’s financial concerns, cautioned that the OSC shouldn’t be considered a real estate investment.

"This is an economic development play with a real estate component," Fish said.

Eleven representatives from the business and education sectors testified on behalf of the project, including Intel's Scott Shull, who promised support for the project.

"There are risks," he said. "But Intel can introduce you to people to help you manage those risks."