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Patience is paying off for Michael Tevis, president of Menlo Park, Calif.-based Intrinsic Ventures. Over the past 20 years, he has redeveloped more than a million square feet in 45 buildings along the West Coast. Today, most of his holdings are in Southeast Portland, where redevelopment is slow and deliberate.

“When you invest for the very, very long term and you’re not worried about what’s going to happen in a few years, it really changes your perspective and you can become very patient – and frankly that’s what it takes,” Tevis said.

At Southeast 11th Avenue and Division Street, for instance, Intrinsic Ventures is transforming two former commercial buildings into creative office space. The company purchased a 10,000-square-foot building in 2007 for $900,000, and then a 7,760-square-foot building next door in 2011 for $1.04 million.

Meanwhile, at Southeast Seventh Avenue and Lincoln Street, Tevis is remodeling a small industrial building into a mix of creative office and light industrial space. Also, this summer he hopes to begin a renovation of a 65,000-square-foot warehouse near the Darigold plant on Southeast Eighth Avenue.

Tevis led redevelopment of the 82,124-square-foot Ford Building, an ex-automotive assembly plant constructed in 1914. Intrinsic purchased it in 2005 for $2.74 million, and took five years to turn it into a building able to accommodate approximately 90 tenants.

The Darigold warehouse – Tevis calls it the Dairy Building – won’t have quite so many tenants, but the same vibe is being pursued. The first phase involves renovation of a 43,000-square-foot bow truss building, and dividing it into 10 to 12 tenant spaces. Tevis is working on leases with a brewpub, a fabric distributor and a consortium of artists.

“It’s kind of like what Tevis did before with the Ford Building,” said Josh Guerra, an associate architect at Ankrom Moisan Architects, the project’s designer, “taking an old, historic property, cleaning it up, scrubbing it down and making it useful for the makers in Portland today.”

The building was constructed in the 1930s as a Land O’Lakes animal feed processing facility. Property owner/developer Stuart Lindquist acquired it in 2011 for $1.38 million, and initiated cleanup. Now, Tevis has a long-term master lease that is letting him redevelop it.

Guerra said a big challenge was bringing the airy building up to Oregon energy code standards, which will be accomplished mainly via insulated interior walls and corridors. Guerra said mezzanines will be created to emphasize vaulted ceilings, and a communal art display area will occupy the building’s center.

A second phase involves renovating an 80-foot tower that presently is uninhabitable. Tevis said that will have to wait until financing is available. He declined to disclose the project’s budget, but said he will not seek outside investment dollars. He said the only financial institution involved in any of his projects to date has been First Republic Bank in Portland.

“We don’t have any private investors with us – just family investment,” he said. “And therefore we have the liberty of holding for the indefinite long term, which I think gives us the ability to view investment from a different matrix.”

Tevis wants to create a community of compatible employers, and calls his collection of properties the Ford District. He’s selective about tenants and for that reason left the ground-floor corner space of the Ford Building vacant for three years – passing on offers from optometrists and the like. He did find a fit in Ford Food and Drink, which building tenants now patronize while conducting meetings.

Todd DeNeffe, a broker and owner of Cascade Commercial Real Estate, brokered Lindquist’s purchase of the Dairy Building. He also is working with Harsch Investment Properties to turn the former 13,955-square-foot Dealers Supply building on Southeast Second Avenue into creative office space.

One looming unknown, however, is how long the makeover trend will last. Around the city, industrial spaces are getting facelifts and DeNeffe said at a certain point they won’t pencil.

“When do we run out of renters?” he said. “What project is left standing without a chair? The condo thing five years ago was the same question. They’ll keep doing it as long as the one preceding it is filled up. At some point a guy will go in and create 15 spaces that are vacant for 10 years.”

Tevis isn’t worried. He’s bullish on the film industry.

“I think that Portland has real potential to be a real emerging film incubator and film anchor,” Tevis said. “We all think of L.A. and Hollywood as that, but I think Portland really has some potential to grow its fledgling market into something bigger than it is right now.”

At Seventh Avenue and Lincoln Street, he is renovating a 3,975-square-foot building and leasing for the long term. He has signed a film production company called Stillmotion. It will be joined by children’s bicycle manufacturer Islabikes, and ice cream maker Salt & Straw.

At Southeast 11th Avenue and Division Street, Intrinsic has signed Pine State Biscuits. A bicycle-bag manufacturer called Blaq Packs is already open for business, and Tevis said some tenants with foodie appeal are on the way.

Tevis also has a long-term lease for a 12,740-square-foot building across the street from the Ford. He thinks increased activity will lead to further development opportunities.

“We think over time there is going to be a massive return to living in the downtowns of the West Coast,” he said, “and we think Portland is the last best place on the West Coast.”