Street Roots – Portland’s non-profit weekly newspaper focused on local social justice and environmental causes – is redeveloping the historic Wax Building located at 3rd Ave. and  West Burnside in Old Town to serve as their new headquarters.

Under contract to O’Neill Construction Group, Westlake supported redevelopment efforts with 3D laser scanning to capture as-built existing conditions data, and conventional surveying services. This detailed scanning and survey data to provide accurate representation of the structural elements of the building for O’Neill Construction and the other specialty consultants working on this adaptive reuse project.

Our initial scope of work goal was to support seismic retrofitting of the wood structural beams in the basement (which are being replaced with steel) and provide as-built conditions of the building interior (basement, first and second floors), exterior walls, and rooftop. However, review of scan data immediately showed that the walls and floors of the building were not plumb.

Our team was asked to also support Holst by providing scan data to verify architectural drawings. Our 3D scanning specialist brought the scan data directly into the architectural plans to compare the drawings with actual conditions/as-builts. This allowed verification and updating of the architectural drawings to reflect real world data. Westlake also completed conventional surveying of the site, tied in the scan data, and overlaid the architectural drawings for use by the architect.

The scan data also revealed a surprise not shown in the drawings – a hidden foundation pour. The Wax Building connects to the adjacent building, so a shared foundation needed to be poured during the 1926 construction process. This revelation helped the architect adjust their drawings early in the process.

For those interested in the history of Portland, the Wax Building stands out as the longtime home for The United Clothing Company which served as an anchor for the Old Town neighborhood in the first decades of the 20th century. Founded by Frohman Wax (nicknamed “the Mayor of Old Town”), the store catered to loggers and laborers from around the Pacific Northwest, selling a wide selection of work clothing and supplies. United Clothing finally closed in 1990.

We are proud to help preserve a piece of Portland history and to be a part of wider efforts to revitalize Portland’s Old Town neighborhood. Project construction is estimated to be complete in November 2023. If you would like to learn more about this project or Street Roots, check out the following links: https://holstarc.com/news/holst-designs-new-street-roots-headquarters-in-old-town   Home (streetrootsnewhome.org).

A link to a video demonstrating our team’s scanning data follows: 219 W Burnside Scan Video.