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Another downtown office building sold this week—and at a better price per square foot than what the U.S. Bancorp Tower fetched at a fire sale in July.
PacWest Center, an aluminum-clad, 30-story tower at Southwest 5th Avenue and Madison Street, sold for $55.7 million, or $102 per square foot, according to an email describing the sale that was obtained by WW.
U.S. Bancorp Tower, a.k.a. Big Pink, sold for $45 million, or about $40 a square foot on July 3, a sale that has wreaked havoc on downtown tax receipts.
The PacWest buyer is Fountainhead Development, based in Fairbanks, Alaska, according to the Portland Business Journal, which first reported the sale. The previous owner was a limited liability company controlled by Dallas-based Lincoln Property Co. The Lincoln entity paid $161.5 million for PacWest in 2007, according to county records.
Newmark Group represented the seller in the deal.
“PacWest exemplifies resilience and opportunity in Portland’s evolving office market,” Newmark vice chairman Nick Kucha said it a press release. “With its transit-oriented location, market-leading amenity package and premium view space, the buyer recognized the tower’s ability to cater to both traditional and creative tenant requirements in a location with enduring demand drivers.”
Unlike Big Pink, the PacWest Tower has been renovated recently. The Lincoln entity spent $44 million to buff it up, according to The Oregonian. (It kept the 40-foot pine tree on the 25-floor terrace.) It has also attracted new tenants, including Portland-based Becker Capital Management.
The PacWest building was developed in 1984 by John Russell and Mitsubishi Estate Co. Russell owns the “Black Box,” a 90,000-square-foot office building with shaded windows at 200 SW Market St.
