About Josh

The real estate business is a lot like directing a play and that’s why Josh Fuhrer enjoys it so much. Josh was born in Jacksonville, Oregon, just steps from Ashland and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. As a real estate developer, he loves the art of storytelling, whether it's through the words of a play or the canvas of the built environment.

In the mid 1990's, Josh was teaching theatre at a local college, when the father of one of his students told him he was buying a home to fix up and sell. Intrigued, Josh gathered as much information as he could, and soon began buying and selling single family homes.

But Josh knew he wanted to get involved with bigger projects. Soon he met a successful commercial real estate developer who took Josh under his wing, teaching him everything about the development business. It wasn’t long before Josh formed his own company and began developing his own projects.

He currently works as an independent development project manager and consultant on commercial property, project managing major renovations and new developments, as well as advising for-profit and nonprofit developers on development strategies and construction issues. His past projects range from affordable housing to commercial condominiums, to retail centers and mixed-use projects.

He holds a Graduate Certificate in Real Estate Development from Portland State University, and three Bachelor of Science degrees in Liberal Arts, Arts & Letters, and Theatre Arts. He is also a graduate of the American Musical & Dramatic Academy (AMDA) in New York City.

He is proud to have served on the boards of directors of two terrific non-profits; the Portland Community Land Trust, an organization dedicated to helping low-income families buy their first homes, and Stumptown Stages, a new musical theatre company in Portland.

Most Recent Development Projects:

 

Five Hundred 5th Office Condominium

 

Role & Responsibilities:

Josh served as the Project Manager on the Five Hundred 5th Office Condominium; a redevelopment of a 7-story, $10M historic downtown office building. He managed project from inception through design development, Historic Registry nomination, construction & unit sales.

Responsibilities included total oversight of a top-to-bottom renovation including major seismic upgrades, project budgeting, marketing & sales, construction, condo platting, and other development issues.

He researched and helped the owner to implement a historic tax credit package that added $1.2 million in unexpected profit to project’s bottom line.

Josh also developed a financial model & strategy for future office condo projects in Portland market, and consulted with other developers for similar projects in regional submarkets.

Read a newspaper interview with Josh about the project here.

Before Renovation:

41st @ Hawthorne Retail Center

Role & Responsibilities:

Josh again served as the development project manager for the redevelopment of 41st @ Hawthorne; an 11,000 square-foot multi-tenant retail site on Hawthorne Blvd in Portland Oregon.

Accomplishments included saving over $283,000 in negotiated buyouts of existing tenants, and saving over $100,000 construction costs through value engineering. Other responsibilities included project budgeting, management of all project & construction activities including architectural review, contract administration, and negotiating new leases.

He also asset managed a portfolio of five multi-tenant retail strip centers in three states for the same owner, with a total value of $21 million and total square-footage of 166,000 square feet.

 

Before and During Renovation:

 

 

Gresham Center for the Arts Plaza Construction

The Gresham Center for the Arts Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to the development, construction and operation of a regional performing arts and convention center in Gresham, Oregon. Josh currently serves as the Vice President of the Board of Directors.

 

Role & Responsibilities:

In addition to his role on the Foundation Board, he also serves as the construction liaison between the City of Gresham, the general contractor, and the GCFTA Foundation. This project is a public/private partnership between the City and Foundation, and Josh took a lead role in negotiating the partnership between the parties and overseeing the project's weekly construction progress on behalf of the Foundation.

The Plaza is the first phase of what will eventually become a regional performing arts & convention center on a two-acre site in downtown Gresham, Oregon. The Plaza will open in January 2009 to arts exhibitions, concerts, outdoor entertainment, and a farmers' market, and will serve as the primary downtown public gathering space in the city.

Read a newspaper interview with Josh about the project here.

 

Groundbreaking:

 

 

Classic Foods Distribution Center (currently in progress)

Classic Foods is a wholesale food distribution business offering gourmet dry goods, sauces, pastas, artisanal meats & cheeses and rare spices to restaurants all over Portland.

Currently operating in a 10,000 SF warehouse, they needed to move to a bigger site to expand their product line and serve a greater geographical area. Classic Foods is in the process of buying a 50,000 SF warehouse just off Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd in northeast Portland, and has hired Josh to project manage the renovation.

(Click on the following drawings to view larger versions)

Classic Foods' new home is a building originally built in 1932 as an ice house. It was purchased in the 1950's by a paper box manufacturing company that still occupies the building. Additions were made over the years, but no upgrades were made to the building. The renovation plan includes demolishing the existing street frontage addition and restoring the building to its original design, removing rickety old mezzanines, and replacing the roof, mechanical systems, HVAC, windows, electrical and plumbing systems.

Josh embraces the opportunity to create buildings that incorporate the latest and most up-to-date sustainable building practices. Classic Foods' new home will achieve a LEED Platinum level of sustainability, with new window systems, skylights in the storage areas to reduce electrical consumption, energy efficient heating and cooling systems, recycling and reuse of existing building materials, low VOC paints, formaldehyde free particle board for all cabinetry, FSC certified lumber, a 100kW rooftop-mounted solar panel array, and an onsite herb garden irrigated by a stormwater collection system. Classic Foods will harvest herbs from this garden to use in their fresh pastas made onsite.

Other building features will include a factory outlet store offering Classic Foods' gourmet pastas, dry goods and spices, an exhibition kitchen, and business incubator space for food-related start-up companies. Completion is scheduled for Fall 2010.

Ivy City Homes

The Portland Development Commission owns a 33,000 square foot parcel of land along NE MLK Jr. Blvd, just south of NE Fremont Street that they want to redevelop as a LEED Certified mixed-use retail/residential project.

In 2008, PDC issues a Request for Proposals for the redevelopment, to which six development teams submitted proposals. In 2009, Josh and a partner, Vern Rifer, were selected as the winning team, and are currently in negotiations to redevelop the site.

Construction on 30 units of residential and live/work space is scheduled to begin in Fall 2009, with completion planned for Summer 2010. Of the 30 units available for sale, approximately 18 will be affordable to families earning 60% of the median family income for the area.

Josh will serve as the Project Manager on the LEED-qualifying project, which will incorporate the latest in sustainable features and will approach energy efficiency of 45% over current energy code.

These features will enable the team to create buildings that are safer and more comfortable for residents. They will also make homeownership more affordable for the residents of the project by using technologies that will reduce their energy bills. Our sustainable building practices are not only environmentally responsible, but also help to reach the project’s affordability goals as well.

Other Work:

In addition to his real estate business, Josh is a city councilor in his hometown of Gresham, Oregon. He also serves as a commissioner on the Gresham Redevelopment Commission, the public body charged with overseeing urban renewal efforts in the city.

He is also a former member of the board of directors of Proud Ground (formerly Portland Community Land Trust). Proud Ground is a non-profit provider of affordably priced homes for first-time homebuyers of modest means, with over 100 homes currently in trust.