Developers hope White Stag is gold
Project reuses beams and bricks to earn its ecofriendly credibility

By Anne Marie Distefano
Pamlin Media Group

The landmark neon of the White Stag sign continues to blink on and off over the Burnside Bridge, while major changes take place in the buildings below. When the University of Oregon and other tenants move in, in February 2008, the completed development will be a showcase for green design.

The goal, says job manager Erica Ceder, of the architecture firm Fletcher Farr Ayotte, is to earn LEED Gold certification. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, and the LEED Green Building Rating System is the national standard for rating ecofriendly structures.

The U.S. Green Building Council, which administers the rating system, is a nonprofit founded in 1993 to address a growing need for consistent standards in green building. LEED requirements are a set of measurable qualities that define what it means to be green.

“LEED is actually a system that is becoming more and more popular and more common,” Ceder says. Beyond basic certification, a building can achieve silver, gold or platinum status, based on a point system.

The White Stage Block consists of three historic buildings, all of which were built before 1910. The White Stag building, named for one-time tenant White Stag clothing, has been vacant for many years. It will be connected to the neighboring Bickel and Skidmore buildings to create a single complex.

One recent morning, workers knocked bricks one by one from a half-demolished wall, and tossed them into a pile. Much of the brick removed during demolition is being reused in other parts of the building, Ceder says.

The same is true of massive wooden beams that were removed from a mezzanine and other locations inside the buildings.

Material that can’t be reused within the building is recycled. Doors and windows go to the ReBuilding Center (3625 N. Mississippi Ave.) and eventually new homes. Drywall and other materials go to contractors who can reuse them. So far, the construction team has managed to recycle 99 percent of construction waste.

Only recently, Ceder says, has this level of reuse become possible. “It’s getting easier to do,” she says, and gives LEED some of the credit. LEED guidelines are beginning to have an impact, nationally, on the installers and manufacturers of products such as drywall, carpet and ceiling tile. There’s a market advantage for companies that accept and recycle used materials.

Ceder explains: “The more architects that specify green materials, the more pressure gets put on manufacturers to provide that kind of service.”

State and regional governments across the country are beginning to require LEED certification for their projects.

The Portland Development Commission requires that all projects it helps fund be LEED-certified, the lowest level of accreditation. The team involved in developing the White Stag Block has chosen to exceed that requirement.

Art DeMuro, president of Venerable Properties, the developer of the White Stag Block, also credits future tenants for helping achieve the gold standard.

The University of Oregon and another tenant, United Fund Advisors, help cover the upfront cost of the upgrades. And United Fund Advisors is paying for solar panels that will go on the roof of the White Stag building.

Reusing whole building helps

To make old buildings conform to green standards is a challenge, especially when those buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Oregon’s State Historic Preservation Office had to approve the replacements for a huge bank of glass and steel factory windows that looked out on the Burnside Bridge.

The vintage windows were full of character — and leaks. Designers were able to find new windows with small, black-framed panes that had the right look, and also were thermally sound.

But existing buildings also have certain advantages in the LEED point system. Ceder says, “In many ways, that’s one of the most sustainable ways to go, because you’re using a lot of existing resources, rather than mining virgin resources or adding to landfills with more construction waste.”

Increasing urban density, adding to existing infrastructure, and being located on public transportation routes are all pluses. In other words, achieving a LEED rating doesn’t start with construction; it starts even earlier, with the siting of the building.

And the LEED criteria continue to affect every stage of a project. Ceder says, “It’s a pretty important component because it informs a lot of the design decisions and really affects how you move forward.”

With the White Stag Block, she says, her team was able to keep a lot of the existing shell of the buildings. For the exterior, she says, “We’ve spent most of our energy in restoring what was already there rather than putting new things up.”

This included removing a wall that covered the original facade of the Bickel building and restoring the ornate scrollwork on 1880s cast-iron pillars.

Educational element’s needed

When it rains on the completed White Stage Block, water will be collected from the roof and funneled into a storage tank in the basement of the building. That water will be used to flush toilets.

New materials for the building are purchased locally when possible, and include carpets with recycled content, “rapidly renewable” natural materials such as bamboo and cork, and cabinets made of wheatboard instead of plywood. Skylights will let in natural light.

There will be 85 bicycle parking spaces inside the building, along with a shower and changing room, and more public bike parking outside. Venerable Properties has a two-year contract in place to purchase “green power” from Portland General Electric.

The final requirement of a LEED building is an educational component, so the people who use the building know why and how it is green. That feature has yet to be finalized.

Earning LEED Gold is not as expensive as it was even five years ago, Ceder says. Still, the costs are significant — Venerable Properties sets the price tag for building to gold certification at $850,000, or 2.8 percent of the total budget.

Though there is unquestionably a long-term return, exact figures are hard to come by at this stage of the game.

“A lot of things pay for themselves, eventually,” Ceder notes — tangible savings come from systems such as solar panels and rainwater collection. Other financial returns are harder to measure, such as the appeal of the building to future neighbors, tenants and the community.

“Right now we’re really just operating on faith,” DeMuro, the developer, says.

Another big question, in many minds, is what will become of the famous White Stag sign. That has yet to be decided, according to Darryl Paulsen, president and owner of Ramsay Signs, which leases the sign to the Made in Oregon gift shop company.

In his words, the future of the icon remains “up in the air.”

annemariedistefano@portlandtribune.com

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