$595 million Oregon Capitol construction project hits major milestone

After nearly nine years of construction and a $595 million investment, the seismic retrofit and update of Oregon’s Capitol building is approaching the end of its final phase with completion expected by 2026.

Exterior work will continue into the new year, but portions of the building that have been closed to the public since July 2022 are scheduled to reopen in early September.

“The basement level is a hotbed of activity,” said Aaron Jones, superintendent with Hoffman Construction Co., during a tour of the latest progress on Wednesday.

Work continues on significant changes to basement level

The basement or “concourse level” will feature four new hearing rooms, a restaurant, and space for the news media. Two courtyards that used to sit at the concourse level have been moved up an entire level to the first floor.

According to Jones, an average of 150 workers are on site every day at this point in the project, all while the legislature is in session.

“Everyone’s trying to work together,” Jones said.

According to Jodi Jones, project director for the Capitol Accessibility, Maintenance, and Safety project, the crew will at times get calls from people inside the building about a particularly distracting noise. When that happens, the CAMS team tries to identify the source and quiet the activity for a moment.

Major milestone hit, Oregon Capitol “fully unlocked”

The CAMS project is meant to address “serious seismic problems” in the building identified in a 2013 report. A new foundation was poured to support the upgrades.

The building was “fully unlocked” last week, superintendent Jones said. That means the 160 base isolators installed are operational. Should a significant seismic event occur, the construction is intended to keep the building in one spot while the earth around it moves up to 2 feet in any direction.

The rotunda was also “beefed up” with new trusses that go around the drum to make the structure more rigid and the base of the Gold Man statue further solidified.

Workers inside the rotunda are now re-plastering and re-painting to bring previous repairs up to date. The Scott Mills earthquake damaged the area in 1993 and those repairs and paint were degrading, Jodi Jones told reporters.

The CAMS team will celebrate another milestone within a month when the final piece of a deep moat surrounding the building to separate the earth from the building is expected to be complete.

Once the moat is complete, it’ll be covered and go unseen by the public.

Dianne Lugo covers the Oregon Legislature and equity issues. Reach her at dlugo@statesmanjournal.com or on X @DianneLugo