NW Real Estate News

PDX: Port moves forward with more parking, new HQ

Link: Port moves forward on $247M HQ at PDX.

"The development would add 3,000 long-term parking stalls, 500 rental car spaces and 194,000 square feet of office space for staff now housed at the port’s headquarters, built for $20 million in 1999, in Old Town/Chinatown." The project is expected to cost $247 million.

Early indications are that the project is targeting a LEED Gold or Platinum ranking from the U.S. Green Building Council.

PDC solicits proposals for Riverplace site

While much of the excitement along the waterfront is focused on the South Waterfront, two parcels remain undeveloped in the earlier Riverplace district. GlobeSt is reporting that the PDC has finally issued an RFP for Parcel #8, which would allow for a maximum 340,500 SF building on the 1.1 acre site.

According to the article:

Parcel 8 in Riverplace is one of two remaining parcels in Riverplace. The only other undeveloped parcel in Riverplace is lot #3, an approximately two-acre site immediately south of Parcel #8, at the corner of SW River Parkway and SW Moody Avenue, next to Pacificorp's Lincoln substation. The PDC expects to issue an RFP for the property sometime in 2006.

Immediately to the north of Parcel #8 is the in-progress $100-million Strand condominium development, a waterfront restaurant and a parking structure for residential and commercial parking. Immediately east of the property is the eight-story 2100 SW River Parkway office building and the 258-room Marriot Residence Inn, which are both located along the Willamette River.

West of the property are 490 housing units, 46,000 sf of retail and restaurants as well as the newly renovated 84-room luxury RiverPlace Hotel. To the north, on the adjacent Parcel 1, a $90-million mixed-use project is now pending redevelopment that will provide approximately 220 residential condominiums, a destination waterfront restaurant and a sub-grade structure for residential and commercial public visitor parking by 2007. A Portland Streetcar stop is located immediately to the south of the site.

Developers, start your creative engines....

At last...Convention Center Hotel finalist announced

After several meetings and much delay, the finalist for the Oregon Convention Center Headquarters Hotel has been announced. Quick details: 23 stories, 400 units, Westin flag. Developer: Ashforth Pacific/Garfield Traub). The Oregonian briefly covers it here and GlobeSt.com has a bit more information here. From GlobeSt's coverage:

After 10 meetings over seven months, the Headquarters Hotel Evaluation Committee is recommending the development team of locally based Ashforth Pacific Inc. and Dallas based Garfield Traub Development be chosen as the preferred developer for a convention-focused hotel across from the recently expanded Oregon Convention Center in the Lloyd District.

Many people may be curious why the Ashforth Pacific/Garfield proposal won. Again, from GlobeSt:

• team members’ substantial experience in the development of hotel properties and in real estate financing
• the experience, depth and name recognition of the Westin hotel brand
• clear articulation of the financial challenges and options for both public and private financial models
• thoroughness and quality of the financial analysis and business plan
• a commitment of equity to the project

It will be interesting to see where things go from here. This is only an advisory recommendation and the PDC may not follow it when it votes on this in mid-October. For those interested, information on three upcoming public meetings is available here. Still to be sorted out, of course, is the precise financing mix. Ashforth Pacific has apparently requested $80 million in public money for this $144 million project. Will this prove a worthwhile use of Portland tax dollars? Only time will tell. One data point suggests it may be worth it: "By not having a headquarters hotel, research by the Portland Oregon Visitors Association indicates the city is missing out on an additional $180 million of economic impact." And that's not small change.

Read previous posts on this topic here, here and here.

PDC, Menashe Finally Agree on Convention Hotel Site Price

GlobeSt is reporting today the PDC and Barry Menashe have come to an agreement on the price for the 18,000 SF parcel across the street from the Oregon Convention Center. The site is the city's preferred site for a convention headquarters hotel (proposals of which are still being evaluated by PDC; see archived post here). The final negotiated settlement values the land at $4.25 million, closer to what Mr. Menashe had hoped to get for the property and well north of the $2.5 million orginally offered by the PDC. GlobeSt:

When asked about the fact that the negotiated price appears to be much closer to what Menashe wanted than what the city wanted, city attorney Matt Baines tells GlobeSt.com that the city negotiated a settlement based on the appraisals from both sides and an analysis of the risk of going to trial. "We determined this was reasonable," he says.

Now that the PDC has its trophy piece of land, it will be interesting to see how things progress from here. With responses to the PDC's request for revised proposals due this Friday (08/05), the timeline for selecting a developer is now slated for mid-October, or about 90 days behind the original schedule.

Housing Data: Overvalued, Undervalued...

This link has a nice summary of national housing values by market. Portland is considered "overvalued" by 21%. Anyone feeling like this is bubble just waiting to burst? (via Kottke)

Craigslist Real Estate on Google Maps

If you like to keep tabs on the residential real estate market, you will love this new tool. It is an excellent idea and a brilliant execution. Paul Rademacher at the University of North Carolina, who wrote his doctoral dissertation on measuring the perceived visual realism of images, combined Craigslist real estate listings with Google Maps. Learn more here.

Portland Finally Becomes a Top 25 Retail Market

The Portland metro area improved five spots to 25th in this year’s National Retail Index, a report by Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Brokerage Company that ranks 41 retail markets based on a series of 12-month forward-looking supply and demand indicators.

Among the report's predictions:

• Retail construction will decrease slightly to 1 million SF
• Kohl's will develop its first three stores in Oregon
• The retail vacancy in the Portland metro area will improve 0.3% to 6.2%
• Average asking rents will rise 2% to $19.39/SF.  The NW/Downtown submarket will continue to have the highest average lease rates at $21.50/SF, while outer SE/Gresham will have the lowest average lease rates at $13.75/SF
• Single-tenant net-leased properties, grocery-anchored centers and strip retail with a strong tenant mix will remain the investments of choice in 2005

In other news, the PDC is readying to spruce up the streetscape of Old Town/Chinatown with palm trees (among other things) in a bid to refresh that district. And the Portland City Council appears ready to adjust its design plan for Cascade Station to allow retailers as large as 205,000 SF (not coincidentally the same size floor plate that Ikea was desiring). Previously, the plan precluded any tenants larger than 60,000 SF.

Washington Square Expansion Underway

After Christmas, I headed to Nordstrom at Washington Square for the Men's Sale and discovered that the majority of the parking lot between that anchor and Meier & Frank was fenced off. So that's where they are expanding the mall, I thought.

Now it's official: construction started on Friday. Today's DJC is reporting:

Among the stores expanding into Oregon are Papyrus, a stationer; Janie and Jack, which sells children’s clothing; Sephora, which carries makeup and personal beauty products; Occhiale Da Sole, which specializes in sunglasses; Painted With Oil, a fine art gallery; and Naartjie, which also sells children’s clothing. Other stores coming to the mall include Godiva Chocolatier; Chico’s; Janeville, a women’s clothing store; Essenza, a perfumery; Gigi Spa, an Aveda concept salon; and White House/Black Market, a women’s clothing store. The mall is also in talks with The Cheesecake Factory.

PDC Acknowledges Need to Improve 10th & Morrison Parking Garage

The PDC is finally acknowledging what has been pretty apparent to others for a long time: the SmartPark parking garage at 10th & Morrison has become among the least appealing in the city, due to loitering, homeless people and foul scents in the stairwells. Recognizing that this is negatively impacting the retail climate of the neighboring properties, the PDC is now pledging to make a multi-million dollar upgrade to the property. In conjunction with Boora Architects, three conceptual proposals have been developed, ranging in cost from $4.7M to $7.5M.

Update: Convention Center Hotel Proposals Released

This morning's Daily Journal of Commerce covers the release of the four proposals the PDC is considering for a Convention Center Hotel. A previous post discusses the proposals.