TMT Development Restarts Portland Tower After 5-Year Hiatus

By Gail Kalinoski, Contributing Editor

Construction has resumed on a $175 million mixed-use tower in downtown Portland that was  sidelined nearly five years ago because of the recession.

TMT Development Company Inc. has restarted work on Park Avenue West Tower, which will now be a 30-story tower with 15 floors of apartments, 13 floors of Class A office space and two floors of retail. When completed in late 2015, the 460-foot tall building at 728 S.W. Park Ave. will also have a six-level underground parking garage with 260 spaces. The original design had 33 stories, including condominiums.

“We believe the updated design for Park Avenue West Tower is a perfect fit for Portland and will be a spectacular addition to downtown,” Vanessa Sturgeon, TMT Development president, said in a news release.

The family-owned company stopped construction in April 2009 when financing dried up during the height of the recession. PCCP L.L.C., a California-based real estate finance firm, has provided a construction loan through the Ohio Public Employees Pension System, according to the Portland Business Journal. Adam Zoger, principal with PCCP, told CPE that the firm originated a $118 million loan for the tower. He would not confirm that the pension fund was the investor, only saying, “We invest capital on behalf of a variety of investors, including institutions.”

“PCCP saw this as an attractive senior loan opportunity to re-start the development of a high-profile mixed-use tower located in the heart of Portland,” Erik Flynn, senior vice president of PCCP, said in the release. “TMT Development’s local expertise and proven track record as a best-in-class developer make them an ideal borrower for PCCP.”

HFF of Portland assisted in obtaining the financing to jumpstart the dormant project.

“HFF was hired earlier this year as TMT’s construction debt intermediary,” Casey Davidson, HFF managing director, told CPE. “PCCP is the actual lender that was awarded the assignment after a thorough marketing process.”

The Oregonian is reporting that Stoel Rives, a Portland law firm that had planned to move to the tower before the project stalled, has signed a lease for 131,000 square feet on nine of the 13 office floors, making it one of the city’s largest office leases.

The law firm’s employees and other tenants and residents of Park Avenue West Tower will be able to use a state-of-the-art conference room, secured bike storage and lockers, a fitness center and access to mass transit including the MAX Light Rail, Portland Streetcar and TriMet transit mall.

The tower, already pre-certified LEED Platinum, is expected to be a leader in sustainability practices in the city. It is designed to reduce potable water by 40 percent, cut energy costs by 32 percent and will have Portland’s first 40,000-gallon rain-harvesting tank, according to the company.

TVA Architects is the designer of both the original and new versions of the tower. Hoffman Construction is the contractor. KPFF Consulting Engineers and Interface Engineering are other local companies involved in the project, which is expected to create nearly 3,000 jobs for construction workers, suppliers and other businesses.

The resumption of construction of Park Avenue West Tower is another sign that the city has weathered the recession and is on the upswing. A third-quarter 2013 report from Colliers International noted that 19,500 jobs have been added to the Portland market since the beginning of the year. The region lost over 80,000 jobs during the recession but has regained about 90 percent of them so far. The improving job market is increasing demand for local office space.