Schwabe is one of the three largest law firms in Portland. Late last year, Miller Nash, another of the top three, made a similar decision, opting to renew its 70,000-sf lease at the Unico-U.S. Bancorp Tower rather than kick-start a new development. The next biggest law firm set to make the new-or-renew decision is Davis Wright Tremaine, which recently started shopping for 75,000 to 80,000 square feet of space. The firm's lease at 1300 SW Fifth Ave. expires in 2005.

Schwabe occupies space on floors 16-19 of the 30-story office building, and the new lease includes space on the 23rd floor. Local real estate sources familiar with the Schwabe deal say the law firm average triple-net lease rate over the life of the lease agreement works out to about $27 per sf per year, which would put the starting lease rate at around $22 per sf and the ending rate at around $32 per sf, assuming annual 3% bumps.

"There's something to be said about a move being a way to re-energize the firm, or for re-engineering or re-thinking the way we do business¸ but we wanted to make sure that if we did move we would not be spending more money, and maybe even be spending less," the firm's managing partner Mark Long tells GlobeSt.com. "It got fairly competitive near the finish line, but economics was the ultimate driver and staying put was the more economical choice."