Thomas A. DiChiara, AIA

Principal and Co-Founder

Thomas A. DiChiara

Tom is a founding Principal of Cairn Pacific LLC. He is a registered architect with more than 20 years of design and development experience with multifamily, office, and commercial projects.  With degrees in architecture and landscape architecture from the University of Notre Dame and Harvard University, Tom began his career designing mixed-use projects with GBD Architects in Portland. At GBD he was responsible for several award-winning projects, including the Brewery Blocks, Museum Place, the Belmont Dairy Rowhomes, and OSHU Wellness Center at South Waterfront.

After working for GBD for ten years, Tom joined Trammell Crow Residential (TCR) where he developed more than 1,800 units of mixed-use, multifamily housing. At TCR he built housing at every scale, including South Waterfront’s high-rise Riva on the Park, neighborhood-scale projects such as The Vaux Condominiums in Northwest Portland, and pioneering infill projects such as Tupelo Alley on North Mississippi Avenue. When TCR spun off into Mill Creek Residential Trust, Tom served as its Managing Director.
 
In early 2011, Tom joined C.E. John Company, Inc., a third-generation family company with extensive retail and commercial holdings in the Portland and Southwest Washington Metro area. At C.E. John, he was instrumental in building a successful multifamily mixed-use development platform and completed several notable projects in Northwest Portland, including The Benevento, Franklin Ide, and Sawyer’s Row.

In spring of 2014, it was time to follow a new path, so Tom and longtime business partner Rob Hinnen decided to launch their own development company, Cairn Pacific LLC.

In his spare time, you can usually find Tom on the river fly-fishing, backpacking someplace wild, or puttering around his ranch in North Central Oregon. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Gordon House in Silverton, Oregon.