A couple of tenants in Fox Tower have agreed to lease renewals in the latest vote of confidence in downtown Portland.

Professional services firm Moss Adams is renewing its lease for a total of 38,874 square feet on three floors in the 27-story building. Regal Cinemas also recently renewed its lease, which includes a ground-floor entrance and the entire third floor.

“Moss Adams’ renewal is a sign that tenants are comfortable and confident in the long term of downtown,” said Vanessa Sturgeon, chief executive of TMT Development, which developed Fox Tower and now manages it.

Regal Cinemas has resumed showing movies at Fox Tower with COVID-19 precautions in place. Movie theaters, as venues for indoor gatherings of strangers in enclosed rooms, were hammered by the pandemic.

“It says that people know that the vaccines are working, so there’s renewed confidence from theatergoers,” Sturgeon said.

Both Moss Adams and Regal Cinemas have long occupied space in the building. Terms for the new leases are confidential, but Sturgeon described them as “standard market-rate deals.”

The Fox Tower leases add to a string of new leases and renewals downtown by tenants such as SERA Architects, Lane Powell and On, a footwear company.

“What you’re seeing now is everyone who had to put their decision-making off and on hold; they’re looking past the pandemic and they’re signing normal deals now,” said Tim Harrison, research manager for JLL in Portland.

After a quiet 2020, leasing trends have returned to normal in the urban core. Downtown leasing activity in the first quarter of 2021 was approximately 650,000 square feet – on par with first-quarter results in 2018 and 2019.

Downtown Portland has been beset by protests that at times turned violent, along with homeless camps and trash that have marred the city’s reputation. City officials and groups such as the Portland Business Alliance and Downtown Portland Clean & Safe have grappled with how to clean up downtown.

“Downtown needs some attention right now in terms of cleanliness,” Sturgeon said. “Hopefully we’re taking the summer to really focus on that right now as a city and as citizens.”

Matthew Goodman, vice president of Downtown Development Group, said appearances downtown seem to be improving thanks in part to former Mayor Sam Adams. He is serving as a close advisor to Mayor Ted Wheeler.

“I have definitely seen improvements in the last few months in the cleanliness of the urban core in Portland,” Goodman said. “We all acknowledge there’s work to be done. I think (Adams’) efforts have yielded progress so far.”

Some of Downtown Development Group’s tenants have renewed their leases.

“Fortunately for us, most of our users like their space and intend on keeping a presence downtown,” Goodman said.

Interest from prospective tenants is still strongest in the West End and the Pearl District, but touring interest in downtown properties has ticked up, he said.

Goodman said he expects downtown to turn a corner when office workers return this summer.

“I’ve heard Labor Day as being a line-in-the-sand date for some large users, and that’s going to jump-start the downtown ecosystem because there are so many ancillary businesses – think cafés and restaurants – that depend on that foot traffic downtown,” he said.

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