Big Fluctuations in SW Wash. Office Space

With only 2.4 msf of office space, vacancy in Portland’s sister city to the north is prone to drastic fluctuation. The first half of 2000 was no exception.

The vacancy rate lept from 5.68% to 25.49%, due in large part to Hewlett Packard’s sale and exit from its building in the Columbia Tech Center, which dumped 486,000 sf to the market in one fell swoop. Alas, it will be short lived.

Consolidated Freightways is consolidating its operations from Portland and Menlo Park into HP’s old building, and paying a premium for it. HP sold the building to back to the existing owners of the Tech Campus for $14.5 million. A CF spokesman told GlobeSt.com the company is paying “upwards of $20 million” for the property.