The Portland Building is an active construction site and the renovation is forecasted to be completed ahead of schedule. The City decided to renovate versus demolish and rebuild the iconic structure and set a budget of $195 million for the project. We identified risk areas during the project’s initial phase, and this report follows up on the recommendations from that audit.
2016 Recommendation
Present budget information for public transparency.
2019 Auditor's Status Update
Budget transparency still needed as costs for Portland Building grew to $214 million, 10 percent more than planned $195 million
2016 Recommendation
Ensure timely, effective and inclusive decisions will be made by key milestones.
2019 Auditor's Status Update
City on track to meet minimum requirements, but there have been no reports on trade-offs that affected other opportunities.
2016 Recommendation
Develop an implementation plan and schedule for the adopted community benefits.
2019 Auditor's Status Update
City missed requirement to disburse about $1 million in grants to help equity goals.
We found these issues have not been resolved.
We make new recommendations to address remaining risks with the City’s compliance with Americans with Disabilities Act and historic preservation requirements, as well as implementation of community benefits. We will follow up on these in addition to the original budget transparency recommendation in one year.
Our office has also begun an audit of the construction contract and will report results later this year.
View our audit report and recommendations
View highlights of the audit report