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LEFT: BSide6 Building. TOP RIGHT: Sunrose Condos. BOTTOM RIGHT: Clinton Condominiums. BUILDING IMAGES: Mike Perrault
Mike Purcell is hoping for redemption.
A year ago, Purcell was Portland's go-to general contractor for sustainable, mixed-use condo projects. With 45 years of experience matched by aggressive bidding practices, his company Gray Purcell scored high-profile construction jobs from the Pearl District to gentrifying North Portland to the inner east side.
Today, Purcell's reputation lies in shambles after his descent into Chapter 7 bankruptcy last year left many of those projects on the brink of financial ruin. Subcontractors went unpaid, and developers claim Purcell's problems forced them to shell out millions to finish their projects behind schedule and over budget in an already ugly market.
"There are people who think he's an outright crook," says Rosemary Willis, who provided doors and frames for several Purcell jobs. "Let's put it this way: I would never do business with that man again."
Now Purcell—who denies any wrondoing—tells WW he's back, working as a project manager for EM Constructors, a limited liability company established by Purcell's wife and licensed last week by the state. After his $10.1 million in declared debt gets resolved in bankruptcy court, Purcell says he hopes to make an even bigger comeback—once again working as a general contractor.
News that Purcell is headed back to work in construction surprises those who say he burned them before.
"It's shocking. It's irresponsible. That's an understatement," says Lance Marrs, co-developer of Bside6, a new retail and work-studio building at the corner of Southeast 6th Avenue and East Burnside Street. Marrs says Purcell's financial flameout forced him and his partners to spend an extra $750,000 to finish the project.
"Men are capable of desperate acts when their backs are up against a wall," Marrs says, but "this economy in and of itself is not an excuse for the decisions that Mike Purcell made."
Both in interviews with WW and in bankruptcy court filings, Purcell's accusers claim he deceived them to stay in business as he slipped further into debt. Purcell denies any deception, saying he couldn't pay subcontractors because clients couldn't afford to pay him.
"Mike Purcell loaned every cent he had to the company," Purcell says, referring to himself. "We did the best we could until we just ran out of cash, and that's the bottom line."
A common refrain from subcontractors and developers alleges Purcell would take money or material from one project and use it to cover expenses for another project. After Purcell went under, developers realized their payments had gone elsewhere and had to pay again for the same services.
One such allegation involves $46,000 worth of tigerwood. In bankruptcy court, developers Wong Family 28th Street LLC claim they gave Purcell the money to buy the wood for their new Sunrose condo at the corner of Southeast 28th Avenue and Burnside Street, but Purcell then used the wood on another project.
Purcell says the tigerwood was used for siding on Mississippi Avenue Lofts instead (see "Lofty Ambitions," WW, July 15, 2009), but he denies any wrongdoing against the Wongs.
The Wongs also claim Purcell urged a cabinet subcontractor he owed $81,000 from a prior job to bid on the Sunrose project. The Wongs say the $81,000 they paid for cabinets went toward Purcell's old debt, forcing them to repurchase cabinets after Purcell went under.
Purcell calls that claim "totally incorrect." No ruling has been made in bankruptcy court or elsewhere on the accuracy of the Wongs' claims.
It's not only developers who allege wrongdoing. Willis says her company, Architectural Building Services, lost $75,000 to Purcell.
At a meeting last year, Willis says Purcell presented a plan for repaying the debt with profit from future jobs. But she suspected he didn't have contracts for the work.
"It was a beautiful Excel spreadsheet that didn't add up," Willis recalls. "We worked very hard at that point to try to get away from him."
Purcell denies the meeting ever happened.
Developer Randy Rapaport says he spent more than $1 million of his own money to complete his Clinton Condominiums on Southeast Division Street after kicking Purcell off the job.
Now Rapaport is calling on Attorney General John Kroger to investigate. Kroger's spokesman, Tony Green, urges anyone who feels they were cheated to file a complaint. Rapaport said he plans to do so.
"It would be an understatement to characterize Mike Purcell's actions simply as gross negligence," Rapaport says. "Our best hope for justice is for Oregon's attorney general to take a good look down the rabbit hole."
The AG's office has one complaint against Mike Purcell—filed by Lake Oswego developer Rich Anderson. The office referred the complaint to the state Construction Contractors Board.
WWeek 2015