Now You See It, Now You Don't: Melvin Mark Leasing Up Renovated State Office Building

PORTLAND-Melvin Mark Cos. has apparently found the missing price point in the Downtown office market. With just a few weeks remaining on an nine-month, $7-million renovation of the old state office building immediately south of Wells Fargo Tower, the 175,000-sf building is 85% leased at rates between $16 per sf and $18 per sf.

“We originally planned to tear it down and build new com. “But we were ultimately able to deliver a high-quality product at substantially under replacement cost,” and at the same time fill a gap in the market. “The more we looked at the building, we saw a spot for it between the older class C product at $12 per sf to $15 per sf, the class B historic buildings at $22 per sf and the newer product for $25 per sf to $30 per sf,” says Mark. “It falls somewhere between the class B and class C historics and a brand new building; I’m very proud of it.”

Tower tenants include PG&E Gas Transmission, PlaceWare and Lucy.com. Ground-floor tenants include Kindercare and 24-Hour Fitness, which spent several million building out its fitness center space. PG&E will anchor the building, taking 35,000 sf on the 10th, 9th and 8th floors. PlaceWare, a video conferencing company that moved a division up from Silicon Valley, is taking 24,000, and Lucy.com is signed on for 14,000 sf.