By JON BELL and MARC STILES
Seattle-based Urban Renaissance Group has made another investment in Portland, this time with Gaw Capital USA, an affiliate of the Hong Kong-based company that owns the 76-story Columbia Center in Seattle.
URG and Gaw bought the 10-story Gladys McCoy Building for $9.9 million and will fully renovate the circa-1923 property at 426 SW Harvey Milk St. in the heart of downtown Portland. This will be URG’s third major historic renovation in the Portland market.
Multnomah County sold the 100,000-square-foot property, which houses the county Health Department. The county is building a $92.7 million headquarters building for the health department.
The county will lease the building through mid-2019. Renovations, which are scheduled to begin this fall and be done by the spring of 2020, include the lobby, elevators, doors, restrooms, showers, bike storage area and a new cafe.
“This building still holds beautiful original features – double-height first floor ceilings, an open mezzanine, grand staircase… By investing in the existing character of this historic building, we will ensure it serves Portland for another 100-plus years,” URG Vice President Tom Kilbane said in a press release. He thinks the building will appeal to technology, engineering and creative companies likes architecture and public relations firms.
URG’s recent Portland projects include the renovation and sale of the Oregonian newspaper’s building and the under-construction Press Blocks project in Goose Hollow.
Gaw Capital Partners bought Columbia Center, the tallest office building in the Northwest, nearly four years ago for $711 million. No sale has exceeded that amount since. Gaw subsequently bought another Seattle office building, the 27-story Seattle Tower for $49.5 million. Like the Gladys McCoy, Seattle Tower was built in the early 20th century. URG manages both Columbia Center and Seattle Tower for Gaw.
Gaw Capital has raised equity of $9.8 billion since 2005 and as of the middle of last year owned assets worth $18.3 billion.
