Portman Wins Key Design Contract in Taiwan

ATLANTA-No strangers to the Asian business and commercial real estate communities, locally based John Portman & Associates and Portman Development are embarking on one of their highest-profile assignments to date–the development and design of five station sites for the $14-billion Taiwan High Speed Railway project.

Jane’s Business calls the venture the world’s largest of its kind. The Portman companies’ total fee could be in nine-digit figures, although Jack Portman, CEO of John Portman & Associates and vice chairman of Portman Development, tells GlobeSt.com the fee is still being determined and that no hard figure has been established.

Design industry professionals tell GlobeSt.com a typical architectural fee on a multi million-dollar American commercial real estate venture, for example, could be as low as one half of 1% to 3% or more of the total development cost. Using that general guideline, the Portman fee could approach $150 million. Portman, however, says a number like that is speculation and may not even be realistic.