The 80s: McGarrigle and Knauf Join the Firm
After 10 years of successful operations, founding partner Fred Van Domelen, got to work in the 1980s expanding the firm’s expertise into architecture and civil engineering. A forward thinker by nature, Fred anticipated the need for the next generation of leadership and welcomed Roger McGarrigle and Jim Knauf to the firm as partners. VDL & Associates would then be known as Van Domelen, Looijenga, McGarrigle, Knauf Consulting Engineers.
Roger McGarrigle (the “M” in VLMK) was a licensed structural engineer who graduated from Portland State University. Prior to joining VLMK, Roger operated a small engineering firm of his own in Portland. Roger was instrumental in advancing the technology VLMK used in the design process with the use of an in-house computer. It’s difficult to imagine a time when computers were rarely used but in the 80s the staff would frequently rent computer time at the City of Portland to load punch cards into the computer for a project analysis.
Jim Knauf joined the firm in 1977 and became a partner (the “K” in VLMK) in 1986. Jim studied structural engineering at Chemeketa Community College and Portland State University and worked with Fred before he founded VDL & Associates. Jim offered clients a practical approach design and focused his efforts on handling most of the engineering for architects. He would often wander around in the office in his socks, emphasizing how relaxed he was and how he made everyone else in the office feel.
With the addition of Roger and Jim, VLMK expanded their professional services offerings to include civil engineering and a broader range of planning and design services for industrial sites and building projects. By this time, VLMK’s staff consisted of 20 engineers, drafters, and support staff.
The early 1980s were marked by the worst economic downturn the United States had experienced since the Great Depression. Triggered by tight monetary policy to fight mounting inflation, investors flocked to hard assets like commercial real estate. Heavy demand in the late 1970s had absorbed much of the excess space remaining from the burst in construction activity of the early 1970s and had trimmed vacancy rates in most markets. Despite the upheaval in the market, Fred and his firm of industrious engineers were bustling with business after a decade of refining their skills in the design and construction of multi-tenant industrial properties. By the 1980s, VLMK began to lead industrial projects as a prime consultant, a role traditionally reserved for architecture firms. This business model shift allowed VLMK to work directly with clients and provide the architectural and engineering work in the design of concrete tilt industrial projects – saving the client time and money.
If you look at a map of industrial buildings around the Portland Metro Area today, you will see many of the designs VLMK completed during this time all over town. “We used to keep an aerial in the office of all our industrial projects,” said Fred Van Domelen. I could show an aerial looking down 95th Avenue in Wilsonville, Oregon and there are 40 buildings on the street that we designed, including the Nike Distribution Center.”
Built in 1984, the Wilsonville Business Center – home to the Nike Distribution Center – was VLMK’s first large-scale industrial project. “The Nike Distribution Center was really our first home run,” said Fred. “The first phase of that project was 250,000 square feet and included multiple mezzanines. We later designed an addition to it. The total square footage including the mezzanines approached three-quarters of a million square feet. That was a big, signature project.”
More large-scale industrial projects that would shape the business landscape of Portland were in the firm’s future, but would the recession take its toll on commercial real estate? Stay tuned for the next post when we expand upon the second generation of leaders at VLMK Engineering + Design.
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