Posted Dec 13, 2012, 2:18 AM
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Join Date: May 2005
Location: Portland
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Pearl Block 17 | 178' | 16 floors | Completed
Hoyt Street plans project without Joe Weston
Portland Business Journal by Wendy Culverwell , Business Journal staff writer
Date: Wednesday, December 12, 2012, 2:45pm PST
http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/...e.html?s=print
Quote:
Hoyt Street Properties is advancing its first apartment project in the Pearl District since well before the recession. But it will likely tackle the $80 million project without its longtime financial partner, Joe Weston.
Weston, among the city’s most successful real estate investors who made his fortune in apartments, has said he believes the market is oversaturated.
Tiffany Sweitzer, president of Hoyt Street, respectfully disagrees and is advancing plans for a high rise apartment building on Block 17, which is bordered by Northwest Northrup and Overton streets and Northwest 11th and 12th streets.
“We feel that the market can still take rentals," she said..
Hoyt Street is selling the site to Wood Partners, which will team with a new venture formed by Sweitzer and Clay Fowler to pursue the apartment project. The Atlanta-based multifamily developer is one of the largest in the country and is staking out a position in the Pacific Northwest.
It has two projects in Seattle; the Pearl tower will be its first in Portland.
“We see the Pacific Northwest as a growth market,” said Frank Middleton, development director in Wood’s San Francisco office. The company scrutinizes economic data including jobs, income and other factors. Its portfolio includes high rise projects as well as historic renovations, conversions and suburban garden-style projects.
In the Hoyt Street team, it has a partner with a perfect property, well situated near the heart of the Pearl District. The project will likely be financed through an institutional partner. Wood Partners has teamed with CBRE Investors and USAA, the insurance company, on past projects.
The team envisions a project between 18 and 21 stories with 250 market rate units.
The Woods tends to pack its properties with high-end amenities including pools, fitness centers, bike repair stations and dog washes. Middleton said the Portland amenities have not been programmed.
Boora Architects is designing the project. Tiffany Sweitzer said the project team will seek guidance from Pearl District neighbors before bringing a design to the city of Portland.
Wood Partners will employ a general contractor on the two-year project, but has not yet made a selection. That is a departure for Wood Partners, which typically serves as its own contractor.
The apartment project is unnamed.
The project site is one block east of a separate Hoyt Street site slated for a 165-unit future condo tower. Hoyt Street and LRS Architecture are working up a luxury project, though Sweitzer characterized the company’s interest as preliminary.
While a press release indicates Hoyt Street will break ground on that project in 2013, Sweitzer said she is pursuing designs and permits to have a project ready to go if she believes the market is strong enough. The final decision has not been made.
The condominium would be built on a parking lot sandwiched between The Fields park, now under construction, and Tanner Springs park.
Hoyt Street is the primary developer of the Pearl District and has seen first-hand that condo inventory is drying up.
All but one of its condo buildings are sold out. It has 34 units unsold at the Encore, 949 N.W. Overtone building. The 177-unit project opened as the recession began and demand for condo living cratered.
Sweitzer confirmed that even if the final units sell for their asking price, Hoyt Street will book a loss on the project.
Sweitzer noted that the low inventory in the Pearl District could shift overnight. Several buildings constructed as condos currently operate as apartments. In theory, their owners could convert them back and put hundreds of already-built units back on the market. They include the Waterfront Pearl and the Wyatt.
Wendy Culverwell covers real estate, retail and hospitality.
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