White Stag Block - UO Portland

The White Stag Block was a seminal project in Jessica’s early career when she worked for Art DeMuro and Craig Kelly at Venerable Group.  This project rehabilitated and integrated three separate historic buildings into one complex for the University of Oregon’s Portland campus. The building had been largely unoccupied for the prior 20 years and two of the buildings were in significant disrepair.  A full seismic upgrade, all new building systems, and a significant rehabilitation of the building envelope were required. The age and collective disrepair of the buildings ultimately meant a very complicated and demanding project. The challenges for this project were heightened by the fact that the buildings were each built separately with differing floor levels, presenting many hurdles to allow the complex to function as one building.

As contributing resources in the Skidmore Old Town National Historic Landmark District, the project was eligible for the 20% Historic Tax Credit and Oregon’s Special Assessment of Historic Property Program.  Issues such as the removal of failing historic plaster, decrepit staircases, and certain measures to modernize these old industrial buildings required skilled negotiations with the National Park Service.  Venerable and UO set out to achieve LEED Gold with this project, requiring a high level of coordination and sensitivity when it came to adding green-building infrastructure to these historic buildings.

In addition to assisting Art DeMuro with the overall management of the project, Jessica was specifically in charge of closing $34M in Historic Tax Credit and New Markets Tax Credit debt and equity and all historic reviews.

This project won numerous awards including a Timmy Award for the best sustainable historic rehabilitation in the United States.