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TMT Development Co. has selected Hoffman Construction Co. to build its new $200-million, mixed-use tower in downtown Portland, bypassing Skanska USA, Andersen Construction Co. and Howard S. Wright for the job.

The slim, modern tower will occupy half of a city block at Southwest Park Avenue and Yamhill Street. And at 515 feet tall, it will be Oregon’s third-tallest building and the state’s first high-rise to combine office and retail space on the bottom floors, with luxury condominiums on top.

Although construction on the tower isn’t slated to begin until March, the project’s already catching attention.

鈥淚t’s the first of its kind in Portland,鈥� Robert Thompson, the project’s chief architect and a principal of TVA Architects, said.

鈥淚t’s exciting for Portland’s redevelopment on the downtown,鈥� Nathan Gibson, a spokesman for Skanska, said. 鈥淲hat a great, sexy job. Of course it would have been fantastic to get that job.鈥�

The building, scheduled for completion in 2010, will be developer Tom Moyer’s second downtown office tower. Hoffman in 2000 built the 27-story Fox Tower, where the construction company now has its headquarters.

Park Avenue West is not the first new office tower going up downtown, however. Hoffman in September broke ground on Shorenstein Properties’ 16-story First and Main office tower, which promises to be Portland’s first new class-A office building in nearly a decade.

The two towers will compete for the same commercial tenants. And while commercial brokers agree that Portland has room for new office space, it’s unclear whether the market is strong enough to fill two new buildings.

Hoffman isn’t deterred.

鈥淎 lot of people said there was too much office space coming on the market (10 years ago), and Fox Tower was a homerun,鈥� Bart Eberwein, a vice president with Hoffman, said. 鈥淚 have a lot of admiration for (Moyer’s) ability to navigate on his gut.鈥�

Capacity Commercial has started leasing office and retail space for Park Avenue West, but no tenants have yet been secured, said Vanessa Sturgeon, president of TMT. The developer is targeting clients similar to those that occupy the Fox Tower, which is mostly a mix of financial and legal firms. For housing sales, the company hopes to attract Pearl District condo owners looking to upgrade.

鈥淔irst and Main and Park Avenue West are completely different projects,鈥� Sturgeon said.

鈥淭hey’re both office buildings, but that’s the end of the similarity.鈥�