Galleria

Portland, Oregon

Historic Decarbonization

Built in 1910 and listed on the National Historic Register, the Portland Galleria is a five-story, 220,000 SF building in downtown Portland. The renovation fully decarbonized the building while preserving its historic character. The project includes four floors of office space over ground-floor retail. Ecotope provided design-assist services for the mechanical and plumbing design for the Core & Shell renovation.

The all-electric design features VRF heat pumps, high efficiency energy recovery ventilators, LED lighting, improved roof insulation, and heat pump water heating. The decentralized HVAC strategy allows for zonal control/shut-down of systems and reduces fan energy while providing 100% outside air via four VHE-DOAS units per floor.

Ecotope’s energy modelling team guided the project through the Energy Trust of Oregon’s (ETO) Path to Net Zero program to secure a $500,000 grant by showing an 80% energy reduction below the national baseline. Energy modeling also guided cost-saving design decisions, such as increasing roof insulation to reduce VRF system capacity, saving over $600,000 in equipment costs.

A key challenge was maintaining operations for the existing retail tenant while reducing their footprint from two floors to one. This required careful phasing and a decentralized HVAC approach that minimized disruption while ensuring ventilation and comfort for both retail and office spaces.

The Portland Galleria exemplifies how deep energy retrofits can transform historic buildings into high-performance, all-electric spaces while preserving architectural heritage and accommodating existing tenants.

Learn more about this project here:

• Redesigning Past for Future: Electrification and DOAS for Resiliency and Efficiency. ASHRAE Journal, June 2025