A 19-story office building in downtown Portland has sold to an investment partnership for nearly $70 million.

The purchase of 200 Market is the largest ever for Melvin Mark Cos., which has been involved in Portland real estate since 1945.

The local firm partnered with Nevada-based auto dealer Jeff Swickard, who extended his downtown real estate buying spree after he recently purchased the U.S. Bancorp Tower (better known as “Big Pink”) and the Five Oak building. Together, they total almost 1.5 million square feet.

“We share the same values of long-term stewardship and a belief in Portland that its brightest days are ahead,” said Nick Ehlen, managing partner at Melvin Mark Investors.

Completed in 1973, 200 Market offers 18 floors of office space and ground-floor retail space. The purchase values the asset with 388,191 rentable square feet at approximately $180 per square foot. The building comprises approximately 400,000 gross square feet.

The total transaction amount was “just shy” of $70 million, Ehlen said. He declined to give an exact figure, and a warranty deed was not immediately available.

“Investments like 200 S.W. Market St. reflect our long-standing commitment to Portland and our belief that downtown will continue to play an important role in the region’s future,” Melvin Mark Cos. CEO Jim Mark stated in a news release.

The seller was John Russell, who purchased 200 Market for $21.5 million in 1988. Ehlen credited Russell for his stewardship of the building for nearly four decades.

Russell had defaulted on a $63 million loan from Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. as office tenants downsized after the pandemic, the lender alleged, according to court records previously reported by The Oregonian/OregonLive.

The buyers purchased the loan for “a little over half” the $63 million owed, Ehlen said. They also bought out Russell’s controlling interest and hammered out lease agreements with tenants, including tenant-improvement allowances.

“It was really three transactions rolled into one,” Ehlen said.

The partnership wooed accounting firm Geffen Mesher to sign a long-term lease for 30,000 square feet. Two existing tenants also opted to re-up: Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon expanded its space from approximately 60,000 square feet to 100,000 square feet, and IMA Financial Group grew its space from 5,197 square feet to 9,000 square feet.

Regence is calling employees back to the office and expanding its presence downtown, Ehlen said.

“We’re hoping it sparks a movement,” he added.

In total, new and extended leases of nearly 140,000 rentable square feet have been secured, and the property is expected to reach 85 percent occupancy in coming months, Melvin Mark stated in a news release.

The 200 Market building also has a sprawling parking garage with nearly 600 spaces close to Portland State University, the Keller Auditorium and government offices in south downtown.

The complex transaction had been gestating since 2024.

“This deal took a lot of teamwork to pull together,” Ehlen said. “We’re so excited. I’ve been working on this deal for 18 months, but we’re thrilled to get it to the finish line.”

Colliers brokers Trevor Kafoury and Autumn Brice represented both Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon and IMA Financial in their lease negotiations, and Nathan Sasaki and Nathan Oakley of Apex Real Estate Partners represented Geffen Mesher. Melvin Mark Capital Group partnered with Melvin Mark Investors to secure financing for investment.

Melvin Mark Brokerage Co. will oversee leasing and property management at 200 Market. The new owners plan to renovate the lobby and make other improvements.

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U.S. Bancorp Tower owner Jeff Swickard has purchased another downtown Portland office building, and he said he’s not done yet.

Swickard has closed on the eight-story, 266,664-square-foot Five Oak building, at 421 S.W. Oak St., for “a little over $10 million,” he said. Swickard Group bought the building from a group of creditors led by Nuveen. Five Oak was constructed in 1944 and then renovated in 2005.

The purchase comes only seven months after Swickard purchased the U.S. Bancorp Tower, better known as “Big Pink.” The buildings are almost directly adjacent to each other.

“It’s in our mind a perfect complement to the Big Pink,” he said.

Swickard said he hopes the two buildings can share certain amenities, such as parking and hospitality.

It’s another big splash for Swickard, who initially made his fortune from a string of car dealerships based in Summerlin, Nevada. Swickard Group began investing in commercial real estate 14 years ago.

Swickard is a University of Oregon alum.

“Portland, it just meant something to me,” he said. “Even though I moved away, it never left my heart.”

Swickard has also purchased real estate in Wilsonville, the San Francisco Bay Area, Southern California, and Vancouver and Edmonds, Washington. Swickard Group is closing on an industrial building in Tigard this week, he said.

“We’ve been active, but until we bought Big Pink, nobody cared,” he said.

Both Big Pink and the Five Oak building lie in Portland’s opportunity zone, which confers tax benefits after seven and 10 years.

“Buying in an opportunity zone, it’s not the motivating factor, but it’s helpful,” Swickard said.

The downtown buildings are long-term holds, Swickard said. Current tenants at Five Oak include the U.S. Postal Service, Oregon Health Authority and Multnomah County. The building’s occupancy rate wasn’t immediately available.

“It’s really a capital-intensive business to re-tenant these buildings,” Swickard said. “On the surface, it might seem like it’s a windfall because prices are low, but by the time it’s re-tenanted it’s a long, long-term play.”

Swickard said the purchase was made in cash, with no debt or institutional money. The property previously traded for $37.1 million in 2014.

“There’s very little or no attractive debt that you can put on a building,” he said. “You have to be prepared to use your cash.”

Swickard suggested he’s not done investing in downtown Portland.

“I decided to buy a couple projects, and I’m going to continue to buy,” he said.

Unico Properties was selected as the property manager for Five Oak, the company announced Thursday. Unico also handles such business at Big Pink.

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