Managers at the Multnomah Athletic Club say they hope to reopen within weeks, after a former employee drove through the building in a vehicle full of explosive devices last weekend.

The media event on Tuesday was the first glimpse into the extent of the damage and initial repairs after the crash.

Club general manager Charles Leverton said the car and the subsequent fire caused only 10% of the damage, mainly because sprinklers quickly kicked on to douse the blaze.

But a majority of the damage to the eight-story building was caused by that same sprinkler water, which ran down several floors.

Leverton said he’s waiting on insurance adjusters to assess the damage before repairs can fully get underway.

“It takes a while to not only repair things,” he said, “but to get approval to get repairs.”

Speaking from the lobby, which sustained minimal damage from the incident, Leverton said the water has wreaked havoc on parts of the building.

“The water has leaked down into the sub-basement, what we call phase one,” Leverton said. “We’re currently assessing the damage on that and trying to determine when we can reopen.”

Saturday morning, just before 3 a.m., former club employee Bruce Whitman drove a rental vehicle into the front lobby area of the MAC. Portland police said at a news conference Monday that the car was packed with 20 intact propane tanks and 10 improvised explosive devices — some of which had gone off. Whitman died after the vehicle burst into flames.

He previously worked at the club as a bartender.

On Tuesday, Leverton addressed Whitman’s firing publicly for the first time, saying he was terminated for cause years ago after repeated aggressive behavior towards staff and members.

Family members told OPB that Whitman had a long history of mental illness and had fixated his anger on the MAC. Court records show he’d previously made threatening statements to members, prompting club security to warn members about him through emails.

MAC Board of Trustees President Daniel Williams said it’s been a tough few days for the club.

“The Multnomah Athletic Club is more than a building. It’s a place where people come together as a community to grow and to commune,” he said. “Not having those abilities right now is difficult.”

The club’s Mother’s Day event this Sunday is usually attended by some 1,000 people. The MAC still wants to hold it, and says it’s looking for an outside location to do so.

Leverton says it’ll be several days before they have a better idea of when the club might open again, “If we didn’t have the water damage, we’d be open on Monday. We’d be open today,” he said.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/05/05/portland-multnomah-athletic-club-explosives-oregon/