By MARC STILES
Two Seattle real estate companies have big plans for a site on the edge of downtown Portland, where they’re planning a residential high-rise and two mid-rise office buildings.
Urban Renaissance Group CEO Pat Callahan said his company has a contract to buy the property, called the Press Blocks, and is working with Security Properties to develop the one and a half blocks where the Oregonian newspaper used to be printed.
Acquiring the hulking concrete buildings is one way that URG is navigating the current market of high property values. The strategy is to find under-used assets in desirable neighborhoods.
“What you’ve got here in the middle of an otherwise vibrant neighborhood are six sides of concrete. There are no amenities. There’s no nothing other than concrete walls,” said Callahan, who did not say how much his company is paying for the property.
The Press Blocks are bordered by Southwest 16th and 18th avenues and Southwest Taylor and Yamhill streets. A 250-foot-tall apartment tower with 339 units is planned for 1621 S.W. Taylor St., and next door a 60-foot-tall office building with ground-level retail space is planned.
Across the street on Southwest 17th Avenue is where an eight-story office building will go up. It will have a rooftop deck overlooking Providence Park.
GBD Architects of Portland and Seattle-based Mithun are designing the project that could start construction by the third quarter of 2017, the Portland Business Journal reported.
About a mile to the southeast is the Oregonian’s former headquarters building, which URG bought two years ago and turned into office space. That led to URG buying the Press Blocks.
URG doesn’t have much residential experience, so it partnered with Security Properties, which has plenty, including a 15-story tower currently under construction in Portland’s Pearl District. Among Security’s other developments are a high-rise apartment in Seattle and a 588-unit project in the Spring District in Bellevue.
