Energy Trust Takes 12th Floor of Pacific First Center

PORTLAND, OR-Energy Trust of Oregon has signed a seven-year lease for the 15,000-sf 12th floor of Pacific First Center, a 16-story building in the heart of Downtown. The public-purpose organization dedicated to energy efficiency and renewable energy generation is currently located on the 6,500-sf second floor of the two-story Balfour Guthrie Building at Southwest Oak Street and Park Avenue. The move is expected to occur shortly after the New Year.Energy Trust has two-and-a-half years left of its Balfour Guthrie lease, but already has a sublease tenant lined up for the remaining term, says Mark Watson of Cushman & Wakefield, who with Michelle Franceschi represented Energy Trust in its lease negotiations. Tom Usher and Doug Deurwaarder of C&W represented the building owner.The company’s new lease rate at Pacific First Center is slightly lower than it is currently paying, says Watson. He declined to get specific on the rate, but it is believed to start in the mid-to-high teens per sf, full service, and end in the low $20s.Watson says Energy Trust’s new lease will provide much needed space for additional staff and increases the size of the company’s conference room and public meeting space. “We could not be happier,” says John Volkman, general counsel for Energy Trust of Oregon, Inc. “We needed to move from severely cramped quarters and do so under a demanding schedule that was essential to our business needs.”