Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

PCC construction brings first break to landscape grad

Photos and Story by James Hill

by James HillTo Mike Kolodziejczak, this seems like old times. Well, that’s because it is.The New Growth Landscape owner is in the midst of a four-month $500,000 landscape installation at Portland Community College’s new Southeast Center on 82nd Avenue and Division Street. Kolodziejczak is a PCC Landscape Technology graduate and is thrilled to be working on a project for the college. He worked his way through school while employed at large landscape firms such as Cedar Landscape and Teufel Nursery Inc."I owe a lot to PCC,"Kolodziejczak said. "The courses were outstanding, and the instructors were invaluable. It’s kind of ironic, I went out on my own and now I have a $500,000 job for PCC."He earned an associate’s degree in the early 1990s and is now a certified landscape technician and a licensed landscape contractor. The new center, designed by Portland firm Yost Grube Hall, will provide residents in outer southeast Portland greater access to higher education. Approximately 1,400 more students will be able to take classes at the larger center. The $19 million, 95,000 square-foot center is targeted to open in winter of 2004.This is by far his company’s biggest job to date. During the course of year, he may get 15 to 20 jobs but nothing to this scale, magnitude or skill. The Beaverton company, established in April of 2002, employs 17 people and specializes in commercial installation as well as a resident and commercial tree service.The Chicago native, who spent summers as a kid helping his dad on landscape projects, says the most demanding aspect of his new and emerging business is job flow. "Keeping people busy has been the biggest challenge,"he said. "We haven’t experienced many slow downs during these bad economic times. So I figure if we can succeed in this climate, we’ll be even better off when things are good."At the new center, the company is installing a computer controlled irrigation system. This involves placing 4,500 cubic yards of specialized soil that filters the water as it seeps into the underground runoff canals. They will also install filtration islands that are designed to catch and clean the water as it heads on into the storm drains."With the huge amount of expansion and renovation going on, to accomplish a job of this magnitude will put us on the map,"he said. "The stringent specification and demanding schedule will make this the crowning jewel for us."The design by architects Yost Grube Hall for the new PCC Southeast Center incorporates sustainable design concepts and utilizes existing resources to the highest degree possible. Landscape plays a key role in the center’s sustainable design. Indigenous materials are used throughout and specialized plantings facilitate storm water treatment.The design concept also includes renovation of an existing structure, re-using existing paving and dry wells and applying natural infiltration systems for storm water control. Kolodziejczak’s favorite aspect of landscaping work is always the end. "Being able to see the finished project and having a happy client,"he said. "To work on a project of this scope and complexity, wouldn’t have been possible without PCC training."