Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

• Living Cully outreach to neighboring communities

• Project team training
• Architectural programming phase with users
• Site development planning phase

• Schematic design phase

• Design development phase

• Construction documents phase

• Permitting phase

• Site preparation
• Contaminated soil removal
• Underground utilities

• Concrete footings and foundations
• Timber frame erection
• Structural steel erection
• Public underground utilities

• Exterior wall erection
• Building dry in
• Exterior cladding completion
• Begin interior framing
• Begin MEP rough-in

• Complete MEP
• Begin interior finishes
• Continue underground utilities

• Complete finishes
• MEP commissioning and testing
• Complete underground utilities and site light
• Site landscape work
• Site furnishing install
• Interior furniture install

• Close-out for the project
• Users move-in

The new Opportunity Center at 42nd Avenue is scheduled to open by summer 2023.

The Opportunity Center at 42nd Avenue is one of several Portland Community College centers, in addition to the college’s four comprehensive campuses, within PCC’s five-county district service area. Purchased in 1998, the facility serves as one of PCC’s two Workforce Centers.

PCC teams with the State Department of Human Services, WorkSource, and other local community-based organizations to provide skills development and career services at the center. Workshops, one-on-one assistance, weekly job fairs, and other hiring events are regularly offered. The new center will be a centralized hub connecting employers and community members to PCC. Individuals curious about education, training, and careers can enter the Opportunity Center at 42nd Avenue to explore possibilities, identify PCC programs that will prepare them for their career goals, and develop the skills they need to be successful.

The Opportunity Center at 42nd Avenue can be reached at (971) 722-2000, or visit the Opportunity Center at 42nd Avenue webpage.

The Opportunity Center at 42nd Avenue will continue operations in its current building until the new building is complete, at which time services will switch to the new building. Parking capacity and routing to the Opportunity Center at 42nd Avenue may be impacted at various times during construction. The current services available in the building will not be interrupted.

The Opportunity Center at 42nd Avenue project will have a dust prevention plan that will include fences, water trucks, and other techniques to minimize the impact of dust on our neighbors. The project will have a radon mitigation system if it is deemed necessary. Overall construction plans will ensure that workers and occupants of the building are safe.

The new Opportunity Center at 42nd Avenue will be a two-story building, approximately 30-feet tall. The primary entrance will be on NE Killingsworth Street. It will meet or exceed LEED Silver in its sustainability elements. The design is intended to complement the surrounding neighborhood and include active uses on the first floor.

The plans include a plaza accessed from NE Killingsworth Street. This space was designed in response to the community outreach and feedback obtained throughout the project.

Approximately one acre of PCC’s three-acre site will be leased long-term to Home Forward for affordable housing development. It is estimated that approximately 85 units will be built ranging in size from studios to three bedrooms. PCC will not own or operate the housing facility but will maintain ownership of the land. The residential units will be available to the general community. PCC will encourage students and clients of the Opportunity Center at 42nd Avenue to apply for housing units as they come available. Some highlights of the affordable housing development are:

• 85 apartments (18 studios, six one-bedroom, 46 two-bedroom, and 15 three-bedroom units);
• 4,500 square feet of commercial space for community-based organizations; and
• two outdoor courtyards for residents.

The construction of the housing units will start in early 2023 and is expected to be completed in fall 2024.

A mix of families and single residents who meet Home Forward’s affordable housing criteria will live in the housing units.

A parking lot with about 80 spaces for the Opportunity Center at 42nd Avenue and Home Forward will be located in the northwest section of the site. Access to the parking lot will be from 42nd Avenue.

The design team is making decisions in a number of different ways. They are using information gathered before design began to understand the wants and needs of the surrounding community. PCC partnered with Living Cully to engage the surrounding community in a six-month outreach effort. The input gathered from door-to-door canvassing, focus groups and a large open house informed the design team on what residents liked about their neighborhood and what they would like to see at the Opportunity Center at 42nd Avenue. During the design stages, meetings and workshops were held with Opportunity Center at 42nd Avenue clients and staff to understand how the new building can better support the work they do. Once the global pandemic started, those meetings moved from in-person to virtual.

A project management team meets regularly to guide the design review process. The information gathered in the workshops, focus groups, and meetings actively informs the design team and influences how the new Opportunity Center at 42nd Avenue should function for the people using it, as well as the community members living nearby.

PCC mandates that all its new buildings be LEED Silver or better. The college strives to use environmentally friendly materials and practices, as well as create a comfortable interior environment. Some of the sustainable highlights in the new PCC facility are:

• a projected operational energy use reduction that is more than 40 percent better than the state energy code;
• a selection of healthy building materials that prioritize interior and exterior materials that are free of harmful chemicals and have a low-carbon footprint;
• onsite renewable energy production via a rooftop photovoltaic array, also known as solar panels; and
• an infrastructure that reduces single-occupancy vehicles, such as teleconference capabilities and secure, covered bicycle parking.

The project team includes representatives from PCC, as well as BORA Architecture & Interiors, the architecture firm on the project, and Andersen Construction Company.

PCC has a goal of 20 percent utilization rate of minority, women, emerging small business, and veteran disabled-owned firms on our construction projects, with no more than 14 percent from emerging small businesses. PCC’s workforce diversity targets the participation of 20 percent minorities and 15 percent women in construction. Additionally, the college requires that 20 percent of labor hours for apprenticeable trades must be performed by apprentices.

Currently, 42 percent of this project’s design budget is committed to registered firms with Oregon’s Certification Office for Business Inclusion and Diversity (COBID). The project contractor, Andersen Construction, will make every effort to reach, and if possible exceed, its goals for training and hiring a diverse workforce.