91视频

Limited available office space and rising rents in Portland’s Central Business District are forcing some law firms that historically have gravitated toward downtown to lease in outlying areas such as the CBD’s West End and the Pearl District.

Vacancy overall in the Portland-metro area is about 10 percent, according to data released recently by real estate services firm Jones Lang LaSalle; in downtown, it’s 7.7 percent. Vacancy for Class A office space has dipped to 7.1 percent.

Asking amounts for Class A office space in the CBD are up 8.3 percent this year over last, with tenants paying $29.28 per square foot annually, according to JLL Vice President Andrew Rosengarten.

鈥淚’ve seen deals struck with landlords for less,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut that’s a pretty solid number.鈥�

For comparison, average asking amounts in the CBD rose just 2.7 percent in 2013 from 2012, according to JLL Vice President of Research Patricia Raicht.

With space becoming scarce, JLL predicts that the CBD rental market, which in 2014 was neutral, in 2015 will favor landlords. In 2016, when large blocks of space become available in new buildings like Park Avenue West and Pearl West, the market is expected to swing back in favor of tenants, Raicht said.

JLL data indicates that 7 percent of Portland’s office space is occupied by law firms. Six of those firms require more than 50,000 square feet.

鈥淟arge firms that are looking for big blocks of space 鈥� 100,000 to 150,000 square feet 鈥� may have zero or one options open to them right now,鈥� Raicht said. 鈥淏ut smaller firms that need 25,000 square feet have several full-floor options still.鈥�

Stoel Rives LLP will relocate its Portland office to Park Avenue West 鈥� between Southwest Park and Ninth avenues, and Morrison and Yamhill streets 鈥� when construction wraps up in 2016. The law firm plans to lease almost 132,000 square feet of space. Perkins Coie renewed its lease at 1120 N.W. Couch St.; the firm occupies 60,000 square feet of office space.

Meanwhile, law firms are competing with high-tech firms, which are increasingly looking at Class A office space. For example, when U.S. Bank earlier this year gave up more than 200,000 square feet of space in the U.S. Bancorp Tower, tech companies like New Relic, Survey Monkey and Webtrends stepped up to fill the space.

Some of Portland’s large law firms have taken advantage of their lease-renewal cycles to rightsize their operations.

鈥淚n the last two or three years we’ve seen several larger firms renew their leases,鈥� Raicht said. 鈥淭o become more efficient they’ve done things like make office spaces the same size for all attorneys. Or, because everything is going digital, they’ve been able to reduce their needs for library space.鈥�

For big firms, rightsizing sometimes means giving up 10 percent of space 鈥� perhaps 10,000 to 15,000 square feet. But for smaller firms, a reduction in space occupied often can’t be justified.

鈥淔or a firm that occupies 15,000 square feet of space it doesn’t make sense, economically, to give up 1,500 square feet,鈥� JLL Vice President Andrew Rosengarten said. 鈥淚t just doesn’t make the needle move enough to make a difference.鈥�

Many of the larger law firms in Portland renewed their five- to seven-year leases around the same time a few years ago, Raicht said. Smaller firms at that time had the opportunity to backfill space given up by the larger firms that required less space.

Many law firms are hiring new attorneys, and competition is fierce, Raicht said.

鈥淧retty much everyone is in competition for intellectual talent these days,鈥� she said. 鈥淪ome firms use their office space as a recruiting tool for new talent and as a way to retain current employees.鈥�

While some firms focus on space to attract talent, others are taking a more creative approach.

鈥淪ometimes it’s office size, but often it’s the type of space 鈥� cooler, more modern 鈥� a firm offers,鈥� Rosengarten said. 鈥淏ut there are other types of amenities, like showers or coffee bars.鈥�