Behind the Scenes with PDX Airport Duty Manager Brian Burk
Thursday, December 31, 2020
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Timeline
A new purpose for Terminal 2
With an abundance of breakbulk cargo terminals along the lower Columbia River between the ocean and Portland, the Port began to consider whether Terminal 2, located on the Willamette River, should continue serving as a marine terminal. Multiple studies confirmed it: T2 was no longer needed for breakbulk cargo.
Instead, the terminal would provide the greatest economic benefit – meaning it creates quality jobs for the people who live and work in our region, and opportunities for rural and urban businesses – if redeveloped as an industrial park or manufacturing hub, especially given the short supply of industrial land in the Portland area.
Finding possibility in mass timber
Wildfires devastated rural Oregon, wiping out thousands of homes and increasing the region’s urgent need for more affordable housing – and sparked new collaboration between state and Port employees, who create an informal network to provide housing for fire victims.
Meanwhile, at PDX, we were bringing together partners from across the region to construct a new airport roof made of mass timber. Designed and built in the Pacific Northwest, with materials supplied by 40 Oregon and Washington landowners, mills and fabricators, the new 9-acre airport roof changed the region’s idea of what’s possible. Some of the wood was even harvested to reduce the impact of wildfires.
The PDX roof was just the beginning.
Create a coalition to do something big
The next step was to formalize partnerships that had started taking root, leading to the formation of the Oregon Mass Timber Coalition. Our goal was – and is – to create a regional hub for innovation and mass timber industry growth through sustainable design, manufacturing and housing construction.
Coalition members include the Port of Portland, Oregon Department of Forestry, Business Oregon, Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development, University of Oregon, Oregon State University, and TallWood Design Institute.
EDA funding kick-starts plans for a mass timber modular factory
Another EDA grant enabled the Oregon Mass Timber Coalition to launch a comprehensive strategy for expanding the mass timber housing market.
Funding targeted coalition projects across the state, from fire and acoustical testing of mass timber products for use in multifamily housing, to wildfire reduction and sustainable, traceable wood harvesting in regional forests, to developing the workforce training needed for new jobs in an emerging industry. It also provided funding for the Port to begin site preparation at Terminal 2.
Transforming a longtime marine terminal this way requires a lot of planning, investment and infrastructure work before construction of new buildings can begin. We started identifying partners to help build and operate a new mass timber and housing manufacturing factory, and working with Mackenzie, a local firm, on high-level master plans to guide ongoing development.
Demonstrating mass timber’s promise for housing
One of our early partners was Hacienda Community Development Corporation, a local nonprofit that built six prototype homes from mass timber at T2. The Mass Casitas pilot project, funded in part by $5 million from the 2023 Oregon Legislature, not only provided homes for families in Madras, Talent, Otis and Portland. It demonstrated that mass timber modular construction can provide a quicker, more efficient and cost-effective way to build housing.
Around the same time, the Port also began leasing space to modomi, a Portland-based company specializing in sustainable modular housing, and modomi began renovating an old warehouse into a modular housing manufacturing facility.
Campus plans take shape
Two years of plans started to become reality with multiple anchor tenants announced for the campus.
The Port approved leases with the University of Oregon for a new mass timber acoustics laboratory, along with Zaugg Timber Solutions, which took
over the warehouse renovated by modomi to create a temporary mass timber manufacturing facility. With plans for a permanent mass timber modular
factory at T2 as well, Zaugg began efforts to build an interim modular manufacturing facility and recruit for its training program in Switzerland.
Throughout all this excitement, we continued working out costs and plans for making sure soil is stable for future construction at the campus, and securing additional federal funding for developing critical infrastructure.
What’s next
When complete, the 39-acre Mass Timber and Housing Innovation Campus at T2 will include manufacturing, research and development, skills training, and incubator space for small and emerging businesses.
In 2025-26, we’ll work on soil stabilization and critical campus-wide infrastructure improvements. We’ll also work with University of Oregon as they undergo design and permitting for their new acoustics lab – expected to begin construction in 2026 and open in 2027 – and finalize plans with Zaugg for a new, permanent mass timber modular factory to open in early 2028. Zaugg will begin producing mass timber modular housing units, industrial and commercial buildings, and prefabricated mass timber building components even sooner, as early as 2026, in their interim facility.
And we’ll continue collaborating with partners to make sure workers are prepared for the new, high-quality jobs in the emerging mass timber industry.