First and Main | 251 feet | 16 floors | Complete

[MarkDaMan]

1st & Main groundbreaking starts office tower race
Shorenstein gets a jump on Tom Moyer with its 16-story downtown project
POSTED: 06:00 AM PDT Friday, September 28, 2007
BY LIBBY TUCKER
Daily Journal of Commerce

California developer Shorenstein Properties broke ground Wednesday on downtown’s 16-story First & Main, and the race is on to build Portland’s first new class-A office tower in nearly a decade.

Six months after Shorenstein purchased a $1 billion portfolio of Portland properties once owned by Equity Office, the developer is pushing ahead with its tower at Southwest First Avenue and Main Street.

“This is a big vote of confidence in the Portland market,” Glenn Shannon, president of Shorenstein, said.

Shorenstein officially entered the competition for commercial tenants with developer Tom Moyer, who in January announced plans for Park Avenue West, a 33-story office and residential tower a few blocks west of the First and Main site.

Moyer’s 27-story Fox Tower in 2000 was the last class-A building to rise in downtown Portland.

Wednesday’s ceremony ended months of speculation over Shorenstein’s plans for the First and Main site from commercial real estate agents and developers and made way for the brokers to begin leasing its 346,500 square feet of office and retail space, Sean Turley, an agent with Norris, Beggs & Simpson, said.

The brokers have not yet secured any office or retail tenants for the building.

“This is the real deal; it’s not speculative anymore,” Shannon said. “And all indications are we’re ahead of Moyer.”

Contractor Hoffman Construction Co. estimates First & Main will be complete in 2011. Moyer hasn’t broken ground on his new tower.

With little new office construction this decade even as Portland’s economy has improved, the city is ripe for new office space, Shannon said. The developer hopes to attract growing law and financial planning firms that are in cramped, noncontiguous spaces.

“We want to be the first one to present that opportunity; new space is a business advantage,” Shannon said.

http://www.djcoregon.com/articleDeta...-with-its-16st

[MarkDaMan]

Moyer’s 27-story Fox Tower in 2000 was the last class-A building to rise in downtown Portland.

Ummm, the Pearl is downtown...not the CBD, but most people would consider anything within the 405 loop and the Lloyd to be downtown. People come to Blazer games downtown, they come to first Thursday downtown, they come to ride the tram downtown, they watch shows in the Armory downtown. So those offices in the Brewery Blocks would, IMHO, be downtown too.

I know, not a big deal, but when I read that again and again in papers it irks me.

[Snowden352]

Mark? Maybe it's because I was born and raised here, but whenever someone refers to downtown, I always think of that area that's bound by burnside, i-405 and the river. Perhaps people's definition is shifting, but I think that for the most part downtown is still just that bit of the city. The Pearl is essentially a neighborhood bordering downtown, but it's not downtown; the same for the south waterfront and the lloyd. Of course, I could be out of touch from things...

at any rate, I'm curious to know why this project would take at least three years to finish.

[PacificNW]

Times and situations evolve. The new office tower being built by ZGF is "right across Burnside" from the Pearl. Isn't this tower, along with other West End construction, considered part of downtown? I think downtown has grown to include the Pearl. Hasn't Chinatown always been considered part of downtown? The train station? The main U.S. Postal Handling Facility? ...and to many people the Lloyd District is part of downtown...

[Eagle rock]

I agree with snowden. Traditionally Downtown is 405, the river, Burnside. The other side of Burnside is either Oldtown or the Pearl, which used to be a barren warehouse district so it was definetly not considered downtown.

However, some suburbanites consider NW 23ed downtown and probably most of the inner east side.

[Sioux612]

Is there any final renderings for this project?

[Snowden352]

Yeah, check out the gbd architects site (www.gbdarchitects.com); they have a few renderings.

[MarkDaMan]

I was talking from a suburban or visitor perspective. Since 75% of Portland's metro population lives outside of Portland city limits, they usually consider the style, planning, blocks, streetcar, stadiums, shopping districts, night life districts and such as downtown. Even I, who has also lived here most of my life with a few multiple year exception, consider the central city districts as downtown. Of course while I was growing up the Pearl wasn't the Pearl, there was no South Waterfront, Central Eastside wasn't about to be rejuvenated, and the Lloyd was the mall, so the definition and boundaries has certainly evolved.

[zilfondel]

Still can't believe it's only 16 stories.

[zilfondel]

A new tallest better not just be a boring rectangle, either.

[NJD]

^If you look at the zoning code you will see that 16 stories is about max height for that parcel... hopefully, after the much needed Central City Plan update, there will be an increase in height along the waterfront area so that those surface parking lots along front, 1st and 2nd Avenues get built up.

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by zilfondel

A new tallest better not just be a boring rectangle, either.

I second that.

[PacificNW]

I agree, Mark, I have always thought that the Lloyd District was primed for the tallest tower in the city....those are "super blocks" over there vs. the dt 200' square blocks.....more blocks available for future development over in the Lloyd, also..

[alexjon]

What is the theoretical FAA allowed height limit for the downtown area?

[NJD]

Flight paths are over Sauvie Island, Columbia River Gorge and over East Portland... I would guess at least 1600' judging by the broadcast towers on the West Hills.

[alexjon]

Oh man, there go my plans for building the next tallest on sauvie island.

We should start a grassroots campaign to draw people into Portland to build their office buildings downtown.

[PacificNW]

I think Portland lacks serious and focused efforts in trying to attract existing major corporations for the regional offices let alone their National/International headquarters. I remember when I lived in Dallas, TX their efforts were huge and focused. They attracted quite a few Fortune 500 companies to locate offices there during that time.

[Sioux612]

When we are talking about the next tallest in Portand, what is the height you would expect the city to approve?

700'? 800+'?

[mudshark]

I'm thinking 600-700 if it was downtown. I think it would look odd if it was any taller than that. But then again who knows? One thing we all do know though and that is the NIMBYs are going to do their best to keep it from happening.

One tall skinny tower isn't going to ruin a view of Mt. Hood. I kind of like the idea of a tallest in the Lloyd district too. That area has so much potential. Keeping fingers crossed that as time goes on and P-town gathers the population that is being predicted, that the Lloyd area densifies more and more.

Portland is awesome with all these districts we have so close to downtown.

[Sioux612]

How cool would this be