Gerding Edlen will take Pearl District into 2nd generation
Renovation - The builder will turn a former warehouse into sleek and green office space
Saturday, October 20, 2007
RYAN FRANK
The Oregonian
Gerding Edlen Development Co., Portland's most prolific downtown builder, will renovate a historic Meier & Frank warehouse into the Pearl District's next office building, the firm said Friday.
Kelly Saito, a Gerding Edlen principal, said the firm had considered the building for condos in recent years. Instead, the developer will turn the four-story building into one of the city's greenest buildings of its kind.
The move reflects Gerding Edlen's confidence in Portland's suddenly hot office market, partly based on the continued popularity of the city's creative services sector. The firm hasn't signed an anchor tenant, yet it plans to start construction in May on the roughly 120,000-square-foot project.
"It's fabulous," said Patricia Gardner of the Pearl District Neighborhood Association. "I'm really glad the building's going to be renovated. It's an important part of our history."
Gerding Edlen's project would extend the Pearl's move into its second generation. Since the mid-1990s, housing projects have dominated the Pearl's turnaround from a warehouse district to a high-end neighborhood. But with the rising office market, the Pearl is seeing a spurt of office projects.
The Meier & Frank Delivery Depot had been vacant since at least 2000, Saito said.
Fortress Investment Group, an East Coast investor, bought it during the tech boom. Fortress was one of a handful of investors who bought central-city buildings to store telecommunications hardware, also known as "telco hotels."
But the tech boom went bust, and the building sat vacant. Today, its outside is bleeding rust, its ground-floor windows are boarded up, and other windows are broken.
Gerding Edlen bought the building from Fortress in the past two weeks for $15 million.
Saito said the building's exterior would be modeled in the spirit of Wieden+Kennedy's sleek Pearl District headquarters, including a new fifth-floor penthouse.
Saito said the tenants likely will be from creative-service providers, such as architecture and graphic design firms. "People are still coming here, and they're still coming here in those industries," said Saito, citing software company Coaxis' recent move from the suburbs to the Central Eastside.
"It's one of the bright spots of the economy when you look forward," Saito said.
Joe Cortright, a Portland economist, said Portland remains one of four U.S. cities that's attracting young, well-educated workers to replace aging baby boomers. He also lists Austin, Texas; Raleigh, N.C.; and Atlanta.
Gerding Edlen is betting those young workers will like a Pearl-type office world.
The building will include solar panels on top, an eco-roof and toilets that flush with recycled rainwater. The firm aims to score a platinum environmental rating, the highest possible, from the U.S. Green Building Council.
Ryan Frank: 503-221-8519;
[email protected]
http://www.oregonlive.com/business/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/business/1192852506244950.xml&coll=7
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