| Owner | Blanchet House of Hospitality |
| Location | Portland, Oregon |
| Size | 36,410 sf structure |
| Finance | New Market Tax Credits, Portland Housing Bureau Grants, Bank Financing, Owner Equity |
| Architect | SERA Architects |
| Contractor | Fortis Construction |
April 2012 | On schedule and in progress, the Blanchet House is under way. The north side brick is almost complete and the windows have been started. The south side has scaffolding erected for brick and stucco work. Both the east and west sides are protected from the rain. The boiler room is almost complete as well.
Feburary 2012 | The Blanchet House is making great progress with a lot of action the last two weeks. You can now see the scaffold on the south side that was installed. This will be used to install exterior finishes. Infill concrete block and roof parapet metal framing are new this month.Shoring of the floors is almost completely removed. Concrete block infill is almost complete. Sheet metal is being installed and water lines and drains are going in. Electrical main panels are set and main conduit runs are going in along with basement mechanical. Parapet walls at the second floor and roof are going up. The average number of workers on site is running between 25 and 30 per day.
January 2012 | Due to great weather conditions and a top notch construction crew, good progress has been made through January on the new Blanchet House of Hospitality. Only two days were lost to excessive rain and those have been made up by working overtime. So far, the completion schedule is still on track. Concrete work is complete through the third floor and forms for the fourth floor are now being set. The electrical panels and mechanical systems are being delivered and set in place in early February for the basement. Drain lines and plumbing are being installed in the basement, and pipe hangers are going in on the first floor. If the weather holds, the final concrete work for the roof structure will be completed in mid-February .
December 2011 | December 2011 | The second floor deck was poured on November 30th, and it is anticipated that the third floor will be poured on December 22nd. Sanitary and storm sewers have been connected to the city system, and the domestic water hook up will occur later in December. Permanent gas and electricity service will be connected early in 2012.
November 2011 | The new Blanchet House of Hospitality is well under way. Foundations are poured and back-filled, and the first floor concrete deck was poured the first week of November. Thanks to good foresight, favorable weather, a little luck, and a quality project team, the project is on schedule and within budget. Our anticipated completion date is still tracking to be the first part of August 2012.
The tower crane was set the last week of October and has been the most visible sign of an active development. Also at the end of October, contractor Fortis Construction had logged over 7,000 hours of subcontractor time on the job. At this point, themarch skyward will occur relatively quickly with each floor taking about six weeks to form, pour, and cure. Once a floor has cured, the finishes will follow closely behind. Stay tuned for periodic construction updates.
October 2011 | Forming and pouring of the basement walls went well along with the added work required to construct the basement rainwater storage tank. In this picture, the crew is setting forms for the first floor.
September 2011 | Very little contaminated soil was found when excavating and that was separated and sent to a registered dump site. Soil is mostly a mix of clay sand that cut well to form the foundation grade and needed very little shoring except on the north and south side.
August 2011 | Demolition of the Dirty Duck took place this month. Recycled materials from the demo process include metal pipe, sheet metal, iron I beams, used bricks and wood timbers. The wood timbers are being made into furniture for the Blanchet House.
View images from the September 15, 2011 Construction Kickoff event