Gaw Capital Affiliate Sells Creative Office Asset in Portland

Mason Ehrman Building and Annex. Image courtesy of SKB

ScanlanKemperBard and Harbert Management Corp. have acquired a warehouse-turned-creative office building in Portland, Ore. The joint venture purchased the Mason Ehrman Building and Annex from an entity related to Gaw Capital for $25 million, SKB President Todd Gooding told Commercial Property Executive. Gooding also told CPE that SHS Advisors’ Marc Spiegelman represented both the buyer and seller.

READ ALSO: Top 10 Workplace Trends for 2020, According to JLL

The historic Portland property offers a total of 97,006 rentable square feet split between a seven-story 69,796-square-foot building and an attached two-story, 27,210-square-foot annex building. The property has attracted a variety of tenants including marketing, engineering, design and digital media firms. Gooding also told CPE that the property is currently 40 percent leased.

Located at 222 NW 5th Ave., The Mason Ehrman Building was developed in 1908 as a 30,000-square-foot warehouse. In 2017, Gaw Capital and Beam Development began an adaptive reuse project on the property, transforming the warehouse into creative office space with ground-floor retail. The renovation incorporated elements from the building’s former life by highlighting exposed concrete and heavy timber structural elements, while adding modern amenities to serve a new tenant mix. The project also completed the seismic upgrade of the Mason Ehrman Building to meet the city’s seismic design requirements.

History with historic Portland properties

Gooding told CPE that at the purchase price of roughly $245 per square foot, the joint venture was able to acquire ”essentially a brand new building” for half the cost of building a new office. The purchase of the Mason Ehrman Building adds another historic Portland property that was converted into creative offices to SKB’s portfolio. Alongside Lionstone Investments, SKB also owns the American Bank Building in Portland that recently landed a refinancing with the help of JLL Capital Markets.

As the new owner of the Mason Ehrman Building, SKB will be implementing a lease-up plan that includes incorporating market-leading lease terms and amenity enhancements. Gooding told CPE that the company plans to add a 3,000-square-foot rooftop deck and perform some light cosmetic renovations to the lobbies.