The additional work on the building will take Unico's all-in cost to about $153 per sf. Current full-service asking rates in the building range from $16 to $19 per sf per year. Post renovation, asking rents likely will be in the low-to-mid $20s per sf.

Weston, who owns American Property Management, is not known as a seller. He was out of town and unavailable for comment on why he broke from tradition and sold an asset, but it is believed he wanted to stoke his charitable foundation, to which he donated the buidling shortly before the sale. Unico no doubt hopes the investment turns out like its last class B acquisition in Downtown Portland, the aforementioned Lincoln Building.

Located at 421 SW Oak, Unico acquired the eight-story, 255,000-sf, class B office building with Broadreach Capital in early 2005 for $11.25 million, or $44.11 per sf. The Qwest Corp.-owned building was 35% leased when they tied it up thanks almost exclusively to a 10-year leaseback by the seller. While the deal was in escrow, however, Pearce landed a 99,478-sf, 10-year lease with Multnomah County that was worth several million more than Unico paid for the entire building. In taking the space in the building, the county vacated a similar amount of space in the Commonwealth Building. Unico is now marketing the Lincoln Building for sale.

In addition to the Commonwealth Building and the Lincoln Building, Unico owns the city's signature office building, the US Bancorp Tower, also in partnership with Broadreach, and is under construction for the Lovejoy, a two-block mixed-use development at the north end of the CBD that will include a grocery store, a residential component and office space. As with the Commonwealth Building, Cigna is its partner for Lovejoy.