The Burnside Bridgehead – a four-acre, four-block chunk of property purchased by the Portland Development Commission for $11 million in several deals between 1998 and 2006 – originally was going to be developed by now-defunct Opus Northwest. When it was unable to get large-scale development off the ground, the PDC opted to let several other developers pursue it in smaller increments. One of those projects could finally get a green light next week.

The Portland Bureau of Development Services has recommended approval for Myhre Group Architects‘ design of a six-story, mixed-use building at 419 E. Burnside St. for Seattle-based Trinsic Residential Group. Plans call for 157 residential units, two live-work units, ground-floor commercial space and rooftop terraces.

Also, the development will hold 50 residential parking spaces – including 11 tandem spaces – and 12 spaces for the adjacent building, according to a BDS staff report.

At a Design Commission meeting on Sept. 4, the developer and commissioners discussed moving the proposed location of a garage gate from Northeast Grand Avenue to Couch Street. The commissioners believe an entrance on Couch Street would be better suited for in-and-out vehicle traffic, because Grand Avenue has been identified in a Central Eastside design plan as a street best suited for pedestrian-friendly retail.

Relocating the garage entrance changed the building’s overall orientation, which now features a primary residential entrance on Grand Avenue and a continuous arcade along East Burnside Street.

The Design Commission will meet Dec. 4 to review the staff report and hear testimony from the applicant and any concerned citizens. The commission will then be able to adopt, modify or reject the proposed development.

Meanwhile, construction of a $58 million, 21-story tower at Block 67 is under way. The project team – Guardian Real Estate Services and Hood River-based Key Development Corp., Skylab Architecture and Andersen Construction – put together a development that will include 20,000 square feet of commercial space, 284 apartments and 200 parking spaces.

Andersen Construction began site work in October, and Brad Nile, a project executive with the contractor, said vertical construction will begin in January and require approximately 22 months.

Also, Key Development is planning to develop Block 76W, a small piece of land on the west side of the Couch Street couplet, with a two- to three-story commercial building that will mirror the larger tower.

Developers of a 10-story, mixed-use project on Block 75 – 111 N.E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. – on Nov. 18 submitted permit applications to the BDS. The Design Commission in August approved Works Partnership Architecture‘s design that calls for ground-floor retail space, office space on the second through fourth floors and 75 apartments on levels five through 10.

The project development team includes representatives of Beam Development and Urban Development Partners as well as Carrie Strickland and William Neburka, both principals at Works Partnership Architecture.

Expectations are for Beaverton-based Yorke & Curtis General Contractors to finish the project in time for a May 2016 opening.

The Fair-Haired Dumbbell, two six-story buildings connected by sky bridges, is the first speculative office complex proposed for development at the Burnside Bridgehead. Guerrilla Development owner Kevin Cavenaugh, designed the buildings with a Florentine pattern wrap to resemble gift boxes.

Guerrilla Development collaborated with Fundrise to raise more than $5 million from 1,200 accredited investors to pay for the project, according to Katie Brotherton with Norris, Beggs & Simpson.

Carter Beyl, a broker at Norris, Beggs & Simpson, said the building “epitomizes the tech pilgrimage to Portland,” with its open space, timber-frame construction, expansive wood floors and robotic, stacked parking system.

Crews are expected to break ground in the second quarter of 2015 and finish by the end of the year, according to Brotherton.

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Opus Northwest, once one of the largest development companies in the region, is selling its last remaining commercial property.

The 77-acre property, located near Centralia, Wash., is one of the largest remaining rail-served parcels of land along the Interstate 5 corridor, according to Karen Benoit, senior vice president of marketing at Kidder Matthews, which is handling the sale.

The company invested more than $8 million into the site between its purchase and the prep work involved to make it developable. As it stands, it can hold up to 1.8 million square feet of industrial space, Benoit said.

The listing price is $3.75 million, and qualified offers will be accepted until 5 p.m. Sept. 28.

Opus Northwest has been moving toward closure ever since the Opus Group, its Minnesota-based parent company, started downsizing following the downturn of the real estate market.

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Invesco Institutional, a Dallas-based institutional investment company, has acquired the 332-unit Ladd Tower apartment building in downtown Portland for $79.35 million.

According to the company’s website, Invesco Institutional acquired the 21-story, 271,000-square-foot mixed-use building from U.S. Bank in late November.

The Portland-based development firm Opus Northwest delivered the building, located at 1300 S.W. Park Ave., to the market in 2008. The project was originally supposed to be condominiums but Opus decided to convert the units into apartments because of bad condominium sales.

After putting the building on the market in July and never reaching a deal with anyone, Opus turned the keys over to U.S. Bank in late August via a deed in lieu of foreclosure. Opus had an $82 million construction loan from U.S. Bank for the building.

In addition to the residential units, the building has 4,000 square feet of retail space and 17,000 square feet of parking space. It was certified Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design gold by the U.S. Green Building Council in 2009.

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Word around the coffee pot is that the 322-unit Ladd Tower apartments, which went on the market in early July, could be sold in the next 30 days.

While nothing has been made official, Brian Owendoff, managing director of the firm listing the tower, CB Richard Ellis, confirmed that a deal should be completed by early October. And while Owendoff wouldn’t confirm a buyer or a price, the rumor is it will be in the neighborhood of $82 million to $84 million.

If the price is accurate, Opus Northwest, the firm that developed the project, would likely only recoup the $84 million construction loan that was taken out for the project. But the rumored price is still much better than .

The 23-story building was originally supposed to be condominiums but was converted to apartments in 2007 after only 60 of the units were presold.

The deal would be one of a handful of large apartment deals to be completed this summer. The others – Harrison Tower Apartments and Tupelo Alley – both sold for $39 million in June.

For now this price is just hearsay. As soon as a deal is finalized, you will be the first to know.

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Word around the coffee pot is that the 322-unit Ladd Tower apartments, which went on the market in early July, could be sold in the next 30 days.

While nothing has been made official, Brian Owendoff, managing director of the firm listing the tower, CB Richard Ellis, confirmed that a deal should be completed by early October. And while Owendoff wouldn’t confirm a buyer or a price, the rumor is it will be in the neighborhood of $82 million to $84 million.

If the price is accurate, Opus Northwest, the firm that developed the project, would likely only recoup the $84 million construction loan that was taken out for the project. But the rumored price is still much better than .

The 23-story building was originally supposed to be condominiums but was converted to apartments in 2007 after only 60 of the units were presold.

The deal would be one of a handful of large apartment deals to be completed this summer. The others – Harrison Tower Apartments and Tupelo Alley – both sold for $39 million in June.

For now this price is just hearsay. As soon as a deal is finalized, you will be the first to know.

The post Ladd Tower deal coming soon appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

Design-build commercial real estate firm Opus Northwest announced Thursday that it had hired a Chicago turnaround firm to “explore options for recapitalizing,” including selling off assets.

Company officials say Opus Northwest will probably stay in business, although others in the real estate industry say it’s more likely the firm will break up and sell off its assets.

Opus Northwest issued a statement that it had engaged MorrisAnderson & Associates to look into options including “a capital infusion, a joint venture, or a sale of certain assets.”

Tom Parsons, Opus Northwest senior vice president, said the firm’s Portland and Seattle offices remain open. “In the short term, we don’t have any plans to close any of our offices,” he said.

Parsons said that he doesn’t expect the firm to shut down or be sold outright, but it needs money. “There’s a high probability of a successful recapitalization of the company,” he said. “That means moving forward, but with new money.”

Although Parsons said he couldn’t speculate on what form Opus Northwest would emerge from the recapitalization process, he said he expects the Opus Northwest name to endure.

“I think there’s a high probability we’ll move forward under the name,” he said. “It’s hard to tell right now.”

The company’s properties could be valuable to investors, said Will Macht, president of Macht & Co. and an adjunct professor in real estate at Portland State University. There’s a smaller chance that another company would want to enter into a deal that lets it acquire Opus Northwest’s employees, he said.

“I doubt they’d be able to carry on as Opus Northwest,” Macht said. “I think the intent is to dissolve the company.”

If the company sells off its assets, real estate opportunity funds could swoop in looking for discounted properties that could yield good returns, said Fred Dockweiler, senior vice president of KeyBank Asset Recovery Group.

“There’s a lot of money on the sidelines waiting to jump in,” Dockweiler said. “Opus didn’t do any second-rate stuff.”

Attitudes toward local real estate have already started to improve, said Gary Winkler, a multifamily investment broker with Colliers International. “Investors are cautious, but things are turning around,” he said.

“I think people are willing to do transactions,” Winkler said. “Last year, there were not a lot of transactions for Oregon and Southwest Washington.”

The recession has been hard on Opus Northwest parent company Opus Corp., headquartered in Minnesota. Opus divisions based in Rockville, Md., Atlanta and Phoenix filed for either Chapter 7 or Chapter 11 bankruptcy last year.

Last month, the Portland office cut its staff from six to four and the Seattle staff dropped from 24 to 13. That’s a dramatic fall from a 2006 peak of 110 employees for the two offices combined. At the time, the offices had $250 million worth of projects.

“This is not atypical for a real estate company in these times,” Parsons said. “Like many real estate companies, we’re down to a very small staff because the business is in the tank.”

Opus Northwest has been a major player in the Portland area, completing $500 million worth of metro-area projects in the last seven years. Those include two high-end apartment complexes finished last year: Park 19 in Northwest Portland and Ladd Apartments in downtown.

In spite of those and other prominent projects, the disappearance of Opus Northwest wouldn’t create major ripples in the local real estate community, Macht said. “It was a larger developer in town when it did Bridgeport Village and the Ladd Apartments. But none of the developers are really active now, so in terms of their immediate departure, it’s not going to make a significant difference now.”

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Opus Northwest is laying off 13 people from its Portland and Seattle offices, another setback for a development firm that has seen its Portland-area workload evaporate completely.

Tom Parsons, senior vice president and general manager for Opus Northwest in Seattle, said Tuesday that most of the layoffs would come from the company’s construction management group and would take place this week.

He said the staffs of the Portland and Seattle offices would be reduced, respectively, from six to four and from 24 to 13.

These layoffs and previous ones have mirrored Opus’ diminishing workload. In 2007, according to Parsons, the offices had a combined 110 employees and $250 million worth of projects. Now there are just 17 workers and $30 million worth of projects – all in the Seattle area – scheduled for this year.

The commercial construction firm, based in Minnetonka, Minn., has no planned deals in the Portland-metro area, but it’s pursuing several possible projects, according to Parsons.

He said Opus completed $500 million worth of projects in the metro area in the past seven years, including two high-end apartment complexes last year – Park 19 in Northwest Portland, and Ladd Apartments in downtown Portland.

“If you look at the industry and map Opus with the industry, you’re gonna see a very similar graph,” Parsons said.

The layoffs,  by Finance and Commerce of Minneapolis, a sister paper of the Daily Journal of Commerce, are the latest bad news for the company. Opus Northwest is now one of two remaining divisions of its parent company, the Opus Group. Divisions based in Rockville, Md., Atlanta and Phoenix filed for either Chapter 7 or Chapter 11 bankruptcy last year.

John Solberg, president and CEO of Opus Northwest, told Finance and Commerce he doesn’t think the division would file for bankruptcy protection or merge with the other remaining division, Opus North of Rosemont, Ill.

“I don’t think there’s any intention of having only one company,” Solberg said, “but that’s something that I don’t necessarily control, either.”

Opus Northwest has six offices, and Parsons said there are no plans to close the Portland location, despite its dearth of work. The office, which opened in 1997 with two employees, hit a peak of 21 workers three years ago.

For now, Parsons said, the Portland office is pursuing “build-to-suit” projects, in which custom commercial buildings would be financed by either the owner or Opus, not by a bank.

Parsons said this is currently the “only feasible” type of work, given many banks’ unwillingness or inability to make loans.

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