Tool Retailer Inks 15,000-SF Lease

GRESHAM, OR-The national chain Harbor Freight Tools has signed a 15,000-sf lease that will put its second Portland-area retail location at College Square, a 112,000-sf retail center here that was acquired late last year for $6.3 million by longtime Portland real estate investor Barry Menashe.College Square is located on Hogan Road at Stark Street. Menashe paid $6.3 million for the property in November. The Harbor Freight lease fills one of two big holes at the complex. The other hole is a 27,000-sf space formerly occupied by Albertson’s grocery store. Menashe is believed to be seeking another grocer for the space.Menashe declined comment on the negotiated lease rate, however; local brokers familiar with the property tell GlobeSt.com that the negotiated rate for the lease was in the range of $9 per sf, triple net, and that the grocery store space is being marketed at the same rate. Based in California, Harbor Freight Tools operates over 170 stores in 37 states and is one of the nation’s largest tool and equipment catalog retailers. The new Portland store is set to open in June. It will be its second Portland-area location and its sixth in the state. The other Portland-area location is at 1335 N. Mason St., near Swan Island. The other Oregon locations are in Bend. Eugene, Medford and Salem.Harbor Freight senior real estate associate Bill Dorrell says the additional Portland-area store is part of the company’s nationwide expansion plan in select markets. “Our other Portland store is enjoying tremendous sales, enough to warrant an additional store,” says Dorrell. “We chose College Square after determining that a substantial portion of our customers were traveling from that area to our store on North Mason Street.” Norris Beggs & Simpson broker Jack Gallagher handled both sides of the Harbor Freight lease transaction. Gallagher tells GlobeSt.com that the other major anchor at College Center is Bi-Mart. He adds that the goal is to fill the vacancy grocery space with a tenant that as much or more drawing power than Bi-Mart and Harbor Freight and complements them both.”Harbor Freight’s expansion not only points to the strength of the consumer in our current economy but also to the attractiveness of Portland to national retailers,” says Gallagher. “I expect this trend to continue as Portland consumers prove this is a viable market.”