PORTLAND, Ore. — They tower above the city carrying thousands of pounds and help to transform the skyline.
Not only are cranes a necessary tool, but they are an indicator of how strong the construction market is. Mortenson Construction is responsible for a handful of the cranes you see towering above the Portland skyline.
“Here in Portland area we have six tower cranes, two on this project, one on an adjacent project, one downtown, and two more in Beaverton,” Senior Project Manager Pat Clemons said.
We flew KGW Drone Fly 8 over the construction of the Hyatt Regency Hotel next to the convention center. They planned for months to map out how the two cranes could work together carrying thousands of pounds of equipment anywhere on the site.
The Portland Business Journal keeps track of dozens of cranes on its website. The Seattle Times recently put Portland behind Seattle as the crane capital, but at 30 cranes was still ahead of places like San Francisco, Washington D.C. and New York.
“I heard that, yeah, but when you drive around you can kind of sense that,” Michael Egglesty a Portland resident said.
People we talked to have mixed feelings about all the development.
“Probably the challenge will be how to keep that Portland flavor and DNA on things as it expands,” Egglesty said.
Either way, the cranes continue to signal a good time for construction in Portland.
“Me personally I couldn't’ be happier to be in Portland,” Clemons said.
Clemons went on to say the biggest challenge the industry is facing right now is finding skilled tradespeople for all the jobs available.