Menashe Properties made a $33 million bet last year on the future of Portland office space when it purchased Montgomery Park.

Now the local real estate investment firm is leading what CEO Jordan Menashe called a “soft reposition” of the property with an eye toward attracting tenants looking for a deal.

Menashe said he’s encouraged by early signs of a bounce-back in the office market. He noted increasing competition from institutional investors in cities such as San Francisco, which was hit hard by pandemic shutdowns. Companies large and small have ordered employees to return to offices, at least part time.

“Office is back,” Menashe said in an interview.

Whether Menashe Properties is successful in turning around Montgomery Park will say much about the post-pandemic office market in Portland and whether it has hit bottom.

Montgomery Park is a sprawling, aged asset. Its 768,443 square feet make it Portland’s third-largest commercial property, behind only the U.S. Bancorp Tower — better known as Big Pink — and Wells Fargo Center.

In competition for tenants, Menashe representatives are carefully positioning the property as a value. Built in 1921 as a Montgomery Ward & Co. warehouse, the building offers different space than in sleek 21st-century towers such as Block 216 and Eleven West. Montgomery Park tenants will not share the building with a cantilevered swimming pool, nor Ritz-Carlton condos.

“We will be the value proposition for tenants in the market, offering a great building with unique views, great parking and amenities,” Menashe Properties President Ross Kelley said.

Montgomery Park’s future was the focus of a luncheon last week hosted by the Portland chapter of CREW (Commercial Real Estate Women) Network.

“The thesis was this was a terrific asset — great location, great parking,” Kelley said at the luncheon. “With a reset basis and bringing in some new amenities, we’re really excited to continue the reposition.”

What Kelley called the reset basis — commercial real estate lingo for a lower initial investment — is key to making Menashe’s purchase work. The 2024 sale price valued the building at only $42.95 per square foot, a deal that would have been unheard of before the COVID-19 pandemic. The building in 2019 sold for $255 million — more than seven times the price later paid by Menashe Properties.

After paying a modest amount, the new owners don’t necessarily need to command market-leading rents. That strategy leads to a light touch with the repositioning. Menashe Properties is focusing on the bottom floors with changes that visitors and tenants will notice immediately, such as better lighting and new furniture.

Walen Construction is serving as the general contractor for the update, which is being designed by West of West.

The ownership has also applied for permits to add a gym in another bid to attract tenants.

“Everyone knows, it’s just a massive building,” said Clayton Taylor, partner at West of West. “So, you want to reposition the building, you want to get activation going. You want to show action in the market — that something’s happening. But you’re trying to do it across a three-city-block scale of interior space that you’re trying to touch at once. So how do you do that in a nominal way?”

Montgomery Park is no stranger to cost-conscious cosmetic updates. When the iconic sign atop the building was changed, only two letters were swapped to transform “Montgomery Ward” into “Montgomery Park.”

Menashe Properties is working to create foot traffic in part by improving the experience in the entrance and lower floors. An escalator takes visitors to the second floor, where the Adidas employee store acts as a retail anchor. Banks of elevators chime as they move up and down at the rear of the atrium. On a recent visit, a pianist was playing to a light lunch crowd while a few workers pecked away on laptops.

The building is also host to a rotating cast of food carts for employees and visitors. On Monday, Smak Dab’s sold burgers next to the building’s artificial-turf putting green.

The tenants offer a mix of uses including health care services such as WebMD and Pediatric Associates of the Northwest, and professional services. Avangrid Renewables has its headquarters in the building. Daimler Trucks North America has an office there, as does a law firm.

Some analysts have observed signs of life in the office market.

“Tenant demand in Portland is showing signs of recovery and the market should continue to stabilize in 2025,” JLL stated in a recent report.

Another developer, Vanessa Sturgeon, who leads Sturgeon Development Partners, pointed to strengthening sentiment in the office market.

“I do think we’re starting to see the market shift a bit,” she said. “It’s starting to bottom out, and it’s starting to turn a bit, and I think people are recognizing the need to support business.”

Menashe Properties is confident that its recent acquisition will appeal to prospective tenants.

“Montgomery Park sells itself,” Menashe said. “All you have to do is open the doors and take care of people.”

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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.

“Our plan for the existing Montgomery Park building is to reposition it, upgrade it,” 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.

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

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

“The growth of the Northwest neighborhood – it’s becoming a little more vibrant 24/7,” Pearce said. “It’s kind of transforming. To be able to be a part of that is pretty fantastic.”

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.

“There’s obviously plenty of development capacity there,” he said. “What 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.”

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

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Last year, 100 goats were brought to the AmberGlen corporate campus in Beaverton to chomp down on blackberry bushes. The animals provided a way to reduce invasive species without using harmful chemicals.

“That’s a good story,” said Kim Schoenfelder, project director at KG Investment Management, which represents AmberGlen. “People will read that and think, ‘I want to rent at AmberGlen.’ ”

Carbon4Square

In the Carbon4Square building efficiency challenge, 85 office buildings in the Portland metropolitan market are competing against each other to reduce carbon footprints. Four areas are considered:

1. Watts: Energy usage

2. Waste: Consumption of products, and removal, transport and treatment of waste

3. Water: Energy used in pumping, treating, moving and disposing of water

4. Wheels: How tenants, goods and services move to and from the building.

Initial benchmarks were identified for the buildings. Now, sustainability plans are being formulated, with help from the Carbon4Square team. A winner will be announced next spring. Visit for more information.

Schoenfelder said she works with building owners interested in creating their own such stories. Little concrete data exists that supports the business advantages of green building management, but landlords and property managers are testing the waters as they wait for the economy to recover.

“The jury is still out, but the mood on the street is that (a building’s sustainability) is going to be more and more critical to bringing tenants in the door,” said Jack Davis, who manages , a sustainability initiative in Portland. “A lot of real estate and building managers are hedging their bets – it’s safer to go green than not to.”

“At some point this is going to be mandatory, whether it’s on the state or city level,” said Susan Steward, executive director of the Building Owners and Managers Association of Portland. She cited state , which would have required energy performance score reporting for buildings via a program similar to those in California and other states. That bill died, but Steward expects a modified version to return sooner or later.

BOMA opposed the measure, “because we don’t like the word ‘mandatory,’ ” Steward said, but it is also preparing its members for possible changes.

The federal government, the biggest tenant in the country, already requires Energy Star ratings for buildings it rents. That means that the building’s energy usage is being measured and assessed through the Environmental Protection Agency’s Portfolio Manager software. Private companies also are looking at these ratings, Davis said.

“We’re hearing that the big, Fortune 500 companies are using it as a shopping criteria,” Davis said. Smaller firms also like to use green practices to recruit younger employees, he said.

Some industry professionals expect to be able to charge higher rents for buildings with greater energy efficiency, but there’s no hard data to back that up, Steward said. That belief will be studied and monitored as the economy recovers and more people start renting and buying, Davis said.

In the meantime, building managers are trying to establish green reputations for their buildings. Dani Hammer, who manages the Montgomery Park building, said the properties she manages compete with Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certified buildings by attaining Energy Star designations. The Montgomery Park Building has received lighting retrofits and new low-flow plumbing devices, and a green team involves tenants in a recycling program.

“It’s something that tenants look for,” Hammer said. “They want to know you’re doing the best you can for the environment; it also lowers their operating expenses.”

Managers of 85 Portland office buildings are learning about sustainable management through Carbon4Square, which offers free assessment and assistance from several organizations, including several Portland city bureaus and the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance. Carbon4Square is one way to determine the effectiveness of sustainable programs, and how they may be more widely adopted or institutionalized.

Green lease agreements, for example, include provisions regarding tenant and landlord behavior in relation to sustainability initiatives.

“Green leases are starting to happen,” Davis said. “The problem is that there’s no definition of it.”

Schoenfelder said that green lease language is still being developed and tested.

“We’ll see it coming from both owners and tenants. It’s the future,” Schoenfelder said. “It’s important as we start enforcing the agreement … that it doesn’t put an onerous responsibility on one party or another.”

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From the corner of my eye, I thought someone had vandalized the Montgomery Park sign.

But as I drove closer to it, I could make out the “GO DUCKS.” Festive!

Nike set up the display, which began Dec. 31 in advance of the University of Oregon’s bout with Auburn in the BCS National Championship Game. That game is Jan. 10 in Glendale, Ariz.

It was actually the idea of one of Montgomery Park’s shareholder’s, Ken Naito, son of famous developer Bill Naito and apparently a Ducks fan.

“I was driving across the Fremont Bridge listening to the Ducks-Beaver game, and I looked up at the sign and the idea just sort of jumped out at me,” Naito said.

“The team has done so well and is going so far,” said Bill Barendrick, CEO of Bill Naito Company, which owns the building. “It’s something the state of Oregon could and should be celebrating.”

The Montgomery Park sign of course used to read “Mongomery Ward” as it was originally a distribution center for the company. Bill Naito, in one of his frugal moves, had two letters changed when he redeveloped it into an office park.

The building has been one of Portland’s most successful; it had occupancy rates well above 90 percent throughout the recession. It’s also Portland’s second largest building by volume. (The US Bancorp Tower, or “Big Pink,” is the first.)

The building is located at 2701 N.W. Vaughn Street in Northwest Portland. You can get a good view of it driving west on the Fremont Bridge.

Barendrick declined to comment on the cost of the sign, saying only that the major financial contributor was Nike. Nike spokeswoman Erin Patterson also declined to reveal the cost.

The post Montgomery Park sign now reads ‘GO DUCKS’ appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

From the corner of my eye, I thought someone had vandalized the Montgomery Park sign.

But as I drove closer to it, I could make out the “GO DUCKS.” Festive!

Nike set up the display, which began Dec. 31 in advance of the University of Oregon’s bout with Auburn in the BCS National Championship Game. That game is Jan. 10 in Glendale, Ariz.

It was actually the idea of one of Montgomery Park’s shareholder’s, Ken Naito, son of famous developer Bill Naito and apparently a Ducks fan.

“I was driving across the Fremont Bridge listening to the Ducks-Beaver game, and I looked up at the sign and the idea just sort of jumped out at me,” Naito said.

“The team has done so well and is going so far,” said Bill Barendrick, CEO of Bill Naito Company, which owns the building. “It’s something the state of Oregon could and should be celebrating.”

The Montgomery Park sign of course used to read “Mongomery Ward” as it was originally a distribution center for the company. Bill Naito, in one of his frugal moves, had two letters changed when he redeveloped it into an office park.

The building has been one of Portland’s most successful; it had occupancy rates well above 90 percent throughout the recession. It’s also Portland’s second largest building by volume. (The US Bancorp Tower, or “Big Pink,” is the first.)

The building is located at 2701 N.W. Vaughn Street in Northwest Portland. You can get a good view of it driving west on the Fremont Bridge.

Barendrick declined to comment on the cost of the sign, saying only that the major financial contributor was Nike. Nike spokeswoman Erin Patterson also declined to reveal the cost.

The post Montgomery Park sign now reads ‘GO DUCKS’ appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

The story goes something like this: Montgomery Ward built a distribution center in the 20s. Later, the company left, and the building was redeveloped into an office park. The sign on it that read “Montgomery Ward” was changed only slightly to read “Montgomery Park.”

That’s the story behind Portland’s Montgomery Park, the second largest building by volume in the city. But the same thing happened .

Baltimore’s Montgomery Park looks remarkably similar to Portland’s. Both are expansive with big parking lots and large “Montgomery Park” signs. The building in Portland was developed in 1989 by developer Bill Naito. The building in Baltimore was developed by Samuel K. Himmelrich Jr. in 2001 using green building techniques. Himmelrich said he was inspired, at least a little, by the Portland development.

But while Naito named the building “Montgomery Park” so he could save money by only replacing the “W” and the “D” on the “Montgomery Ward” sign, Himmelrich named his building as he did so he could “get away with” a bigger sign, he said.

The sign in Portland is original, but the sign in Baltimore had been removed by 2001. However, the Baltimore building is on the National Register of Historic Places (Portland’s is not, by the way), so Himmelrich was allowed to reproduce the original sign, which was larger than city code allowed for new signs. He had to change the name slightly, though, since Montgomery Ward was still in business at the time. So he borrowed Naito’s idea.

The Baltimore building is bigger than Portland’s – 1.3 million square feet to the Portland building’s 800,000. Portland’s is one story taller though, nine to the Baltimore building’s eight. Portland’s building is also more successful: It’s 93 percent leased now. The Baltimore building is about 70 percent leased.

Montgomery Ward actually built seven big catalog distribution centers during the ’20s. Four of them still remain, and four of those, including the two Montgomery Parks, were redeveloped. The other redeveloped buildings are now a condominium and retail center in Fort Worth, Texas, and an office and warehouse center in Menands, N.Y. The other remaining distribution center, in Kansas City, Mo., is undeveloped.

The distribution centers in St. Paul, Minn., and Oakland, Calif., were demolished. The last part of the St. Paul building was destroyed in 1996 to make way for a new shopping center. The Oakland building was destroyed in 2003 despite much opposition from preservation groups. An elementary school was built in its place.

The post Montgomery Park … in Baltimore appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

The story goes something like this: Montgomery Ward built a distribution center in the 20s. Later, the company left, and the building was redeveloped into an office park. The sign on it that read “Montgomery Ward” was changed only slightly to read “Montgomery Park.”

That’s the story behind Portland’s Montgomery Park, the second largest building by volume in the city. But the same thing happened .

Baltimore’s Montgomery Park looks remarkably similar to Portland’s. Both are expansive with big parking lots and large “Montgomery Park” signs. The building in Portland was developed in 1989 by developer Bill Naito. The building in Baltimore was developed by Samuel K. Himmelrich Jr. in 2001 using green building techniques. Himmelrich said he was inspired, at least a little, by the Portland development.

But while Naito named the building “Montgomery Park” so he could save money by only replacing the “W” and the “D” on the “Montgomery Ward” sign, Himmelrich named his building as he did so he could “get away with” a bigger sign, he said.

The sign in Portland is original, but the sign in Baltimore had been removed by 2001. However, the Baltimore building is on the National Register of Historic Places (Portland’s is not, by the way), so Himmelrich was allowed to reproduce the original sign, which was larger than city code allowed for new signs. He had to change the name slightly, though, since Montgomery Ward was still in business at the time. So he borrowed Naito’s idea.

The Baltimore building is bigger than Portland’s – 1.3 million square feet to the Portland building’s 800,000. Portland’s is one story taller though, nine to the Baltimore building’s eight. Portland’s building is also more successful: It’s 93 percent leased now. The Baltimore building is about 70 percent leased.

Montgomery Ward actually built seven big catalog distribution centers during the ’20s. Four of them still remain, and four of those, including the two Montgomery Parks, were redeveloped. The other redeveloped buildings are now a condominium and retail center in Fort Worth, Texas, and an office and warehouse center in Menands, N.Y. The other remaining distribution center, in Kansas City, Mo., is undeveloped.

The distribution centers in St. Paul, Minn., and Oakland, Calif., were demolished. The last part of the St. Paul building was destroyed in 1996 to make way for a new shopping center. The Oakland building was destroyed in 2003 despite much opposition from preservation groups. An elementary school was built in its place.

The post Montgomery Park … in Baltimore appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

One of Portland’s largest and most successful buildings has space for lease.

Montgomery Park, at 2701 N.W. Vaughn St., is a sprawling office building in Portland’s Northwest District. With about 800,000 square feet on nine stories, it is Portland’s second largest building by volume, after the U.S. Bancorp Tower. The building is about 93 percent leased, but a half-floor and a few smaller office spaces are available.

Montgomery Park was built in 1921 as a Montgomery Ward distribution center. Famed Portland developer Bill Naito redeveloped it in 1989 into an office building, choosing the name “Montgomery Park” so he would have to replace only two letters, the “W” and the “D,” on the building’s large, east-facing sign.

Bill Naito kept the building through a lawsuit resulting from a family feud with his brother Sam in the 1990s. The building performed well, with occupancy above 90 percent even during the Great Recession. Tenants include Daimler, OnPoint Credit Union, Schnitzer Steel Industries, Wells Fargo and WebMD.

The building is successful even though it is tucked away behind a small hill two miles from the Central Business District. But it offers advantages that are hard to come by downtown, like large floor plans.

“You can get 78,000 square feet contiguous on one floor versus any other building, which would be a multi-floor lease,” said Josh Schweitz, representing broker with GVA Kidder Mathews.

And some offices have views. “I’m looking at Mount Hood right now, unobstructed,” said Bill Barendrick, CEO of Bill Naito Company, which owns the building.

To compensate for the distance from the city’s center, the building offers amenities such as restaurants, a salon and a fitness center. It’s also located close to the Northwest 23rd Avenue shopping district.

But the building’s biggest draw is free parking.

The parking is off the street and ample – about 2.75 parking stalls per 1,000 square feet leased.

One half-floor and five smaller spaces are for lease. A divisible 30,923 square feet is available on the fourth floor for an asking rate of $21.50 per square foot, per year, full service. Smaller spaces, ranging from 686 to 8,861 square feet are available for an asking rate of $16 to $21.50 per square foot, per year, full service.

For details on leasing space at Montgomery Park, contact Schweitz at 503-221-2297 or joshs@gvakm.com.

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