A new retail store will open tomorrow in the historic Meier & Frank Building in downtown Portland. Japanese retailer MUJI will debut the 11,000-square-foot flagship store, its first location in the Pacific Northwest, in a ground-floor space fronting Southwest Fifth Avenue.

The opening follows a three-month tenant improvement project by contractor R&H Construction, which was tasked with completing the build-out in time for a Black Friday opening. Crews worked long hours to meet that deadline.

“We shaved off a few weeks by working around the clock and expediting the schedule,” said Adam Rainey, R&H Construction director of business development; he oversaw the project from an executive level. “It was kind of the only way we were able to accomplish it.”

The space was designed by Super Potato, a Tokyo-based firm responsible for producing the store concept. Bora Architects served as the architect of record, adapting Super Potato’s concept package into a complete plan set.

“Bora did an amazing job tying the whole thing together to make it a permittable project,” Rainey said.

The design is intended to combine local elements with the retailer’s established aesthetic. The space features over 120 old-growth reclaimed timbers sourced from Pioneer Millworks, the bulk of which originated in Oregon. All of the reclaimed timber was uniquely graded by a structural grader, after which KPFF Consulting Engineers determined how best to attach the pieces to the slab and the ceilings in order to ensure that the pieces were structurally sound. Axiom Custom Products was charged with staining, cutting and installing the reclaimed timbers, in addition to handling the project’s fixture package.

MUJI joins Oregon State University as a tenant in space formerly occupied by Macy’s at the Meier & Frank Building. The project was a joint development between Chicago-based Sterling Bay and KBS Realty Advisors of Newport Beach, California. Turner Construction was the general contractor for the core and shell renovation, which encompassed the basement through fifth floors of the building and was designed by Bora Architects.

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A renovation under way at the historic Meier & Frank Building in downtown Portland will transform the former Macy’s department store space into one the most unique creative office spaces in the city. When completed next year, the building will feature office spaces with 40,000-square-foot floor plates and ceiling heights up to 19 feet.

The renovation is a joint development between Chicago-based Sterling Bay and KBS Realty Advisors of Newport Beach, California. The owners purchased the space from Macy’s last year for $54 million. It includes the building’s first five floors and 84,000 square feet of basement space; the building’s upper floors are occupied by The Nines hotel.

General contractor Turner Construction began interior demolition in May, and is now performing core and shell improvements. The scope of work includes installing a new lobby on Southwest Morrison Street, new and re-opened retail entries, and tenant amenity space on a below-grade floor that will include a lounge, private conference room, a catering kitchen, and bicycle commuter facilities. It will also feature a full-service fitness center with towel service, classes, and personal training.

The building was designed by A.E. Doyle, and is notable for being the first of many white glazed terra cotta structures to be erected in Portland. Bora Architects took inspiration from the ornamentation on the face of the building and brought some of those design ideas to the interior.

“We definitely were trying to borrow from this really beautiful history of the building in some of the details, and to add something modern but to make sure that it fit in with that context,” said Bora principal Amy Donohue.

New brass mesh screens that will be incorporated into several common areas in the building’s interior were derived from the patterns of exterior terra cotta, and match brass detailing around the elevators and inlays in the poured terrazzo flooring. An oversized clock that was synonymous with the old Meier & Frank store is being relocated from the center of the ground floor to the elevator lobby.

A pair of historic entries to the building – one each on Southwest Fifth and Sixth avenues – will be re-opened, and a canopy along Southwest Alder Street that has regularly been struck by delivery trucks will be reduced in depth from 12 feet to eight feet. Non-historic fabric awnings around the perimeter of the building will be removed, providing a better street-level view of the terra cotta façade and the ornate metal canopies.

Storefront improvements include taking window film and display windows away from the building’s edges, allowing light to penetrate into the retail spaces, and giving pedestrians a view inside for the first time ever.

On the building’s upper floors, light penetration will be increased thanks to the removal of multiple mechanical louvers that were installed during a 2006 renovation. They will be ganged together on the north side of the building so that as much vision glass as possible can be installed in their place.

With the unique offering of such large open floor plates, the owners are looking to ideally lease to tenants looing to take entire floors. The office spaces are being marketed a $37 per square foot, triple net. Core and shell work is slated for completion by April 2018, with tenant improvements to follow and office occupancy by next summer.

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