News
http://www.sustainablebusinessoregon.com/articles/2010/04/oregon_sustainability_center_turns_to_corporations_for_financial_help.html
Backers of Portland's planned Oregon Sustainability Center want corporations to make up for a funding gap.
The corporate money would add to the estimated $93 million needed to build what city officials hope will become a national sustainability hub. The center, at Portland State University, would house 725 office tenants and provide educational programs and research opportunities to 1,400 students and faculty members.
Leaders of the Portland + Oregon Sustainability Institute, the nonprofit group that will oversee the center's construction, have pitched private funding and other partnerships to Intel Corp., Portland General Electric Co., SolarWorld and Sanyo North American Corp. They also plan to meet with Portland-based Benson Industries, a metal product fabricator.
Though construction costs are $93 million, the institute hopes to raise as much as $120 million. The additional money would fund research and educational programs.
Throughout the two-plus year planning process, backers have faced questions over the center's cost. Planners have already scaled back the building's design, shrinking it by as much as 70,000 square feet. Originally, the design called for a 220,000-square-foot structure.
The institute could slash another $10 million from the project's construction costs.
Center planners scaled back after the weak economy discouraged potential tenants from leasing space in the building.
If companies contribute money, they could use the center's research facilities to test and commercialize products.
"It's really important we build partnerships with major companies in this space that support our work," said Rob Bennett, the institute's executive director.
Representatives from Intel and SolarWorld were receptive to the corporate fundraising idea.
"It's a project we're curious and enthusiastic about," said Ben Santarris, a Hillsboro-based SolarWorld spokesman. "We'll lend support where we can in terms of supporting appropriations for it and also helping with ideas for designing the models."
The Oregon Sustainability Center would help university researchers study "net-zero" building technologies. Net-zero buildings create and distribute as much energy as they burn. The center would also research water usage and material recycling.
The Oregon University System has approved $80 million in public bonds for the center. The Portland Development Commission, through tax-increment financing, will kick in another $6 million.
The sustainability institute is waiting to hear back on several federal grant applications. It did not receive one hoped-for grant, for $15 million, from the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Bennett also wants to collect $7 million from individual and foundation fundraising drives.
Any extra money, from corporate partners and grants, could help mitigate the building's anticipated high rent. Critics note that building operators would need to charge between $31 and $34 per square foot in rent. Portland's Class A office spaces command roughly $25 per square foot.
One potential tenant, Portland-based Pivotal Investments, won't pay more than $20 per square foot for office space.
"It's really cool, we'd love to be in it, but we need to be able to afford it," said Pivotal managing director Gregg Semler, whose firm makes sustainable industry investments. "It would be the most expensive building in Portland. If they build it, they need to make it price-competitive, because that's what being green is all about."
While the corporate partnerships could reduce the center's rent, the arrangements would also draw public scrutiny. Even though the building is constructed with public funds, companies could nonetheless demand that any research done within the building remains confidential.
"You just want the understanding that everyone's on the same page," said Mike Russo, a University of Oregon sustainable management professor. "You want to make sure there's a lot of sunshine being applied, so that the relationships and expectations are very transparent here."
SolarWorld, for instance, would want its research protected.
"Any time we're talking about research and development, we'd try to preserve it regardless of under what roof we did it," Santarris said. "That's where our value is."
Bennett, two city officials and five other center advocates will visit Paris next week to study a business partnership that's similar to what Portland supporters could implement.
The Paris trip will cost taxpayers $16,000. The price covers travel for two Portland Development Commission project managers and two sustainability center designers.
The Portland group hopes to discuss corporate partnership arrangements with Siemens AG and Phillips Corp., part of the Paris project consortium.
Intel organized the Portlanders' trip to France.
"We're interested in contributing any expertise we can," said Lorie Wigle, general manager of Intel's eco-technology programs. "If the circumstances worked out, it would be a great way of testing some of the technologies we're working on."
Intel hasn't decided whether to contribute finances to the Portland project, Wigle added.
The sustainability institute will finalize the center's design this summer. Once funding levels and sources are confirmed, construction could begin by early 2011.
