Nordstrom Rack Replacing Copeland Sports at ODS Tower

PORTLAND-The Copeland Sports retail chain has opted out of its 10-year, 33,700-sf lease at ODS Tower after five years and will be replaced by Nordstrom Rack, the off-price division of Nordstrom Inc. that will relocate from a much smaller, subterranean space across from the Rouse Co.’s popular Pioneer Place development.Traci Wall of Wright Runstad & Co., property manager and part owner of ODS Tower, tells GlobeSt.com that San Louis Obispo, CA-based Copeland Sports will vacate the space in September. Nordstrom, which negotiated its lease directly with Wright Runstad, says it hopes to open its new two-level store in February 2005 and will stay open at its current 19,000-sf location until that time. Wall described The Rack’s lease commitment at ODS Tower as “long term.”Copeland Sports expanded into ODS Tower from a smaller Downtown location shortly after the 24-story office building opened in 1999. The larger store never attracted a huge amount of traffic. While Copeland appears to be giving up on Downtown Portland, it is not giving up on Oregon. The company recently expanded its presence at Clackamas Towne Center and will open a store at Lancaster Mall in Salem later this year. All told, Copeland also has six stores in Oregon, 26 in California, four stores in Nevada and one in Utah. A source at Copeland did not return phone calls seeking comment.Founded in 1901 as a shoe store, Nordstrom, Inc. is one of the nation’s leading fashion specialty retailers, with 93 full-line department stores, 49 Nordstrom Racks, five Faconnable boutiques, one freestanding shoe store and one clearance store. Nordstrom currently operates five full-line stores in Oregon and three Nordstrom Rack stores. Nordstrom Rack opened in Downtown Portland in 1986.The building Nordstrom Rack will move out of, 419 SW Morrison, is owned by Greg Goodman. New & Neville has the leasing assignment. Goodman also owns a 10% interest in ODS Tower.