The PacWest Center in downtown Portland has sold to an Alaska buyer at a steep discount, according to a report.

Willamette Week late Wednesday that the property sold for $55.7 million, or $101.64 per square foot. The price is less than half its most recent pre-pandemic transaction, but higher than the price for another iconic tower that recently sold.

A deed of trust filed with Multnomah County on Thursday shows the buyer used a $44.58 million loan from the First National Bank Alaska, based in Anchorage. Another public filing, the special warranty deed, shows the property sold for $10 “and other good and valuable consideration,” hiding the true purchase price.

Fountainhead Development, based in Fairbanks, Alaska, purchased the 30-story office building, the fourth-tallest building in Portland, from an entity linked to Lincoln Property Co.

The 547,992-square-foot building at 1211 S.W. Fifth Ave. was developed beginning in 1984 by Tokyo-based Mitsubishi Estate Co. and completed in 1988. It was extensively renovated in 2019. The sleek silver tower is well-known locally for its outdoor tree, planted on the 25^th floor.

The building last traded hands for $161.5 million in December 2007. Commercial real estate in Portland has traded at much lower prices since the pandemic emptied out downtown office towers. The city has approximately 9 million square feet of vacant office space.

PacWest’s recent sale gave it a significantly higher valuation than the U.S. Bancorp Tower — better known as Big Pink — earned when it sold for $45 million, or about $39.13 per square foot, in July.

Newmark Vice Chairman Nick Kucha, Senior Managing Director James Childress and Directors Kellen Kollmorgen and Jakob Nicholls represented the seller.

“PacWest exemplifies resilience and opportunity in Portland’s evolving office market,” Kucha said in a prepared statement. “With its transit-oriented location, market-leading amenity package and premium view space, the buyer recognized the tower’s ability to cater to both traditional and creative tenant requirements in a location with enduring demand drivers.”

The property is 50 percent leased, primarily by legal, banking, wealth and investment management firms, according to Newmark.

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“Big Pink,” the iconic office tower in downtown Portland, is for sale.

Brokerage JLL recently published a listing for the 42-story skyscraper. Completed in 1973, U.S. Bancorp Tower, which is better known by its rose-shaded nickname, is Portland’s largest commercial building, spanning 1.15 million square feet.

It’s also the city’s second-tallest building, behind only the Wells Fargo Center.

“Portland will never see another building like U.S. Bancorp Tower, considering the asset’s extraordinary scale and the complete absence of new development planned in the urban core for the foreseeable future,” JLL’s listing states.

Last fall, U.S. Bank said it would exit the tower and move most of its employees who were based there to Gresham amid a broader pullback in office occupancy in downtown Portland.

The building previously was purchased by Seatle-based Unico Properties and its ownership group for $372.5 million in 2015.

Large-scale commercial buildings in Portland resold since the COVID-19 pandemic have done so at massive discounts.

Montgomery Park sold for $33 million in 2024 after fetching $255 million in 2019. Block 1 in the Pearl District’s Brewery Blocks sold last year for $21 million after it was valued at $44.76 million in a 2007 transaction.

U.S. Bancorp Tower’s current ownership has invested $18 million in capital improvements for the building since 2016, according to JLL.

Big Pink is 45.7 percent occupied, according to JLL. The building also offers 999 parking spaces and Portland City Grill, a luxurious restaurant on the 30th floor.

Another Portland tower, the 30-story PacWest Center, was also recently listed for sale.

Unico Properties has a large portfolio of more than 20 properties in the Portland area, including the Moda Tower, Galleria building and Sixth + Main.

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