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Unico Properties, fresh off its $255 million acquisition of Montgomery Park this month, is planning to renovate the centerpiece building, which opened in 1921.

The 745,000-square-foot building is approximately 95 percent leased, with tenants including Adidas, Daimler Trucks North America and Wells Fargo.

鈥淥ur plan for the existing Montgomery Park building is to reposition it, upgrade it,鈥� said Brian Pearce, Unico’s executive vice president of real estate services.

Unico may follow the lead of some recent Montgomery Park tenants in creating more of a creative office feel, Pearce said. Any renovations would not require existing tenants to move, he said.

Unico’s purchase of the 18-acre property in Northwest Portland from the Bill Naito Co. was in partnership with Partners Group, a private-equity firm based in Switzerland. The transaction, recorded by Multnomah County on April 1, is one of the highest-dollar commercial real estate deals in Portland’s history.

Unico has been active in the Portland market. The Seattle-based investment and management company in December 2018 purchased, with partners, the historic Galleria building from the Bill Naito Co. Unico also owns, as part of a partnership, the 42-story U.S. Bancorp Tower.

鈥淲e’ve had a plan as a company to grow our assets under management,鈥� Pearce said. 鈥淲e’ve been working to align ourselves with capital and partners that are like-minded, and we’ve been pretty successful at raising capital.鈥�

Montgomery Park gives Unico a foothold in Northwest Portland, which is growing rapidly 鈥� particularly in the Slabtown area and the north Pearl District.

鈥淭he growth of the Northwest neighborhood 鈥� it’s becoming a little more vibrant 24/7,鈥� Pearce said. 鈥淚t’s kind of transforming. To be able to be a part of that is pretty fantastic.鈥�

Unico also plans to convert the American Can building, currently used as a parking structure, into creative-office space, Pearce said. The building was formerly a warehouse. The site has potential for further development, he said.

鈥淭here’s obviously plenty of development capacity there,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hat we do there is sort of (to be determined). This is a long-term hold. It’s going to take us years to fully realize the site’s potential.鈥�

Graham Taylor and Charles Safley of CBRE represented the Bill Naito Co. in the sale. Nick Santangelo, also with CBRE, arranged acquisition financing.