[MarkDaMan]

http://www.boora.com/portfolio/winkler/onewaterfront/onewaterfront_01.jpg

Developers push for parking garage
Tower - Other nearby Pearl District projects haven't used PDC subsidies for parking
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
RYAN FRANK
The Oregonian

Since 2000, developers Jim Winkler and Bob Naito have banked on an $8.5 million boost from city taxpayers to help build the parking garage necessary to support their green office tower in the Pearl District.

At the time, the city thought the area needed a little nudge from taxpayers to entice high-rise, high-class offices that far north of the city's center.

Seven years and one recession later, One Waterfront Place is still only a drawing. But Winkler and Naito still are pushing to get it built.

They have invested more than $2 million in the deal so far and they're calling on the city's urban renewal agency, the Portland Development Commission, to give them more time to find tenants to anchor the building.

Plus, they still need that garage. No garage, no tower, Winkler says. Office workers need a close-by place to park.

Patricia Gardner, though, wonders why taxpayers should help.

While the tower was stalled, the city built a Smart Park garage nearby and two other smaller office projects -- with parking included -- are in the works without the same public subsidy.

"Why does this project need so much subsidy when other projects are being built without it," asked Gardner, planning committee chairwoman for the Pearl District Neighborhood Association.

But Winkler says the Smart Park garage is too far away and he can't redesign the building to include parking without losing money already spent on architects.

Portland's office market has been slumping for years, with the last office building, the Fox Tower, going up in 2000.

However, Portland's office market is improving. Winkler thinks he can pull off the next office tower in the Pearl. His firm won a competitive bid to buy the 58,000-square-foot property from PDC for $1.5 million in September 2000.

He was originally required to start construction in December 2002, and PDC was required to build a four-story, 700-space garage. The PDC would own the garage and the spots would be open to the public

Winkler said they proposed a grand tower because they expected the city to cover the parking bills. The tower was to cover 12 stories and 250,000 square feet and meet the U.S. Green Building Council's gold standard. "Our plan is to develop a truly great building, a legacy piece," Winkler said.

It appears Winkler probably will get more time to pull the deal off with the city's continued pledge for parking help.

The garage is expected to cost $15 million or more. The PDC has set aside $8.5 million for the garage.

The Portland Development Commission will spend the next few weeks searching for a way to cover the rest of the costs and rethinking the garage's size, said Steven Shain, a city development manager.

The PDC board is supposed to hear back in a month or so.

Ryan Frank: 503-221-8564; ryanfrank@news.oregonian.com For more about Portland politics, visit The Oregonian's City Hall blog at blog.oregonlive.com/portlandcityhall/.

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/portland_news/1182304546311840.xml&coll=7

[pdxman]

Glad to see they're trying to get this built...There seems to be a lot of office space getting built or planning to get built in the DT area in the near future

[Eagle rock]

" But Winkler says the Smart Park garage is too far away and he can't redesign the building to include parking without losing money already spent on architects."

I don’t get it. That new smart park garage is literally across the rail road tracks from this building and that rendering shows a bridge going over the tracks how is that not close enough?

[cab]

I'm glad this is back in the news. Out of all the office towers proposed, this one is by far the best. Plus we get another cool pedestrian bridge out of the deal.

[pdxstreetcar]

I know we all want to see this project happen but after reading this I think this project needs a redesign. Eventhough some of those proposed downtown office building designs are older, the south downtown area hasn't changed a bit (100 Columbia, First & Main). Yet the neighborhood this One Waterfront Place proposal was designed for 7 years ago is a completely different area. By all means keep the tower design but not if it means keeping the absurd amount of parking for this proposal (plus requiring a subsidy), all in a massive above ground parking garage which apparently this tower design is dependent on (according to the developer in the article). The photo in the paper shows the size of the garage and the lack of any other use with the garage. In the land where the garage is proposed could be a second tower. Plus I agree with Eagle Rock, if you look at a map youll see the Station Place garage is just as far away from the tower as the garage in this proposal.

[pdx2m2]

whether we think the tower should be redesigned or not...there is little opportunity for a second tower where the garage currently sits. The garage is designed under the broadway bridge with the bridge having air rights over the garage...little else could go under the bridge other than parking.

there could be an opportunity for a larger /taller tower if the north pearl planning process results in granting more FAR or height to this site...not sure if that would make it worth a redesign although a taller building would be much better here.

[zilfondel]

? No, this proposed garage doesn't exist yet, and wouldn't be built under the bridge, from the renderings that I've seen.

[thewack]

"Since 2000, developers Jim Winkler and Bob Naito have banked on an $8.5 million boost from city taxpayers to help build the parking garage necessary to support their green office tower in the Pearl District."

Ironic they want more parking in an area well served by transit and considering it is a "Green" building they are planning to build.

[Eagle rock]

I went to a presentation on this building what must of been 8 years ago and under that plan that garage was going to be put under the Broadway bridge.

[pdxstreetcar]

The garage is so large that it will be both under the bridge and under open sky.
Here is the rendering that was in the paper:
http://www.onewaterfrontplace.com/images/bridge.jpg

"With a near suburban ratio in an urban environment, parking will never be an issue."
http://www.onewaterfrontplace.com/parking.htm
And yet this building is supposed to get a Gold LEED rating. What a joke. :rolleyes:

[zilfondel]

oh good, what is that, like a 200,000 sq ft garage?

[MarkDaMan]

I'm down with Winkler building himself a garage if it is soooo important. I'm not down with taxpayers paying $8.5M for that project. We can get so much more in the Pearl District, including a much larger budget for Centennial Mills, if the PDC builds Winkler a $1.5M bridge over the rail tracks to the already built smart park.

[BrG]

The plan was for about a 700 car parking garage.

Part of the reason was that the original design took into consideration the extention of the Willamette Greenway (also since modified) and the removal of all but a few of the spaces for the Albers Mill office building. Plus, a large segment of the garage there was to be a publically available garage space. There is also limited on-street parking and the nearest Max stop is over in old town. To attract a large tenant (to get the construction going), that's usually one of the most important concerns for them. Parking.

Jim was shooting for a "near suburban" office ratio at the time, to offset the somewhat marooned nature of the site 7 years ago. Today, with the parking across the railtracks, perhaps not as much is needed, to make this project viable. I do think a parking is necessary to some extent, and there's nothing else to really build under the bridge that's viable, but it could shrink a few parking bays back under the bridge.

OWP will be a cool project if done. And despite the comment about it being a "Joke", Jim was very very interested in green design. Had this been built on-time, it would've been WAY ahead of the curve with completion in the same timeframe as the ecotrust building. Jim was looking at double skins, green roofs, modular raised floor systems over pt concrete construction (instead of steel). He wanted progressive business like the dot-com, creative types to inhabit the space, but that all imploded in early 2001.

So far, he and Bob have risked millions of dollars, for not much of anything.

[pdxtraveler]

Hey all. They seem to have a pre-app conference.. I didn't see this posted yet.. http://www.portlandonline.com/shared/cfm/image.cfm?id=167271

[pdx2m2]

Waterfront Place is going forward...it appears to be qualifying for Platnium LEED with some design changes currently being considered and will continue to be a high performance building ahead of the times...raised floor underfloor displacement hvac system throughout, hopefully pv panels, a new pedestrian bridge connecting it to the Pearl.

[BrG]

Glad to see that after all these years. The view from the north side won't be quite as good, but in the name of progress...

Looks like exterior design hasn't changed a bit. :cheers:

[pdx2m2]

The views have certainly changed...those to the north and west although there is more context and certainty than existed earlier. Originally the building would have stood alone for a few years and I think this influenced the design...some of the detail and complexity seemed right. Now the building will sit 'in' a growing and busy context of bridge, historical buildings, new senior housing, new parking garage, new market rate condos and pending new housing to the west....

The design submitted to the Pre Application Conference is the original design. The exterior design could change as a result of looking closely at what makes sense now...in terms of contextual fit, LEED Platnium goals, changes in systems, technology and costs...I suspect we will see exterior design changes that hopefully make a more compelling story.

[pdx2m2]

Waterfront Place had their Pre Application Conference and some news in the DJC.

One Waterfront Place takes preliminary steps forward
Development on the long-awaited project inches forward despite opposition and indistinct market predictions
POSTED: 06:00 AM PDT Friday, September 21, 2007
BY TYLER GRAF

For seven years, development on the proposed One Waterfront Place office building stalled due to a weak office leasing market. But with the economy improving, the developers and architects of the project hope to break ground on the long-gestating development by next summer.

The One Waterfront Place development would create a 12-story, 235,000-square-foot office space adjacent to the Broadway Bridge on Northwest Naito Parkway. The structure is being developed by 1201 Building LLC, formed by developers Bob Naito and Jim Winkler.

At a Sept. 18 pre-application conference, Boora Architects, which is handling design of One Waterfront Place, met with city staff to discuss the details of the development before the project goes before the Portland Design Commission. If the development goes forward, it could bring as many as 1,000 jobs to the Pearl District, according to the Portland Development Commission.

Originally, Boora’s architects were aiming for a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design gold certification for the project, but they have since bumped their goal to a platinum rating.

The green-friendly design would feature lockers and showers for bicycling employees, an eco-roof on the third-story terrace and rainwater harvesting.

“Though we’re dealing with this as if it were a new project, the bones of it pretty much remain the same,” said John A. Meadows, a principal for Boora. “It was originally one of the most sustainable office buildings; now we want it to go even further.”

In order to achieve LEED platinum status, the revised design will incorporate solar panels on the tower roof and garage trellises to generate power, said Meadows.

Although design plans are moving ahead, project developer Winkler says it’s too early to talk about development or release renderings of the tower because the project must still win approval from the Portland Design Commission.

The Pearl District Neighbor-hood Association has its own concerns about the development, primarily the parking garage portion of the project.

The neighborhood already has Station Place Garage, completed in 2005, which is located on Northwest Ninth Avenue and Lovejoy Street. One Waterfront Place and its garage would be “literally right across the street from the railroad tracks” from Station Place Garage, said Patricia Gardner of the Pearl District Neighborhood Association.

The association’s initial reaction to the development was positive, but over the years the group has begun testifying against the development, specifically the required parking structure.

“The involvement (of the PDNA) has changed over the years because this project has been around forever,” said Gardner.

The cost for the parking garage could be as much as $16 million, with the PDC obligated to pay $8.5 million, according to a recent PDC report. The $8.5 million in allocated PDC resources would not fund the entire parking project. Development of a full funding plan would have to occur, including additional tax increment financing for a privately owned parking structure, negotiations for which are ongoing, according to the PDC.

Although the size of the office tower remains the same, the “footprint” of the parking structure has been diminished, architect Meadows said.

Barbara Linn, a project manager with Boora, said the building, with its “jewel box” design and foot bridge, will change the complexion of the Pearl District.

“The thought is that now is a good time for the office market,” Linn said. “We hope that this is the type of office that the people who live in the Pearl would also want to work.”

[BrG]

The views have certainly changed...those to the north and west although there is more context and certainty than existed earlier. Originally the building would have stood alone for a few years and I think this influenced the design...some of the detail and complexity seemed right. Now the building will sit 'in' a growing and busy context of bridge, historical buildings, new senior housing, new parking garage, new market rate condos and pending new housing to the west....

The design submitted to the Pre Application Conference is the original design. The exterior design could change as a result of looking closely at what makes sense now...in terms of contextual fit, LEED Platnium goals, changes in systems, technology and costs...I suspect we will see exterior design changes that hopefully make a more compelling story.


The original design was assuming the Willamette Greenway would be enhanced beside Albers Mill, rather than blocked by two housing buildings. The views to the south were pretty well static, and the views to the west were assumed to change dramatically. The east/west facades were minimized for solar/green building purposes. It's also the reason that 8 inch deep mullion caps were selected for some of the east and the bulk of the west facade. To provide essential sunshading and a deep inset look to the kalaidescope effect of the 6 glass types. It was an alternative to the preferred double skin design that would have cost too much.

I don't expect a radical departure from what was in the drawings, as Jim paid for a design already, and it will work fine. It's just that the northly views won't be so magnificent.

[pdx2m2]

The design is changing as we speak. Stay tuned.

[tworivers]

Will we get a new set of renderings? As high-quality as the first set?

[pdx2m2]

I'm sure there will be new renderings as good or better than the previous ones....it might take a few months before they are ready.

[BrG]

The design is changing as we speak. Stay tuned.

You have a PM.
:)

[tworivers]

Any updates?

I noticed today that Boora has a nice fly-by (www.boora.com/portfolio_project.asp?mktID=2600&projID=8) on their website. Not sure if that is new or not.

[pdx2m2]

Any renderings of waterfront place that are out in the world are of the original / old design....boora is working on the revised design now and should submit to the city for design review in mid January with a design review hearing in mid or late april..new renderings should be available in january.

[tworivers]

Thanks pdx2m2!

So a groundbreaking is still possible next summer? Still dependent on the leasing situation?

[pdx2m2]

Current plan is to have a permit and start construction in June/July 2008.

[zilfondel]

where is the ped bridge touching down at?

[pdx2m2]

so far the pedestrian bridge location remains the same...it launches from the eastern end of 12th next to the pdc parking garage, crosses to land at the western end of the waterfront place sculpture garden.

there is some discussion about landing the eastern side of the bridge on the building. there is also discussion about shifting the bridge south to land south of the pdc garage at lovejoy..next to the lovejoy ramp...there are some real benefits to this location although currently this space is pretty creepy and not very friendly for pedestrians. It would be closer to the train station and the new light rail transit lines and be more connected to future post office site development.

[tworivers]

Way more up in the air than I wanted to hear.

Front Porch
Saturday, December 15, 2007

Who's up, down, and upside down in real estate

One Waterfront Place is alive, but still up in the air Bob Naito and Jim Winkler's long-planned and much-debated Pearl District office tower continued to plod along before the Portland Development Commission this week.

One Waterfront Place is supposed to be a grand structure. BOORA Architects designed a glassy 12-story exterior for the Pearl's northeast fringe, and developers target a platinum environmental rating.

In short, there's nothing like this anywhere in the Pearl, which so far is mostly a bedroom community with few jobs. If One Waterfront Place is going to get built, now is the time. The Class A downtown office market is tight, and a few big office developers are now chasing Portland's small pool of big tenants who can anchor their dream projects.

One Waterfront Place has been in the works since the developers won a PDC bid for the site in 2000. The site's just north of the Broadway Bridge between Naito Parkway and the railroad tracks.

The real estate market tanked after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and the developers haven't been able to lock up tenants. Some office brokers wonder why the city would subsidize an office project on the fringe of the central business district. But Winkler talks about it as a new landmark.

PDC is keeping the project alive but with about half the public investment.

The city was originally required to build and operate a 700-vehicle garage for the building. At $30,000 per space, that's a beefy $21 million -- more than twice what the city put into the tram. Now, PDC will put in $10.5 million. About $6 million will come with a 2 percent interest loan to the developers and $4.5 million for public projects near the tower, including a pedestrian bridge to connect it over the railroad tracks to the heart of the Pearl.

The PDC -- primarily Chairman Mark Rosenbaum and Commissioner Charles Wilhoite -- seemed anxious at their Wednesday meeting to get moving after seven years. Before the PDC board debate, Rosenbaum and Wilhoite had a closed-door chat with Naito and Winkler for about 30 minutes.

Rosenbaum said later that Winkler and Naito asked for the meeting to hear the board's position directly. After that, Rosenbaum shortened the loan term from 20 to 15 years and gave them an extra year on the deadline to break ground, to January 2010.

In the old deal, the developers would sell the land back to PDC for the current market value if they couldn't break ground by the deadline. That would have allowed them to hold the once-city-owned land for 10 years and cash out with the appreciation.

In the new deal, they must sell the land back to PDC for the same $1.5 million they paid for it, and PDC would have to reimburse about 70 percent of the developers' expenses for architects and engineers. So far, their expenses aren't small, about $4.9 million.

PDC's next vote on the deal is expected soon.

Ryan Frank: 503-221-8519; ryanfrank@news.oregonian.com; blog.oregonlive.com/frontporch/

[pdx2m2]

I think PDC will approve the deal next week...project is submitting for design review in mid january with construction start in june 2008....the pedestrian bridge will be built by pdc..no word on the schedule for the bridge although plans are to have it finished by early 2010

[MarkDaMan]

New development agreement, but One Waterfront still stuck in park
The PDC today will amend a deal to save Portlanders $23M by limiting public investment in an adjacent parking garage
Daily Journal of Commerce
POSTED: 06:00 AM PST Wednesday, January 9, 2008
BY TYLER GRAF

For seven years, the One Waterfront Place office building proposed for the Pearl District has been at once controversial and anticipated, sidelined and pushed forward. Its non-development has in turn been blamed on the tech-bubble collapse of the new millennium and the attacks of Sept. 11.

At today’s Portland Development Commission board meeting, the PDC will give the development another nudge forward, but it’s arguably still not close to getting off the ground.

The PDC board is expected to shift ownership of the project’s most debated feature, its parking structure, back into the hands of the development team.

Under the terms of the original agreement, the PDC was obligated to build and own a 700-space parking structure intended to support Jim Winkler’s development at 1201 N.W. Naito Parkway, within the River District urban renewal area.

Winkler, co-developer of the project with Bob Naito, says the new agreement won’t significantly affect the future of the 12-story, 250,000-square-foot office building.

“This is memorializing something that was worked on for some months,” Winkler said.

But the PDC views the new agreement as a substantial shift that will save Portlanders more than $23 million. By shifting the parking structure’s ownership from a public entity to a private one, the PDC will also generate additional tax revenue.

The original agreement wasn’t working, says Steve Shain, development manager for the PDC.

When the PDC initially drafted the agreement, the developers of One Waterfront had been negotiating with what Shain called a prominent high-tech company to anchor the building. But when the industry saw its earnings dwindle early in the development stage, the company suffered and pulled out of negotiations. A year and a half ago, Shain decided to re-approach the One Waterfront development and reorganize its funding.

The new agreement limits the PDC’s total investment to $8.5 million. And the investment will be split, with $4 million being used as a loan for the parking structure’s construction and the remaining $4.5 million going toward the design and construction of the Marshall Street Bridge, which was not outlined in the original agreement.

Skeptical of a publicly funded parking garage, the influential Pearl District Neighborhood Association welcomes the new agreement.

Members of the association, already critical of the design of the nearby Station Place Garage, once argued against a parking garage for One Waterfront.

Now, the PNDA says it welcomes the development, the garage and the potential for 1,000 additional jobs for the Pearl District.

“The agreement they have come up with is much better,” neighborhood association land-use advocate Patricia Gardner said. “(The money) goes back into the coffers and allows the developers to build a great office structure.”

But after seven years and no construction, the PDC is reluctant to extend the development agreement further. If the developers don’t begin construction by Jan. 15, 2010, they likely won’t get another extension.

“I think the commissioners have made it pretty clear that 2010 is certainly the outside date of anything happening,” the PDC’s Shain said.

If the developers indicate the development isn’t financially possible, then the PDC will have the option to repurchase the site. Winkler says he remains optimistic the development will move along as planned, regardless of any changes PDC commissioners make today to the development agreement.

“We won’t be doing anything differently,” Winkler said. “It will just be a matter of who will own what.”
http://www.djcoregon.com/articleDetail.htm/2008/01/09/New-development-agreement-but-One-Waterfront-still-stuck-in-park-The-PDC-today-will-amend-a-deal-to-

[pdx2m2]

pdc approved the development agreement yesterday. the agreement has the developer owning and building the parking garage. pdc will fund, build and own the new pedestrian bridge from n.w. marshal through the waterfront site to n.w. naito.

the project should be submitted to design review by later in january with a hearing by the end of march or first of april.

[tworivers]

with a hearing by the end of march or first of april.

Then what? Wait for an anchor tenant to sign on?

[MarkDaMan]

Developers to proceed with $100M One Waterfront
Portland Business Journal

Developers Jim Winkler and Bob Naito say they intend to break ground on One Waterfront, a long-anticipated office complex at 1201 N.W. Naito Parkway, in six months.

Shelved in 2001, One Waterfront cleared a significant hurdle on Wednesday when the Portland Development Commission approved a development agreement involving a parking garage associated with the project. The team expects to bring the 270,000-square-foot project to the Portland Design Review Commission in April and to break ground in June.

Construction of the $100 million project will take about 18 months, putting it on schedule to open at the same time as First and Main, an office tower in construction at Southwest First and Main, near the Hawthorne Bridge.

Winkler said the developers have commitments for both debt and equity for the project, but will need leasing agreements for approximately 25 percent of the space before construction starts. Melvin Mark Brokerage Co. is representing One Waterfront Place to prospective tenants.

Winkler said there is interest from several prospective tenants and he is guardedly optimistic. Vacancy rates for Class A space in the downtown area have dropped to around 5 percent and rents are rising to a level that warrants new construction, as evidenced by the First and Main project and another tower planned by Tom Moyer's TMT Development, dubbed Park West.

"I think it's going to come together," Winkler said.

One Waterfront will consist of 12 stories with floors that are about 20,000 square feet apiece, linked to a parking garage.

Winkler originally proposed One Waterfront Place in 2000 and put it on hold a year later after the 9/11 attacks and the dotcom bust stalled the local real estate market. Assuming the slowdown would be brief, the team went ahead with designs.

The slowdown wasn't brief, but the building planned today is very similar to the one designed nearly a decade ago. The size and concept are unchanged, but new building codes and improvements in technology mean it will be far more sustainable that originally planned.

One Waterfront had been set to meet the "gold" level standards for the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program. Now, it is gunning for the higher "platinum" level certification.

Upgrades include better glazing techniques for the expansive glass windows, meaning better energy efficiency. The building will have a significant photovoltaic installation to generate some of its own power and will include a rain garden.

WInkler originally intended to create a sculpture court as a focal point for the building. After developing another project at the headwaters of Tyron Creek, he changed his thinking about managing water on site.

Now, he intends to build a lush sculpture garden packed with plants.

Boora Architects is designing the building. R&H Construction will be the general contractor.

Winkler characterized One Waterfront as a legacy project that will last well into the future. He and his partners plan to be long-term owners and managers.
http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/stories/2008/01/07/daily34.html?t=printable

[cab]

http://www.djcoregon.com/articleDetail.htm/2008/01/11/One-Waterfront-Place-to-break-ground-in-June

One Waterfront Place to break ground in June

POSTED: 06:00 AM PST Friday, January 11, 2008
BY TYLER GRAF

Winkler Naito Development announced Thursday it plans to break ground on the One Waterfront Place office building at 1201 N.W. Naito Parkway in June 2008.

Jim Winkler and Bob Naito are the developers of the $100 million project, and Boora Architects is designing the building, which is aiming for a platinum status in the Leadership in Energy and Environment Design program.

The news came after a Wednesday Portland Development Commission board meeting, at which the commissioners voted unanimously to redo the development’s terms. Under the new terms, the development team is responsible for the funding and ownership of One Waterfront Place’s $23 million parking structure.

Melvin Mark Brokerage will work as the leasing agent, and R & H Construction is the general contractors on the project.

[MarkDaMan]

http://www.djcoregon.com/_images/articles/djcsecond.0115onewaterfrontrenderingtif.jpg
Project greenlight: One Waterfront Place developer sets sights on June start date
In past 7 years, changes to project have included shifting of parking structure from public to private ownership
Daily Journal of Commerce
POSTED: 06:00 AM PST Tuesday, January 15, 2008
BY TYLER GRAF

If One Waterfront Place had been a movie, it would have been stuck in development hell – until now.

The development team behind the seven-years-in-the-waiting, class A office building announced last week it had green-lighted a June groundbreaking for the $100 million project, located north of the Broadway Bridge at 1201 N.W. Naito Parkway, barring any design-review problems.

The project’s co-developer, Jim Winkler, cites the long development period as a necessary hurdle in making the project work.

“When you have a period of time to think about something and look at it, things change, technology advances, so we’ve tried to incorporate everything we’ve learned in the interim,” said Winkler, who’s developing the building with Bob Naito.

And most important to the project, at a recent Portland Development Commission meeting, board members voted unanimously to reconfigure the terms of the development’s agreement, reverting the planned above-ground parking structure from public to private ownership. By changing the agreement, the PDC will save about $23 million and require the developers to fund and own the parking structure.

Following the PDC meeting, Winkler Naito Development announced plans to break ground on the 250,000-square-foot, 12-story building in June. The building hasn’t secured an anchor tenant yet, but the development’s brokers have re-opened talks with potential tenants.

Starting construction before naming an anchor tenant is not uncommon, according to Patricia Raicht, research manager for Grubb & Ellis.

“Portland is not really an anchor tenant city,” Raicht said. “It’s hard to pre-lease a project in downtown.”

And before the PDC changed the agreement, it was too soon to move forward, said Scott Andrews of Melvin Mark Brokerage Company, who is working as the development’s leasing agent.

Like a large and complicated puzzle, the PDC’s vote was the final piece before the developers and potential tenants could get a clear view of the project.

“It’s very difficult, especially with a (large firm), to get someone excited about a big project like this unless it’s really, really, really real,” Andrews said.

Brokers at Melvin Mark have been working with the developers for about eight months. After Winkler Naito Development announced its ground-breaking plans, a coordinated marketing effort began, with the immediate launch of a new Web site and the go-ahead from Melvin Mark to print a brochure for prospective tenants.

“This is definitely a good time to build downtown office space,” Raicht said.

That wasn’t always true. One Waterfront Place remained stagnant for years, due primarily to apprehension concerning the economic fallout of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Fox Tower, the last class A office building to rise in Portland, was completed six years ago. But with the current office vacancy rate at about 5.3 percent, office leasing analysts say it’s a good time to put up buildings in Portland. At least four major developments already are under construction in the downtown area: First and Main, the Lovejoy, Machineworks and Zimmer Gunsul Frasca’s 12th and Washington project, the only one that’s secured an anchor tenant. The first three projects on that list are expected to ask for between $30 and $35 per square foot, slightly above average due to their newness.

Despite the other office towers in the works, Winkler believes his uniquely designed, parallelogram-shaped building, situated on a larger block, will be attractive to tenants.

“By having 57,000 square feet instead of 40,000 square feet,” Winkler said, “it gives you an opportunity to create a sense of place – a kind of graciousness.”
http://www.djcoregon.com/articleDetail.htm/2008/01/15/Project-greenlight-One-Waterfront-Place-developer-sets-sights-on-June-start-date-In-past-7-years-cha

[tworivers]

Exciting.

Indeed, new website up at onewaterfrontplace.com (http://www.onewaterfrontplace.com)

[pdxman]

I'm glad this one is moving forward. Its about time the pearl started getting more office space. Hopefully this means that the people working in this building will live close to it.

[Dougall5505]

I, for one, don't like the design. it reminds me too much of this building near the waterfront (whats its name?)
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2324/2195848169_b0f3ca25fe_o.png
from google streetview

[MarkDaMan]

the sky bridge rendering on the website is freaking awesome! (under location)

[rsbear]

I, for one, don't like the design. it reminds me too much of this building near the waterfront (whats its name?)
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2324/2195848169_b0f3ca25fe_o.png
from google streetview

I'm not sure it's current name, but when built in the early 1980's it was One Pacific Square. Originally planned as the shortest of four identically shaped buildings, the tallest was to be 26 floors, that together with the existing NW Natural Gas block and another block, would have covered a total of 5 1/2 blocks. The graphics of the time didn't compare with today, but the model of those buildings superimposed on a photo of downtown looked sooooo cool. Like a little space city unto itself. In the end it's better that we didn't end up with it, but for the time, and in my teen years, I thought the proposal the most exciting thing the city had ever seen. Remember, that was 1980 or so.

[pdx2m2]

Which design don't you like? The website seems to show different buildings...some are the old design one or two are newer although partial images.

[pdxman]

You're right^^Some renderings make it seem like it will be more like the eliot but others suggest it is more like the building dougall was talking about. Here's hoping its more like the eliot.

[BrG]

From the renderings on the website it looks like the exterior skin changed dramatically from the old design (to a much more uniform exterior skin), and the footprint stayed pretty much unchanged.

Although the old fly-by animation (showing the old design) is still used as the intro to the website.

[tworivers]

Yeah, the original exterior pattern of windows and panels is a big aspect of what drew me so much to the building in the first place. Part of me is hoping that the new renderings, which have that surprisingly uniform and standard-issue-office-building looking skin, are included more for massing than anything else...

The bridge looks cool, though. Can't wait for that.

[MarkDaMan]

the rendering on the DJC article IS really awful. It looks squat and blocky. However, I too hope that the building itself will look more innovative.

[Sioux612]

http://www.boora.com/portfolio/winkler/onewaterfront/onewaterfront_01.jpg
http://www.boora.com/portfolio/winkler/onewaterfront/onewaterfront_02.jpg
http://www.boora.com/portfolio/winkler/onewaterfront/onewaterfront_03.jpg
http://www.boora.com/portfolio/winkler/onewaterfront/onewaterfront_04.jpg
http://www.boora.com/portfolio/winkler/onewaterfront/onewaterfront_05.jpg
http://www.boora.com/portfolio/winkler/onewaterfront/onewaterfront_06.jpg

[Dougall5505]

I like how they only did renderings of the skinny side and we won't see how beefy it will look from naito parkway

[pdx2m2]

I noticed that the website now has the current design in the animated fly-through.

[MarkDaMan]

I wonder if Waterfront Pearl will still have the green siding exposed when this tower is finally up and running, as depicted in the rendering :)

So, does the economy slow down enough to have this project stalled again? Or is the Pearl market strong enough to get this thing financed?

[MOPIdaho]

oops

[Sioux612]

http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa254/pdxprojects/waterfrontplace.jpg

[WonderlandPark]

aargh, what a waste. That view could be an anonymous glass office tower in Schaumburg IL, Silver Spring MD or Irvine CA. Trapezoid, cover in reflective glass, rinse, repeat. Hardly worthy of the waterfront. I liked the original proposal, but I guess they had to value engineer the crap out of the original and what we get is anonymous anywhere suburban USA midrise bleh. Sorry, I have been a big BOORA fan for years, but this thing is BOORING.

[tworivers]

Yeah, I really, really liked the original plans for the skin. Disappointing.

[zilfondel]

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2324/2195848169_b0f3ca25fe_o.png

It's really not that bad for 1980.

[MarkDaMan]

I don't want to get canned so if this post comes to haunt me, I will remove it.

I came across renderings of One Waterfront Place never released or seen here...with my employers name on the side of the building. And damn, they were some SEXY renderings! I mean it looked like an F'in GORGEOUS building. I do know my employer explores possibilities in the market when our lease comes up, and that will be in a few years, but I didn't expect to see that!

[tworivers]

^^ That has to be exciting.

Do we have any word at this point about the current status of this project? Is a June groundbreaking still a possibility??

[tworivers]

Hmmm. (http://portlandmaps.com/detail.cfm?action=Permits&folder=2747589&propertyid=R508395&state_id=1N1E34BB%20%20502&address_id=&intersection_id=&dynamic_point=0&x=7644244.288&y=687133.229&place=NO%20ADDRESS%20AVAILABLE&city=PORTLAND&neighborhood=PEARL&seg_id=0)
Lookin' pretty good.

[pdx2m2]

Groundbreaking won't be in june although hope to see it by late summer.

The project goes to the Design Commission June 19.

[tworivers]

How was the Design Commission hearing on 6/20?

Updates?

[360Rich]

Winkler set to act on
Saturday, July 12, 2008
The Oregonian

Who's up, down, and upside down in real estate

Winkler set to act on

One Waterfront plans Developer Jim Winkler's planned Pearl District office building, One Waterfront Place, has sweeping river views and a stunning design from BOORA Architects.

But the 12-story green building is still caught in a long-standing bind: It needs an anchor tenant.

Winkler has been working on One Waterfront Place since he won a competitive bid with the Portland Development Commission eight years ago. The project got pushed back by the post-Sept. 11 recession and Portland's sluggish office market.

Now that office development has overtaken condos as the city's top crane sprouter, Winkler's ready to move.

He and his team told the Daily Journal of Commerce in January that they hoped to break ground in June. Winkler says the schedule got set back when the city misplaced its design review file. Even so, Winkler, who is doing the building as a joint venture with Bob Naito, needs that big tenant to get the construction loan. Melvin Mark is the office broker and R&H Construction will build it.

Winkler and his team are chasing the same big Class-A type tenants as Portland developer Tom Moyer wants for his Park Avenue West office space and Shorenstein Properties, the office space giant from San Francisco, wants for its First and Main building. Moyer, with his own checkbook, and Shorenstein, with the Yale University endowment as an investor, have enough cash to start without anchor tenants.

Winkler says his lender wants the 269,000-square-foot building about 25 percent pre-leased before starting construction. With the banks taking hits from the housing slowdown, Winkler said he "would certainly not be surprised to see that increase."

"If we break ground in October, I'll be a happy camper," Winkler said.

Winkler's also working an 54-unit condo building along the Interstate MAX line. He hopes to break ground on the project in spring 2009.

http://www.oregonlive.com/business/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/business/1215822318123800.xml&coll=7

[MarkDaMan]

Oh no...I fear this building might never go up. It was held off by the slow economy for the past several years, and it appears we are in another very slow economy. So this project will disappear for another 5 years??? I hope not!

[bvpcvm]

i think this one's dead in the water...

[tworivers]

i think this one's dead in the water...


Certainly one has to wonder after reading that article about the office market falling. Funny how tiny PDX's market is. Throw in the competition from two other towers, a volatile economy, and a less-than-class-A location... I hope someone says 'yes', though, and makes it buildable. If only so that I no longer have to ride over that vacant lot with the piles of gravel. And after Mark said he saw some stellar renderings, that whetted my appetite.

[MarkDaMan]

^they are offering our company free parking for employees! Must be getting desperate. I still see the rendering that makes me cream around the office. Maybe I can sneak in my diggie cam and take some pictures of the rendering. I would of course have to blur out my company name on the side of the building.

We would also take up about 25% of the building...one can hope, but I have nothing to do with that decision. I saw a proposal for the Port of Portland building around the office too.

[pdx2m2]

I heard the first Design Review Hearing was generally positive. The Pearl Neighborhood approved the design and testified on behalf of the project at the Design Commission.

The main issue seemed to be some questions about creating a more active edge along the east side of the parking garage under the broadway bridge. Another issue was a suggestion to add a balcony on the east face of the tower to help activate the river.

I think the project is before the Design Commission again today and with luck will get appoved.

[pdx2m2]

Waterfront Place received design review approval with minimal change to the design. Now seems like they need a first tenant to keep going.

[tworivers]

Make a few phone calls, Mark... :)

[pdx2m2]

One Waterfront Place was pre-certified for LEED Platinum earning 53 points (45 are required for Platinum).

[tworivers]

No leasing news?

[tworivers]

One Waterfront Place precertified platinum
Developers are hoping that early LEED certification will help building attract tenants before it’s constructed

POSTED: 04:00 AM PDT Wednesday, August 13, 2008
BY TYLER GRAF
DJC

Winkler Naito Development announced last week that its nascent development One Waterfront Place has become the first proposed project on the West Coast to qualify for a new platinum-level Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification specifically for in-the-works buildings.

“LEED precertification” lets developers use the engineering and construction plans they already have to receive LEED certification before ground is even broken.

For co-developers Bob Naito and Jim Winkler, the precertification is a way of attracting tenants to the building by assuring them that the proposed building is on track to meet its sustainability goals, even if those goals are under the rubric of speculation.

Attracting younger, hipper and expanding businesses is the point of the LEED precertification, Naito said.

Still, there are no tenants signed to the building, and there’s no timeframe for the construction of the $100 million project, which would be located on Northwest Naito Parkway, he added.

The platinum precertification is an important next step for the project, said Ralph DiNola of Green Building Services, because after more than seven years of planning, design work and deals with the Portland Development Commission, One Waterfront’s developers don’t want the 270,000-square-foot project to lose its luster – or its momentum.

At the beginning of the year the developers said it would break ground in June. That time has come and gone, and Naito said ground-breaking would be placed on hold until the building could secure a major tenant or a collection of smaller tenants.

“Jim (Winkler) and I don’t have deep enough pockets to do this sort of thing without some level of pre-leasing,” he said. “You have to achieve a rent level to justify today’s construction costs.”

Before the lending industry went south, it was common for developers to put down 20 percent equity for an on-speculation development, said Chris Johnson, executive vice president of brokerage for Norris, Beggs and Simpson; now, equity is in the 35 to 40 percent range to account for today’s lower loans.

For a $100 million development such as One Waterfront Place, developers used to account for $20 million of a project up front. Now it’s $35 to $40 million.

For developers who can expend those financial resources – such as national real estate company Shorenstein Properties, the development firm behind the First & Main building – pre-leasing a building before construction is not as much an issue, Johnson, whose firm is doing that building’s leasing, said.

The common factor, though, is securing tenants.

The under-construction First & Main building, similar to One Waterfront Place, has yet to sign any tenants. But like the less expensive One Waterfront Place, its brokers at Norris, Beggs and Simpson place a high premium on marketing the building based on its sustainable features, Johnson said. The building will attempt LEED gold certification.

A major reason for seeking precertification for One Waterfront Place was to start the marketing engine underneath the project, he said.

“It’s already in (Winkler Naito Development’s) negotiations to make the building platinum, and (showing they can do that) may put it on the radar for new tenants,” DiNola said. “The value to all this is to have a LEED document that guarantees the building will be platinum.”

Among the energy-saving techniques that got the project to platinum status will be what’s known as energy sub-metering, wherein tenants are responsible for only their own energy use.

Tenants will even be able to track their energy use in real time on the Internet because “in four or five years people are going to expect this,” Naito said.

The building would also be able to reuse 100 percent of the outside air, so tenants could do a “night flush,” in which the building’s air would be completely re-circulated with chillier nighttime air, cooling the concrete slabs in the process.

Additionally, the building would use pedestal-raised floors, 14 inches above the slab. These concrete panels would be lifted, so maintenance workers could access the area under the walking surface, creating space under the floor where the building’s wiring and convenience power could go and allowing for greater movement of parts and accessibility to workers.

Yet despite the continued delay in ground-breaking and the subsequent marketing push, Naito remains optimistic about the office building market’s possibilities, citing the city’s need for space capable of accommodating larger tenants or those looking to expand.

He cited companies such as Jive Software, which is in the process of redeveloping 38,000 square feet in the former Portland branch of the Federal Reserve Building at 915 S.W. Stark St., as the sort of “green collar” company – that is, sustainability minded – that would be a good fit for the building. Computer software company Tripwire, which recently leased 36,000 square feet in One Main Place is another.

In fact, Naito envisions even bigger companies looking for space.

“Where else in the city can a tenant lease 70,000 square feet?” Naito asked.

[tworivers]

Wonder what the chances are...

One Waterfront gets another year
POSTED: Monday, January 18, 2010 at 02:59 PM PT
BY: Aaron Spencer

The developers of One Waterfront Place have another year to secure an anchor tenant for the planned commercial office building.

The Portland Development Commission last week extended its agreement with Winkler Naito Development, a partnership between Jim Winkler and Bob Naito. The deal between the PDC and Winkler Naito dates back to 2000. It’s been amended eight times before now.

One Waterfront Place is planned to be a 12-story, $100 million commercial office building north of the Broadway Bridge. The leasing company with the project, Melvin Mark Brokerage Company, has not yet secured an anchor tenant, but it has bought more time.

“We certainly hope we have something cooking by the end of the year,” said Tom Becic, Melvin Mark vice president.

Becic said his team is looking for corporate tenants who need large blocks of office space.

In a press release, the development team cited an “improving picture in the central business district’s Class A office market.” Vacancy rates in Portland area, especially in the suburbs, are expected to climb, but Becic pointed to reports by Grubb & Ellis and Cushman & Wakefield that paint a competitive picture of the downtown Portland market.

According to the Grubb & Ellis report, “as the various GSA requirements begin to land, vacancy in the CBD Class A market will decrease quickly and with no other new development likely in the foreseeable future, the market should return to relative health by 2011.”

[Sioux612]

So, they struck out with Vistas?

[urbanlife]

Well that was an oddly pointless article, so they get another year...so what, not like there are other developers knocking at the door for this site. Not much is happening right now.

[MarkDaMan]

Vestas isn't doing anything right now other then keeping their cramped space in several small buildings. :(

[tworivers]

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1365/4732623866_a0902b1f82_b.jpg

[2oh1]

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1365/4732623866_a0902b1f82_b.jpg

That's hilarious! Twelve stories of gradel indeed.

[NJD]

A decade in, Portland's One Waterfront Place high-end office tower remains grounded
By Brad Schmidt, The Oregonian Friday, January 14, 2011

http://media.oregonlive.com/portland_impact/photo/9197169-large.jpg

Portland's next high-end office tower will be a Pearl District landmark, an iconic, curved-glass beauty ahead of its time for green innovation.

That's the pitch developers Jim Winkler and Bob Naito have been making for more than 10 years. But now the most accurate assessment is this: The future of One Waterfront Place, poised to be the Pearl's largest office building, is more uncertain than ever.

The perpetually stalled $100 million project met its latest and perhaps most significant setback Friday as the developers' longstanding agreement with the Portland Development Commission, the city's urban renewal agency, expired.

That doesn't necessarily kill the deal. But at a minimum, it complicates commitments for a parking garage and a taxpayer-funded pedestrian bridge that have been considered integral pieces of the project. And it opens the door for the PDC, which has run up about $1.2 million in expenses on the project, to take control of the land.

The saga underscores the difficulty of building office space in Portland after the dot-com bust and a historic recession. Still, they also missed the hottest real estate market in generations.

If anything, the failure to move One Waterfront Place forward is more indicative of challenges at a site too far from the action downtown or the central Pearl -- and of the developers' inability to land a major tenant. It also marks the most high-profile project involving the PDC that, despite an $8.5 million taxpayer pledge, hasn't gotten off the ground.

"Eleven years is a long development window," PDC Commissioner Charles Wilhoite said Friday. "We have to sit back and make decisions about reasonableness and viable opportunities. And when you start to get into double-digit years before we see a groundbreaking, you have to ask yourself whether it's going to happen and whether we should remain financially committed to this project."

Winkler and Naito still say they plan to keep looking for anchor tenants, which are crucial to persuade would-be lenders to finance the building. If they land some, PDC officials say they'd be interested in working something out.

"I don't view this as a vote of no confidence," Winkler said.

"A legacy project"

When the PDC began recruiting developers to the Pearl in the late 1990s to remake the Burnside Brewery Blocks and rail yards near Union Station, Winkler and Naito couldn't resist.

It was 1999, and PDC officials wanted visionaries to build a soaring hub with 1,000 jobs to anchor the north side of the newest urban renewal district.

The 3.2-acre site had its share of complications. Aside from the distance to other offices, all traditionally south of Burnside Street, the location was an island of sorts. To the east, busy Naito Parkway. To the west, a no man's land of railroad tracks. And to the south, bisecting a quarter of the property, the Broadway Bridge.

But isolation offered something else: prominence.

"Here you have a tremendous amount of air, light and visibility," said Winkler, who developed Adidas' North American headquarters in North Portland. "We designed something that we thought was a legacy project for us."

PDC officials in 2000 selected Winkler and Naito, who promised to build a glimmering 12-story tower with 250,000 square feet of office space ripe for a corporate headquarters.

The developers bought 1.3 acres from PDC for almost $1.55 million, and the agency agreed to spend $23 million to build and own a 700-stall parking garage on the rest of the site.

Design plans impressed: With Boora Architects collaborating, the building would have an eco-roof, stormwater collection, an outdoor sculpture garden and LEED Platinum pre-certification. Construction was set to begin by December 2002.

But leasing commitments never materialized. By January 2008, the PDC board of commissioners had authorized seven amendments pushing back the schedule. This time, officials renegotiated key details, requiring the developers -- not taxpayers -- to build and own a 500-stall parking garage below the Broadway Bridge.

PDC did plan to chip in $4.5 million toward a pedestrian bridge over the railroad tracks, plus $4 million to help finance the developers' purchase of the garage land.

No one knew a historic recession was just around the corner, with real estate the biggest victim. The new January 2010 deadline came and went. Given the financial circumstances, officials decided, Winkler and Naito deserved more time and extended the agreement to Jan. 14, 2011.

"A very narrow niche"

As One Waterfront Place stalled, other big buildings sprouted.

In 1999, the 23-story ODS Tower opened on Southwest Morrison near Pioneer Place. A year later, Tom Moyer's 27-story Fox Tower debuted on Southwest Broadway. Last year, San Francisco-based Shorenstein Properties opened First & Main and secured leases from several government agencies. In all, that's about 1.2 million square feet of new downtown Class A office space.

And in the Pearl, the Machine Works building and The Lovejoy added almost an additional 100,000 square feet of high-end space in recent years.

"I'm surprised it didn't get off the ground when things were getting off the ground," Patricia Gardner, who co-chairs a Pearl District committee that advises PDC, said of One Waterfront Place.

Mike Holzgang, senior vice president at the Colliers International brokerage, said he expects enough demand for the next office tower to be in the 250,000-square-foot range proposed for One Waterfront Place.

But Holzgang said the project, like other stalled PDC efforts including the Burnside Bridgehead and Centennial Mills, were conceived in markets of yesteryear.

"Although it fills a certain niche for a corporate type of user, it's a very narrow niche," Holzgang said.

Under the latest agreement, Winkler and Naito were supposed to buy the land for the garage from PDC by Friday. Office tower construction was to begin Monday. With neither happening, three of five PDC board members could decide to buy back the office-tower property (two have conflicts and can't vote).

But a PDC buyback would require not only land costs but also reimbursement to Winkler and Naito for several million dollars of predevelopment expenses. And the deal's expiration gives agency officials more flexibility to market the 1.9 acres it still owns for something other than a parking garage.

For now, a PDC takeover seems unlikely.

"It's disappointing," Portland Mayor Sam Adams said. "I think the developers have a great vision and a good piece of land. They just haven't been able to execute on their vision."

In recent months, Winkler and Naito have been at City Hall, asking about officials' long-term plans for the Bureau of Environmental Services. The bureau may be in the market for 75,000 square feet -- a sizable amount but not enough to launch One Waterfront Place.

Undeterred, the developers talk up their project.

"We can deliver more rapidly than anyone else. We don't have to go design it and get it approved; it is approved and designed," Winkler said. "All we've got to do is get it leased, a loan and start building."

http://media.oregonlive.com/portland_impact/photo/9197171-small.jpg

[tworivers]

Um, Centennial Mills is "stalled"?

[Tykendo]

To call this building, "iconic" , is laughable. Decent design, yes, but nothing to water (no pun intended) the mouth over.

[tworivers]

The project that would not die... Glad to know this is still at least a possibility, both for the building itself (parking garage, not so much) as well as the pedestrian bridge over the tracks.

One Waterfront Place may be ready before Park Avenue West, broker claims (http://djcoregon.com/dailyblog/2011/11/07/one-waterfront-place-may-be-ready-before-park-ave-west-broker-claims/#more-75345)
By Angela Webber, DJC
November 7th, 2011

TMT Development added some certainty to its big hole in the ground last week, announcing that construction on the Park Avenue West office tower would resume… though likely not before 2013.

That leads us to ask… what’s happening with Portland’s other long-unbuilt office tower, One Waterfront Place?

Melvin Mark brokerage Vice President Tom Becic says the 12-story, 270,000 square-foot office tower project is shovel ready and is just waiting on a large (100,000-square-foot or so) tenant to move forward.

That’s not really new news, of course. One Waterfront Place has been a project on the books since 1999. The office tower and adjacent garage, proposed by developers Jim Winkler and Bob Naito, was the subject of a disposition and development agreement with the Portland Development Commission starting in 2000. Between 2000 and 2010, that DDA was amended or restated eight times. The final PDC agreement expired this January.

Becic says he still expects to see PDC and the city supporting the project when it goes forward, in one way or another. That’s because he believes the building supports the city’s goals of green development as it has been pre-approved at LEED platinum status. He also suspects a tenant, possibly coming from outside the city or state, could bring hundreds of jobs, which is another prospect that could merit local government support.

The Park Avenue West announcement on Friday was a mix of good and bad news: on the one hand, certainty is a good thing – as long as TMT can stick with its 2013 construction restart date. On the other hand, however, the timeline is a sort of resignation on the part of TMT, acknowledging that it doesn’t think it will have a tenant able to move in for another four years (at the end of 2015.)

Becic feels like One Waterfront Place can do better than that, and could even be “ready to go faster” than already-started Park Avenue West, because the One Waterfront Place project doesn’t need to dig a hole for underground parking.

“An advantage for us is that we’re ready to rock and roll with the right tenant,” Becic said. If that happens, permits will be ready in “weeks, not months,” he said, and the building could be open in two years. The project already has financing secured, pending a tenant agreement, Becic said.

(Note: the broker on Park Avenue West said that project could go forward before 2013 if it secured a tenant, as well. Between now and then, however, the team is moving the crane-off the site and constructing an 8-foot wall to serve as an art project for local youth – to make the next two years of presumed inaction more attractive for passersby.)

Representatives on both projects agree that the low Class-A vacancy rate in Portland is positive for their projects. According to Grubb & Ellis’ recent analysis, Portland’s Class A commercial vacancy rate in the third quarter of 2011 was just 6.5 percent, which means that Portland has the second-lowest vacancy rate of any major metropolitan area in the country.

That will be good news for the projects – but only if a large tenant starts looking for space and picks one of those two buildings to move into. In “normal” economic times, financing may have been available for these projects on a speculative basis – that is, without a tenant already on board. For now, the projects will be completely dependent on tenants. Where are they?

PS: Former DJC reporter Nick Bjork predicted that one of these two projects would go forward this year. Is that still a plausible prediction?

http://djcoregon.com/dailyblog/files/2011/11/One-Waterfront-Place.jpg

[Okstate]

Off topic but hasn't the West End area announced an office midrise in the coming years as well on the surface parking lot of 10th and Stark? Can't remember who the potential developer was/is.

[tworivers]

^^^ Pretty sure it was Gerding-Edlen and was just a possibility rather than an announcement. Also, it's 10th and Washington. Part-owned by City Center Parking AKA "Uptown Developers".

[Derek]

I hope that gets built soon. I live right next to that eye sore/mud pit. :P

[twofiftyfive]

Just seeing that rendering brings back memories of a time when the future looked much brighter than it does now.

[Okstate]

^^^ Pretty sure it was Gerding-Edlen and was just a possibility rather than an announcement. Also, it's 10th and Washington. Part-owned by City Center Parking AKA "Uptown Developers".

I never saw anything about 10th/Washington...isn't that the surface parking lot that houses the largest and most famous food cart pod in the city?

I did see something on 10th and Stark..i'll look for it...sometime.