The ft.² Report » new office

Obviously, the activity level has picked up over the last two weeks. In particular, financial services groups are making moves, for the most part to restructure and cut rental costs by either downsizing the amount of square feet they need or lowering their rent obligations.

GeneralBizDex (consulting|finance|insurance|legal|other)

Central Business District

Cable Huston – Congress Center | 1001 SW Fifth Ave | 15,641 SF renewal

Key Bank – 1001 NW 14th Ave | 4,850 SF

Washington Trust - Public Services Bldg | 920 SW Sixth Ave | 7,694 SF

Westside

Bowersox Lawyers – Kruse Woods I | 5285 Meadows Rd | 1,705 SF

Carlson & Swanlund LLC – Fairway Center | 9115 SW Oleson Rd | 2,495 SF

Maclaren & Whearty LLP - Fairway Center | 9115 SW Oleson Rd | 2,633 SF renewal

Provident Funding – 4000 Kruse Way Place | 1,609 SF

MetLife Bank, National Associates – 4949 Meadows Rd | 9,064 SF

Acumen Financial - Willamette Crossing | 8995 SW Miley Rd | 2,916 SF

Grange Capital - Tigard Triangle Commons | 11850 SW 68th | 2,329 SF

Cobalt Mortgage - Kruse Woods III | 5005 Meadows Rd | 1,992 SF renweal

Eastside

Dealer Services Corp - Airport Plaza | 5933 NE Win Sivers Dr | 1,822 SF

PRG Schultz USA - 4020 SE International Way | 3,600 SF

MediaDex (traditional|digital|research)

Eastside

Jim Beam Brands - Minthorn Biz Ctr | 4099 SE International Way | 3,685 SF renewal

DesignDex (a/e|consulting|graphic_d)

Eastside

Linea Recta International – 6040 N. Cutter Circle | 13,000 SF

NonProfDex (charitable|education)

Westside

Ashmead Education - Plaza West | 9600 SW Oak St | 20, 646 SF renewal

Portland Community College - Capitol Park | 9700 SW Capitol Highway | 5,300 SF

Eastside

SCRAP – 2915 NE MLK King Jr Boulevard | 7,395 SF

State of Oregon, Dept of Human Svcs - Cascade Business Ctr | 10775 SW Cascade Ave | 27,071 SF

Vancouver

Purple Language Services - VancouverCenter | 700 Washington St | 5,201 SF

Big Tenant Migrates Downtown

squarefeetpdx — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 01:00:16 +0000

(source: CoStar)

After watching this transaction for the last 6 months, it was great news for downtown today when Northwest Evaluation Association finally made it official that they were moving from the suburbs into downtown Portland. They will take the entire Port of Portland Building in 2011, once the Port vacates in 2010 for a new facility out at the airport. Northwest Evaluation will be bringing 300 employees into the Old Town submarket of Portland.

The Port of Portland Building, located at 121 NW Everett, is a 7-story, 104,000 SF office building with enclosed parking on the 2nd and 3rd stories and retail on the ground floor. The office floors are around 23,500 SF each.

Northwest Evaluation Association is a non-profit who provides educational testing services to school districts and other associations. It was ncorporated in 1977.

Who’s On the Move – Week Ending 1/30/09

squarefeetpdx — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 20:13:59 +0000

To kick off February 2009, I read an industry article (http://tinyurl.com/deq285) on the current conditions of commercial real estate investment and construction spending on a national scale. We took an astounding nose dive in the Fourth Quarter of 2008 , down by 19.1% compared to a decrease of just 1.7% one quarter prior. Clearly, the Fourth Quarter of 2008 hit hard and it appears things are continuing to slide. As always, we caution firms considering a commercial purchase as we have not hit the bottom just yet.

Portland still has some major office building projects under construction, most notably First and Main (at the westside head of the Hawthorne Bridge) and Park Avenue West (that big hole across from Nordstroms). But both of these projects don’t deliver before 2010.

TechDex (apps|provider|hardware|var)

Central Business District

GigaPix Systems – Aronson Campbell Bldg | 2200 NW Savier | 8,000 SF

EZ Wireless – 2860 NW 29th Ave. | 4,615 SF

Westside

A-Cti Answerconnect - One Warm Springs | 8050 SW Warm Springs Dr. | 7,412 SF

Comcast - Tektronix Bldg 48 | 14243 SW Terman Rd. | 118,612 SF

Leupold & Stevens – Fry Warehouse | 5805 SW 107th | 20,000 SF

Vancouver

Office Ally – 16703 SE McGillivray Blvd. | 10,933 SF

CIBER Inc – 11805 NE 99th St. | 7,393 SF

Expect Payment Solutions – 11805 NE 99th St. | 2,088 SF

MediaDex (traditional|digital|research)

Eastside

SCRAP Inc. – 2915 NE Martin Luther King Jr Blvd. | 7,395 SF

Westside

Innovative Resource Group – 7668 SW Mohawk | 6,056 SF

The Guidance Group – 4 Lincoln | 10250 SW Greenburg Rd. | 2,531 SF

Vancouver

Rocketshop – 328 NE Fourth Ave. | Camas | 1,412 SF

PIECE OF THE PDX PIE! – February 2009

Ontier, Inc. – This firm is definitely one to watch. They continue to build an impressive management team of industry veterans, draw strong attention from investors and are on the fast-track to transition from beta sometime later this year. For a description of their flagship application – Pixetell - here’s a quick teaser from their website:

“Ever try to describe a flow-chart in email? Or give specific feedback on a graphical design with nothing but a screenshot and email? Or how about explaining how to access data in a complex spreadsheet? Instead of relying on 40 year-old technology (yes email is almost 40), Pixetell lets you communicate quickly and naturally with schedule-independent communications that allow you to get your point across successfully the first time.”

SUNNY SALE IN ”THE OTHER PORTLAND”?

It appears we are not the only Portland extending an invite to the solar industry to set up shop in our town. Shoals Technologies, a solar panel component manufacturer, just purchased an industrial facility at 128 Distribution Parkway in Portland, TN from Distribution Plus LLC for $2.8 million, or $27 per square foot. The 103,200-square-foot warehouse was constructed in 2005 on 25 acres in the Westgate Business Park.

The acquisition looks to bring between 400-450 jobs to the area. Looks like we have some competition from Tennessee. I hope this is not a sign of yet another industry reconsidering Oregon, ala Freightliner and LP.

Who’s on the Move? – Week Ending 11/28/08

squarefeetpdx — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 23:42:53 +0000

Another Thanksgiving passed us by and, in the wake of all things turkey, left us with just a few done deals for the week.

For the past two years, December has been a very busy month with many companies trying to secure office leases before year end due to tax and other benefits. However, this year we anticipate a slower than usual December as many companies are in a holding pattern. Several large firms are simply renewing for a one year period with the hopes of a better environment next December, 2010. There are a few brightspots however, including GarageGames move into the Portland market up from Eugene.

TechDex (apps|hardware|provider|var)

Central Business District

GarageGames.com - 618 Building | 618 NW Glisan | 2,475 SF

Axiom Group – Willamette Place | 6420 SW Macadam | 3,300 SF

Westside

Mania Technologie

- 5289 NE Elam Young Parkway | 5,289 SF

Stanley Convergent – Pacific Corp Ctr | 15495 SW Sequoia Pkwy | 6,145 SF

Vancouver

Wilder Technologies – Creekside Biz Park | 6101-A East 18th | 3,200 SF

SustainDex (Environmental|Sustainable/Clean/Bio Tech)

Vancouver

Christ Water Technology – Quad 205 | 4018 NE 112th, D-2 | 1,036 SF renew

In Other News….

Finally announced publicly today (the folks in commercial real estate have been tracking this big tenant for a while), Vestas Wind Systems A/S intends to occupy a 500,000 SF headquarters building in Portland, consolidating numerous operations throughout the area into one location.

Congratulations to local start up EarthClass Mail for successfully opening a retail location in Los Angeles, offering a Santa Monica mailing address.