Prendergast's Pearl Block Ready and Waiting

PORTLAND-Pat Prendergast could have been half way done with a partially preleased, 80,000-sf office building in the Pearl District had he made a different decision at the beginning of the 2001. The fateful decision was to risk losing his only pre-committed tenant by delaying construction in order to redesign the project and take advantage of height bonuses not previously available. Now instead of an 80,000-sf project, Prendergast can develop a 148,000-sf office building on the site.

Prendergast indeed lost the one signed tenant as a result of the change, but instead of an office building going up in a down economy less than 20% preleased, he now has a 148,000-sf office building fully permitted and ready to go up quickly when the economy rebounds. The site, served by the city’s new trolley, is just off the new Lovejoy Street ramp, in an area filling with high-end condominiums, apartments and retail.

When Prendergast broke ground on the project at 10th Avenue and Lovejoy in late 2000, he had no signed tenants and plans for an 80,000-sf, six-story project to be completed at the end of 2001. It quickly became less speculative when leasing agent Mark Fraser of Colliers International signed Young & Roehr for the second floor of the project and a portion of the first.