Lloyd District News

[PDXPaul]

I agree about the convention business, I remember reading some articles that stated that the government subsidies involved in convention centers don't really pan out. But really that's just the way it goes.

[zilfondel]

^ but we already have a convention center. so that's a moot point, like it or not. the question is whether a hotel will improve its performance.

[pdxtraveler]

I definitely think it would improve the performance of the CC. Especially if they went with Starwood, as the Ashforth perposal did. Starwood has a whole group on conventions that they rotate through the hotels they manage, so you get a built in group of conventions on a rotating basis.

[Snowden352]

I think what is at issue is the cost/benefit ratio. Is the cost of the CC hotel less than the benefits; an akward way of saying do the benefits outweigh the costs? Specifically, would the profits from conventions offset the costs of a 150 million dollar hotel? What if it's built and the benefits aren't as great--would the government owned hotel have to compete with the private hotel industry in order to turn a profit? If so, this leads down a slippery slope of subsidizing the hotel in order to compete more effectively (taking advantage of a government patronship); etc., etc., etc.

I think these are the things the public, and by extension Metro should be considering. I'm just saying...

[PDXPaul]

Exactly, we lost money on the CC, and its possible we could continue to lose money even w/ the hotel. But maybe not. I'm not against the hotel by any means, I'm just saying. There might be some argument in that a HQ hotel could build moment for redevelopment on that side of the river, which I think we'd all like to see.

[MarkDaMan]

would be nice if this leads to another office tower in the Lloyd

Fresh off some big moves, Integra signs large lease
A new transaction commits the firm to the Lloyd District
Portland Business Journal - August 24, 2007
by Wendy Culverwell
Business Journal staff writer

In one of the largest office lease deals of the year, Integra Telecom Inc. has leased 49,000 square feet at Ashforth Pacific Inc.'s Lloyd Center Tower.

The transaction doubles Portland-based Integra's footprint in the Lloyd District to more than 100,000 square feet.

John Nee, vice president for corporate communications, said the first employees will move to the tower in December, following a speedy effort to construct the new offices.

Integra, which provides business telecommunications services in eight Western states, intends to house its Oregon operations on floors 12, 13 and 14 of the 20-story tower, which is chiefly known as the corporate headquarters of PacifiCorp.

The Integra Telecom of Oregon Inc. unit currently works at its company headquarters at the nearby 1201 Lloyd building.

Integra houses both its corporate functions and its Oregon operations team in the Lloyd District. Its other markets are served by their own local support centers.

The new lease allows Integra to keep its Portland-area employees in the same district while accommodating rapid growth.

Integra doubled in 2006 when it acquired Electric Wave, a Vancouver telecommunications business. It will double again this month when it completes the acquisition of Eschelon Telecom Inc., based in Minneapolis. The $771 million Eschelon deal is scheduled to close Aug. 31.

On completion of the deal, Integra's revenue is expected to grow to more than $710 million, more than double the expected 2007 revenue of $340 million. Integra has 1,100 employees. Eschelon has 1,400 workers.

Integra's growth was further bolstered earlier this month by a $245 million equity investment by global equity firm Warburg Pincus.

"A tremendous vote of confidence," Integra co-founder Dudley Slater said.

Integra committed early on to expanding in its Lloyd neighborhood, Nee said.

Access to the MAX light-rail line is a critical element for the company, which has a "substantial" number of employees who commute by bus and train from Vancouver.

The deal was brokered by Colliers International and Ashforth Pacific.

At 49,000 square feet, Integra's Lloyd Center Tower deal is the second largest office transaction in the Portland area to date, and the largest new lease.

The largest deal, a renewal, was Waggener Edstrom Worldwide Inc's agreement to remain in its 70,175-square-foot quarters at Three Centerpointe in the Kruse Way area.

wculverwell@bizjournals.com | 503-219-3415
http://portland.bizjournals.com/port...ml?t=printable

[PacificNW]

⬆ Or downtown would be cool..

[CouvScott]

Interesting that this tower has made it to the pre application conference before the manhattan tower has started construction...



http://www.portlandonline.com/shared....cfm?id=166444

[pdxman]

So this is actually going to get built? I thought it was on hold...as well as the manhattan

[Drew-Ski]

If population forecasts hit projected targets of 125,000 in the next 20+ years, can you imagine how many more towers like the Cosmo will be needed. Take a conservative guess of 25% (or 31,000) of newcomers live in point towers and the ave tower has approx 250 units, with an ave. of 2.5 persons/unit/tower (625 persons/tower) and divide that into 31,000 and you get almost 50 towers or 4 SOWA's!!!! Something to think about.

[Sioux612]

Originally Posted by Drew-Ski

If population forecasts hit projected targets of 125,000 in the next 20+ years, can you imagine how many more towers like the Cosmo will be needed. Take a conservative guess of 25% (or 31,000) of newcomers live in point towers and the ave tower has approx 250 units, with an ave. of 2.5 persons/unit/tower (625 persons/tower) and divide that into 31,000 and you get almost 50 towers or 4 SOWA's!!!! Something to think about.

Could be less if height limits for point towers are raised, like Weston wants. If I remember correctly, Weston wants no height limits for future point towers.

[Dougall5505]

Developer plans more point towers
Sunday, August 26, 2007
By JEFF KUECHLE
The 26-story Benson Tower is Portland's first "point tower," but it won't be the last. Despite the fact that point towers are more logistically complex and expensive to build (on a per-square-foot basis) than standard residential towers, Joe Weston, one of the most influential residential developers in the city, has fully embraced the concept.

Encouraged by buyer enthusiasm for the Benson Tower, with the building more than 80 percent sold in late July, Weston has two more point towers on the drawing board: the Manhattan Tower at Southwest 14th Avenue and Alder Street in downtown Portland, and the Cosmopolitan, across the street from the site of the old Cosmopolitan Motor Hotel on Southeast Grand Avenue in the Lloyd District.

"I'm convinced (the point-tower concept) is the way the city of Portland should go," Weston said. "By transferring floor area ratio (the city's primary mechanism for regulating density and building height) from one half of the block to the other, you can build the towers higher and achieve the same density per block, with more open space between buildings. It makes for a much more inviting, livable city at street level while preserving the view corridors of the buildings around you."

The visionary who conceived the Benson Tower, the late Eric van Doorninck, was inspired by the tall, slim towers of his native Vancouver, B.C. He was convinced that the height, views and intimacy of the building (only five to seven units per floor) would wow buyers -- and it appears he was correct.

Point towers aren't easy to build. Because of their small floorplates (the upper floors of the Benson Tower cover only about 6,000 square feet), subcontractors can't work on top of one another, and plumbing, electrical, plaster-wallboard and finish work have to be carefully orchestrated. But in an increasingly competitive Portland condo market, they're a marketable way to set a building apart from the crowd.

"We have a lot of competition (in the downtown condo market) these days -- I take that as a compliment," Weston said. "I think sales will continue -- there are still a lot of people who want to live in the Pacific Northwest."

[Sioux612]

Is the Manhattan still a go to be built this fall? It also looks like the Cosmopolitan isn't too far behind either.

[EastPDX]

http://www.amaa.com/portfolio/projec...858bd170da2162

Noticed the links to the renderings were not yet working correctly though.

EP

[Drew-Ski]

Originally Posted by CouvScott

Interesting that this tower has made it to the pre application conference before the manhattan tower has started construction...



http://www.portlandonline.com/shared....cfm?id=166444

Does anybody have any updated info as per Pre-Application Conference, or if this building is schedualed to go before the Design Committee and/or new info since this post was last recorded? I am really excited about this project because I believe this will have a immediate impact both visually and economically for the LLoyd Distric. Could be a strong catalyst for accellerated development in the area.

[PacificNW]

I have a question: Is it feasible that Metro/and a private developer (such as Weston) could partner in the financing and construction of the headquarters hotel along with condo's on the top floors....similar to the new Westin Hotel/Condo tower that was constructed in Bellevue?

The city/Metro could give Weston (or another developer) some legal breaks that would help the develop pencil out financially. Imagine a 40-50 story complex across the street from the convention center OR is Weston's present parcel a viable location for the headquarters hotel?

[PDX City-State]

Metro should not be in the hotel business.

[PacificNW]

....I don't know whether they should be involved, or not, but is the idea of the combined public/private, or private only development feasible for (Weston's)Cosmopolitan lot? Or should Weston, or others, be invited to the table to develop the proposed headquarters hotel site? (Maybe make a land trade, etc. with Weston.)

[Snowden352]

I think that any kind of private-public partnership wouldn't at this time pencil out financially. The condo market has kind of bottomed out (and there is an excess of condos becoming available soon). So, no... of course this is only speculation from a hobby-ist...

And I agree, Metro shouldn't be in the hotel business.

[PacificNW]

So, Weston is not going to built the Cosmopolitan? This is a fact?
If so, I don't know why he is going through the pre-application process....unless, he feels that the condo market will be healthier in a couple years, or so, when the project is completed.