City of Portland (OR) Uses JOC to Clear Land for Affordable Housing

Problem: Unused Water Tower Thwarts City’s Housing Plan

Leaders in the City of Portland, Oregon, are on a mission to create more affordable housing, alleviating a local shortage, and offering stable and safe living conditions for working-class families. In addition to better lives for homeowners, the city anticipates that more housing will help stimulate the local economy by attracting businesses to the area, creating more employment opportunities. In essence, the City of Portland seeks to create a virtuous cycle – more homes, more jobs, more safety – uplifting the entire community.  

The city even owned the perfect plot of land on which to build, an area of Menlo Park, but there was one thing standing in the way of its noble aims: An unused water tower.

Eager to make the city’s affordable housing initiative a reality, the Portland Water Bureau (PWB) needed a way to quickly demolish and remove the obsolete tower.

Solution: Gordian’s Job Order Contracting (JOC) Clears the Path

To rid Menlo Park of the water tower and make space for affordable housing, the City of Portland turned to Gordian’s Job Order Contracting (JOC). A unique construction procurement solution that allows for many projects to be completed with one contract, JOC significantly accelerates the time to construction. This speed is built on JOC’s efficient approach to solicitation.

Rather than following a long, often complex bid solicitation process for project after project, with JOC, owners solicit bids one time on a Unit Price Book, or UPB. UPBs are filled with construction costs to which contractors apply a multiplier called an Adjustment Factor that represents their overhead and profit, among other costs. This bid applies to any project an organization completes with JOC, and in this way satisfies competitive bidding requirements for the length of the contract.

Completing this work one-time and up-front means project owners and awarded contractors can spend less time on bids and more time on builds.

“We chose the JOC process as it made the most sense for us to demolish this tank,” explains Tom Klutz, Property Acquisition and Services Manager for the Portland Water Bureau. “I believe it was the first completed JOC project for the PWB. Working with Gordian Account Manager Gus Schultz and Swinerton Project Engineer Adan Vazquez made the process even easier. If given another project like this, I would not hesitate to use the same process with JOC.”

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Result: Goodbye, Menlo Park Water Tower

Swinerton, a contractor with a national reach and a local presence in Portland, began demolishing the Menlo Park Water Tower in mid-February 2024. They disassembled the tower from the top down, using a crane to remove sections of it at a time.

“If given another project like this, I would not hesitate to use the same process with JOC.”

Tom Klutz, Portland Water Bureau Property Acquisition and Services Manager

The $287,394 project was finished on March 2, roughly two weeks after it began. With the space quickly cleared and the work expertly completed, the City of Portland has taken a significant step toward addressing its affordable housing needs. The site had already seen infrastructure updates with the construction of a new well in 2020, part of the city’s broader effort to diversify its water supply. While the exact number and type of housing units planned for the site have not yet been disclosed, the project reflects the city’s commitment to repurposing underutilized land for community benefit.

PWB’s Tom Klutz sums up the broader impact of the tower’s removal thusly: “This project exemplifies the call to action during a time when emergency housing is critical to our citizens. The Water Bureau had a surplus property. The Housing Bureau had a connection to building affordable housing. The two bureaus, using Gordian’s Job Order Contracting, came together to demolish an old, high-rise tank to make this community connection happen. This partnership was one of the most fulfilling projects I’ve had the privilege to work on.”