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Melvin Mark Cos. has purchased the Yamhill Marketplace building in downtown Portland and plans to conduct a $10 million renovation.

The firm envisions turning the 76,575-square-foot building at 110 S.W. Yamhill St. into creative office space and remarketing it as 2&Taylor. Newmark Grubb Knight Frank was listing the property for $5.25 million; Melvin Mark closed on it Thursday for $4.5 million.

“That kind of building with the vacancy, you usually list it high and then try to be reasonable if you get a good buyer coming in with a good idea that will close the lease,” said Newmark Grubb Knight Frank senior managing director David Hill, who represented the seller, Yamhill Enterprises Inc. “And they certainly fit that.”

Dave Squire, managing director at NGKF, and George Macoubray, of Commercial Realty Advisors, assisted Hill.

Melvin Mark CEO Jim Mark said the vacant building, nestled on a half city block between the historic Mikado and Thomas Mann buildings, clearly had potential. He brought in Hennebery Eddy Architects to brainstorm ideas.

“I said to Tim Eddy, ‘Give it a week and if I’m crazy, just let me know. Let’s not burn a lot of hours.’ ” Mark said. “I’ve got to give them a ton of credit. Within a week they had come up with a pretty good scheme – not only for the interior, but the exterior as well.”

The Yamhill Marketplace was built in the 1980s as a “festival” retail center. In the early 1990s, PGP Valuation purchased the property and occupied half of the space while leasing the other half to a fitness club. The latter space was last occupied by LA Fitness before becoming vacant. About five years ago, Colliers International purchased PGP; it is planning to vacate the building when its lease expires at the end of summer.

From the start of the due diligence phase, it was clear to Mark that redevelopment wouldn’t be worthwhile without a complete makeover of the building’s exterior. The building is not historic, but its facade was designed to look that way with colored stucco and arched windows. Melvin Mark will replace those elements with a finely detailed, light-colored brick.

The company also will reorient the building’s entry from the corner of Southwest Second Avenue and Taylor Street to mid-block on Taylor, where there is more activity. The first and second floors will have floor-to-ceiling glass windows; the entry will be flanked by green walls.

The building will be upgraded to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards, and include an 8,000-square-foot landscaped rooftop patio, 9,200 square feet of retail space and a health club on the basement level. Hennebery Eddy Architects will design the project through to completion.

Mark said the project has already garnered considerable interest; two prospective tenants are close to signing letters of intent for at least half of the space. Development will require a type III design review, but Mark is hoping construction will start by fall and finish by the fourth quarter of 2014.

“This building takes up nearly 28,000 square feet of land, so it’s a big footprint that sits completely vacant,” he said. “We’ve had it tied up for the past three to four months, and we’ve had unbelievable interest from (potential) tenants.”