The Hillsboro Civic Center is a government-built, mixed-use development in downtown Hillsboro, Oregon,

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. The development includes the city hall for the county seat of Washington County, located west of

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

. Covering , the Civic Center has a total of over in the complex. The total of six stories for the main structure makes the building the tallest in the city, tied with

Tuality Community Hospital Hillsboro Medical Center, formerly Tuality Community Hospital, is a medical care facility located in Hillsboro in the U.S. state of Oregon. The 167-bed facility was founded in 1918 in downtown and is one of two hospitals in Hillsboro, Washington ...

. In addition to

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...

offices, the Civic Center includes retail space, public plazas, and residential housing. The complex was built to centralize city government functions under one roof. Design of the complex began in 2002, with construction beginning in 2003. After completion in 2005, the building was awarded the LEED Gold certification for sustainability, the second city hall in the United States to earn that distinction. Environmentally friendly technologies used include occupancy sensors, ventilation that monitors carbon dioxide levels to determine when to activate, high performance exterior glass to reduce heat loss, and solar panels to generate electricity.

History

Plans for the complex began as part of the city’s 2020 comprehensive plan. Development plans from six teams of developers and architects were submitted to the city in October 2001.Anderson. David R. "Big ideas for Hillsboro", ''

The Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 18 ...

'', October 29, 2001. These plans included designs for public plazas, a library branch, residential units, retail space, and a new city hall. Formal design proposals were submitted in early 2002. The project was designed to consolidate city government and to anchor

redevelopment Redevelopment is any new construction on a site that has pre-existing uses. It represents a process of land development uses to revitalize the physical, economic and social fabric of urban space. Description Variations on redevelopment include: ...

of the downtown core that would reinvigorate downtown.Basalyga, Stephanie. Good as Gold. ''Daily Journal of Commerce Magazine'', July 2005. This included the plan to turn the area into a zone with 18 hours of activity each day, instead of businesses closing at 5:00 pm when the city and county governments closed.Fields, K.J. "Center of Attention", ''Daily Journal of Commerce Magazine'', November 2003. Additionally, conference space was planned to accommodate use by both city and county governments, and by private groups. In April 2002, Specht Properties was selected as the developer of the projectAnderson, David R. "Specht gains contract for Hillsboro Civic Center", ''

'', April 3, 2002. after scoring higher with the council appointed committee formed to rate each of three developer's proposals, with Gerding Edlen Development and Trammell Crow Company losing out to Specht. Construction on the complex began in June 2003 when an old grain store at the site was demolished to make room for the center. A total of eight buildings were torn down to make room the complex as part of a redevelopment of a

brownfield In urban planning, brownfield land is any previously developed land that is not currently in use. It may be potentially contaminated, but this is not required for the area to be considered brownfield. The term is also used to describe land prev ...

site. Plans also called for retail space, housing units, and a

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

branch. Though the library section was built, a library branch did not open at the site.Bermudez, Esmeralda. "Coffee chain’s baristas will fire up espresso machine in Civic Center", ''

'', June 28, 2005. LRS Architects designed the complex with Skanska USA serving as the general contractor."Civic Center LEED Rated", ''Northwest Construction'', January 1, 2006. The structural engineering was done by KPFF Consulting Engineers, services engineering was completed by Interface Engineering, and civil engineering for the project was handled by WRG Design. The building was finished in January 2005 with city officials and employees moving into the buildings by the end of March. A public grand opening was held on July 16, 2005, to officially open the center. Total cost of the public portion of the project was $34 million,"Specht Properties Wilsonville city officials have", ''

'', February 24, 2005. with construction totaling $23.5 million. Prior to completion the city leased space in several downtown buildings, including the county's Public Services Building where Hillsboro also held city council meetings. Later in 2005 a coffee shop was added as a tenant in part of the retail space, and in 2007 the restaurant space in the building was leased to NW Hayden Enterprises for a restaurant scheduled to open in 2008. In April 2009, the plaza was renamed as the Tom Hughes Civic Center Plaza in honor of Tom Hughes, who was mayor when the building was constructed.

Architecture

Designed by Portland-based firm, LRS Architects, Hillsboro's Civic Center is a modern glass building with a stone base and brick highlights.Olsen, Dana E. Hillsboro Civic Center. ''

'', October 7, 2004. There are two main buildings, the Civic Center housing government offices and the Plaza Building housing retail space.City Views: The Hillsboro Civic Center. February 2005.
The City of Hillsboro. Retrieved on October 2, 2007. The plazas surrounding the structures contain an inlaid quartzite river, basalt planters, and Victorian style benches. Additionally, it was designed with large windows facing the north in order to reflect the

giant sequoia ''Sequoiadendron giganteum'' (giant sequoia; also known as giant redwood, Sierra redwood, Sierran redwood, California big tree, Wellingtonia or simply big treea nickname also used by John Muir) is the sole living species in the genus ''Sequoiade ...

trees located across the street at the Washington County Courthouse, with the trees dating back to the 1880s. Hillsboro Civic Center government offices

Hillsboro Civic Center government offices

At a total of six stories tall, the building is tied for the tallest building in Hillsboro with

standing tall. Inside the building features high ceilings on the first floor and a large, open public space.Olsen, Dana E. Hillsboro Civic Center. ''

'', January 27, 2005. Daylight and exterior views are present in 90% of the offices in city hall.

Awards

Hillsboro Civic Center won the award for Best Public Project in the state of

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

for 2005 from Northwest Construction magazine for the general contractor Skanska USA.Best Public Project-Oregon.
''Northwest Construction''. Retrieved on October 1, 2007. It is the first municipal headquarters in Oregon to meet all its energy needs with renewable sources. During development, the project first aimed for attaining a Silver certification from the

United States Green Building Council The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), co-founded by Mike Italiano, David Gottfried and Rick Fedrizzi in 1993, is a private 501(c)3, membership-based non-profit organization that promotes sustainability in building design, construction, and op ...

. Instead, the project was awarded the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Gold certification for environmental sustainability by the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership. This was the second Gold rating given to a city hall in the U.S. after Seattle’s city hall earned the distinction, and the seventh building in Oregon to earn that level of certification.Hillsboro Civic Center scores LEED gold rating.
''Daily Journal of Commerce'', December 1, 2005. Contributing factors leading to this award included that during construction, 92% of construction waste was recycled, and non-wood wheat board was used in some of the walls. Additionally, 18 solar panels were installed on the building to generate power for use in the building, with the city purchasing all additional power through renewable power sources, funded in part by

Portland General Electric Portland General Electric (PGE) is a Fortune 1000 public utility based in Portland, Oregon. It distributes electricity to customers in parts of Multnomah, Clackamas, Marion, Yamhill, Washington, and Polk counties - 44% of the inhabitants ...

and the Bonneville Environmental Foundation,Hillsboro Civic Center First City Hall in Oregon to be 100 Percent Green Powered.
Bonneville Environmental Foundation. Retrieved on September 27, 2007. while the building is 42% more energy efficient than comparable buildings. Other environmental friendly amenities include occupancy sensors, ventilation that monitors carbon dioxide levels to determine when to activate, high performance exterior glass to reduce heat loss, infrared bathroom fixtures, and the use of recycled building materials among other items.

Amenities and use

The Civic Center was built over three city blocks in downtown. The complex has a total of . The complex has two

plaza A town square (or square, plaza, public square, city square, urban square, or ''piazza'') is an open public space, commonly found in the heart of a traditional town but not necessarily a true geometric square, used for community gatherings. ...

s, with the northern plaza designed to create an outdoor amphitheater with seating for 700.Hillsboro Civic Center: LEED Gold Certification.
''GreenerBuildings''. Retrieved on September 27, 2007. Dedicated as the Tom Hughes Civic Center Plaza, the buildings of the Civic Center serve as a backdrop to the amphitheater, and by using Main Street to increase the space, the amphitheater can accommodate crowds of 5,000 people. South Plaza connects the government portions of the complex to the 120-unit residential component of the development to the south. Both plazas have water features, including a fountain in the North Plaza. On the ground floor of the center's north wing (called the Plaza Building) is a Starbucks coffee shop in a space, while the designed for the library branch remained open for future government use in 2005. Most of the second floor of the Plaza Building was occupied for five years by the Washington County Museum, which moved into the rented space in fall 2012 but moved back to its previous location, at

Portland Community College Portland Community College (PCC) is a public community college in Portland, Oregon. It is the largest post-secondary institution in the state and serves residents in the five-county area of Multnomah, Washington, Yamhill, Clackamas, and Colum ...

's Rock Creek campus, in fall 2017. In the government areas there is a conference center and the city council chambers. This includes a 250-seat auditorium. The Civic Center hosts the seasonal, weekly farmer’s market on Saturdays, and a marketplace on Tuesdays that features various vendors, both utilizing the center’s plaza area. As of 2007, plans called for an upscale restaurant in a space. City services at the site include the Administration Department, city planning, the office of the city recorder, and the municipal court among others. The Civic Center also houses the office of the mayor and is the site of the twice-monthly

city council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

meetings.Hillsboro City Council Meeting Information.
City of Hillsboro. Retrieved on February 19, 2008.

References

External links

City of Hillsboro

LRS Architects: Hillsboro Civic Center, City Project and Housing

Civic Center Project
{{good article 2005 establishments in Oregon Buildings and structures in Hillsboro, Oregon City halls in Oregon Event venues established in 2005 Government buildings completed in 2005 Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design gold certified buildings Tourist attractions in Hillsboro, Oregon