The Korte Company was selected by the U.S. Postal Service to design and construct a new Processing & Distribution Center/Vehicle Maintenance Facility on a 47-acre site in Portland, Oregon.
The new facility is just under one million square feet and features an administrative area of 143,000 square feet, a mail processing area of 572,000 square feet, and a distribution area of 74,000 square feet in the main building. A vehicle maintenance facility of approximately 30,000 square feet is also located on the site featuring 17 maintenance bays.
The building features state-of-the-art security with over 110 cameras for employee safety as well as the integrity of the mail system. To run and manage the automated sorting equipment, the facility incorporates a process control system including its own computer server, 3 workstations, client computers, and overall mechanization system networking that interfaces with the camera system.
Over 90 loading docks are allocated to the north and west elevations. The site includes 761 visitor and employee parking spots, with 84 truck parking spaces. The rainwater collection system was designed and constructed to manage flow, avoiding any overburdening of the surrounding screen and properties.
During the winter of 2016-2017, rainfall reached nearly 60 inches, almost double the historical average. In January, the site received the largest snowfall in ten years. The next month was the wettest February ever recorded with over 10 inches of rain. The poor weather was mitigated by the entire design-build team which was able to coordinate site work, concrete, structural steel, roofing, electrical and mechanization. The collaboration efforts enabled the project to finish ahead of the aggressive 18-month schedule.
