Brewing Business
LCG Pence’s recent projects include an expansion of the Widmer Brothers Brewery facility in Portland. On the $15 million project, LCG Pence added 52,000 square feet and renovated the existing 66,000-square-foot facility. The facility now features a basement that is 25 feet deep, with 10 new fermentation tanks that are more than 10 feet in diameter and almost 55 feet tall. This project was recognized within the industry as Oregon’s top industrial project of 2007, of which more than 70 entrants were submitted.

Loerke adds that LCG Pence also enjoyed much condominium work in 2007. This year, “We will be putting close to 700 units on the market,” he says.

These projects included the Harrison, a condominium conversion in Portland. For the project, which carried a budget of $30 million, LCG Pence renovated 560 units in three towers that were constructed in 1968.

The company’s work on this project totaled 75 floors and involved the removal of all cabinetry, doors and windows, as well as the removal of plumbing, lighting, electrical and hardware. Upon completion of the light demolition, LCG Pence installed new flooring, doors, windows, cabinetry, plumbing and electrical fixtures.

This year, LCG Pence also completed work on River North, an eight-story, $25 condominium project in Portland, which is located on the riverfront of the Willamette River. “This was a 14-month project,” Loerke states.

Strategic Growth
Although the condominium market is now experiencing a decline, LCG Pence has not suffered, Loerke says. “We do still have big condo projects in the pipeline that the developers are just putting on [the] slow track, but plan to build here in a year,” he explains.

LCG Pence is working on Keizer Station, a 100-acre shopping center in Keizer, Ore. While the project is 86 percent complete, “We are still continuing to build tenant buildings down there,” he says, adding that the company has been working on the center for the past two years.

The company will soon break ground on the Kroc Center for the Salvation Army in Salem. Loerke notes that the $30 million facility will feature swimming pools, classrooms, a chapel and gymnasiums. “We will get started on it, in earnest, this year,” he predicts. This project is the second of its kind in the country.

The funding of which has been provided by the Ray & Joan Kroc Foundation with a $1.5 billion donation to the Salvation Army. LCG Pence was highly honored to be awarded this project and celebrated in the groundbreaking ceremonies with community leaders.

In addition to its commercial portfolio, LCG Pence is on the forefront of the next wave of public education projects. It is currently positioned with more than $125 million in K-12 education work that will be starting in 2008.

Loerke predicts the backload will last for the next two years. “There’s going to be a quite of bit of growth in schools to catch up with the population trends,” he says.

Creating Success
LCG Pence strives to partner with subcontractors, Loerke says. “We recognize the need for them in our business,” he explains. “We want to make them successful, which in turn makes us successful.”

Loerke notes that the company keeps its project sites well-organized for its subcontractors’ arrivals. “When they come there, the work is ready for them,” he says. “If [a general contractor is] not organized, it can cost subcontractors money.

“We’ll also work with them,” Loerke explains. “If they can’t do the entire project, we’ll divide the work up between a couple of different companies to help them build.”

‘A Sustainable Company’
Loerke says he wants LCG Pence to continue growing at a rate of 10 to 20 percent a year. “I see our managers becoming owners and [our younger] managers rising to fill their posts below,” he says.

“I think we have built a sustainable company that is going to carry on for many years,” he says, noting that the company has instilled a philosophy of “putting the customer first” in its associates. “As long as that culture remains, the company will be successful.”