opportunity zone – Daily Journal of Commerce /news/tag/opportunity-zone/ Building and Construction News in Portland, Oregon and the Pacific Northwest Fri, 27 Feb 2026 18:53:38 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.6.6 /files/2023/08/favicon.webp opportunity zone – Daily Journal of Commerce /news/tag/opportunity-zone/ 32 32 Swickard Group buys Five Oak building in downtown Portland /news/2026/02/27/jeff-expands-swickard-downtown-portland-office-purchase/ Fri, 27 Feb 2026 18:53:16 +0000 /?p=518463 A Nevada real estate investment firm that previously acquired the U.S. Bancorp Tower has added to its Portland office holdings.

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The building, in , has 266,664 square feet in eight stories. (Multnomah County)

 

AT A GLANCE:
  • A Nevada company has paid more than $10 million for the Five Oak building
  • previously acquired the in downtown
  • The purchase was made in cash without debt or institutional financing
  • is the property manager for both Five Oak and ‘Big Pink’

U.S. Bancorp Tower owner 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 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 , 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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Astoria pier, undeveloped parcel now up for sale /news/2025/07/31/astoria-pier-39-property-sale/ Thu, 31 Jul 2025 20:52:56 +0000 /?p=511479 Pier 39 has hit the market, offering more than 110,000 square feet of mixed-use space on the Columbia River. The listing also encompasses an adjacent 2.06-acre parcel.

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Astoria’s has hit the market, offering more than 110,000 square feet of mixed-use space on the .

The property houses 26 tenants, including Rogue Pier 39 Public House, a coffee shop, a financial planner and the Museum, in a cluster of low-slung buildings with reddish-orange roofs east of downtown . The commercial space is 42 percent occupied, according to , the listing agent.

The listing also encompasses an adjacent 2.06-acre parcel. The land is zoned for multifamily, hotel, retail or , and is the last undeveloped site of its kind in Astoria, according to CBRE.

The parcels are located within an and an enterprise zone, offering tax benefits to developers and investors. The site attracts 50,000 visitors a month on average, according to CBRE.

Longtime owner Floyd Holcom is selling the property. An Astoria resident and U.S. Army special forces veteran, Holcom reached out to Wes Bochner, a Portland-based CBRE broker and U.S. Navy veteran, to sell the property. Erin Smith and Trent Steeves are also managing the listing for CBRE.

Holcom purchased the property in 2002 and owns it through a limited liability company, NBSD.

The pier traces Astoria’s economic transformation from reliance on natural resources to a focus on tourism. The pier was home to Hanthorn Cannery, the first and largest tuna cannery in Astoria, which later became a Bumble Bee Tuna cannery.

CBRE has not published a listing price for the property.

“Comparable properties in San Francisco and Southern California have traded at 10x valuations of where we expect Pier 39 to sell, reflecting the massive investment upside with lease-up and redevelopment of remaining original cannery spaces,” Bochner stated in a news release.

(courtesy of CBRE)

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