Suburban Flex Office Takes Center Stage in Greater Portland

BEAVERTON, OR—Under the influence of Millennials and office tenants looking to the suburbs, flex space is increasingly more in demand during the COVID era. One recent example is the Nimbus Corporate Center, a 16-building flex office park totaling 691,036 square feet, which has just sold in this suburban Portland community.

A partnership between a fund controlled by DRA Advisors LCC and Prescott Partners purchased the park for $130 million. The seller was Shorenstein.

Situated on 47.5 acres at 8910-9775 SW Gemini Dr. and 9203-9790 SW Nimbus Ave., Nimbus Corporate Center is in a transit-oriented location adjacent to Washington Square Mall, Oregon’s highest-grossing mall, and visible from Highway 217. The office park is near several transit centers including the Hall/Nimbus WES Station and is approximately 6 miles from Portland’s central business district.

The JLL Capital Markets team representing the seller was led by managing director Buzz Ellis, senior managing director Michel Seifer, senior director Logan Greer, director Adam Taylor and associate Kaden Eichmeier.

“DRA and Prescott’s acquisition of Nimbus Corporate Center further solidifies the strength of the suburban office market in the greater Portland area,” says Ellis. “The market is demonstrating increased demand for suburban flex office product as more Millennials look to move to the suburbs along with tenants continuing to refine their real estate strategy during COVID-19.”

Completed between 1984 and 1991, Nimbus Corporate Center is leased to various tenants in the manufacturing, technology, professional services, telecommunications, financial services, insurance and government sectors. The property features adaptable spaces that meet the needs of a variety of users, individual building exclusivity, visibility and drive-up identity, tall clear heights and abundant parking.

“The transaction timing is perfect, as we see more tenants and investors focusing on Portland’s suburbs,” Ellis tells GlobeSt.com. “In fact, the first three quarters of 2020 produced the highest sales volume, $437.5 million, for office and flex properties valued over $10 million in Portland’s Westside suburbs since 2007.”

Indeed, demand has abruptly switched from the long-preferred CBD to the Westside suburbs, with expansions by Skyworks Solutions, Telestream and Oregon Department of Employment offsetting Radisys’ 45,000-square-foot move out of the Sunset Corridor. In the urban core, negative absorption was driven by large and mid-sized givebacks, most notably the city of Portland’s final phased move-out of leased space in Aspect back to the self-owned Portland Building, according to a third-quarter office report by JLL.

Many larger subleases were placed on the market, with Vacasa leaving 20,000 square feet at RiverTec, Digital Trends not occupying a newly leased floor at US Bancorp Tower and Sulzer Pumps leaving a floor at 200 Market. However, Ampere relocated to 40,000 square feet at Tanner Point, Prosper Portland moved into One Pacific Square and an undisclosed tech company moved into 7 Stark, says JLL.