Continued in-migration, a strong lending forecast and decreasing vacancy rates in the Portland area mean new office and industrial construction could ramp up in 2015, while multifamily construction could begin to cool off.

Several real estate industry professionals earlier this month participated in a group discussion about 2015 during a breakfast event held by the Oregon-Columbia chapter of the Institute of Real Estate Management at the Oregon Convention Center.

“In the overall market cycle, I feel like we’re in about the sixth inning,” said Chris Nelson, co-founder of Capstone Partners. “Will we get extra innings? I’m not sure. In multifamily, it might be nearly time to sell, but I feel we still have growth potential.”

The metro area is on track to have 7,000 permits issued for new multifamily projects by the end of 2014, and Clay Newton, a vice president at Kidder Mathews, is predicting that 7,500 permits will be issued in 2015, with construction increasing in the suburban markets.

“I’m seeing urban, mixed-use developments under way in the suburbs,” he said. “I think that’s a trend that’s going to continue to grow.”

Newton said mixed-use developments help create a “sense of place” for tenants.

George Macoubray, a partner at Commercial Realty Advisors Northwest, said Portland’s increasing population of well-educated young people want to live in “20-minute neighborhoods.”

“They don’t want to buy a car, but they’re willing to spend money on craft beer and coffee,” he said. “They want the focus on local – both retail and restaurant – and they want all these things within a 20-minute walk from their house.”

At its lowest, Portland’s vacancy rate was at 3.7 percent. Newton predicts that will increase to 4.3 percent by the end of 2015, but said developers have “the green light to build” until vacancy rates exceed 5 percent.

“Jobs drive pretty much everything,” Nelson said. “And with continued job growth … in-migration will help increase the demand.”

Eric Haskins, managing director at Jones Lang LaSalle, said Portland’s booming high-tech industry will continue to create demand for office space, pushing the vacancy rate in the city’s Central Business District to below 7 percent by the end of next year. The suburbs, too, are seeing record-low vacancy rates, Haskins said.

“Next year we will have our sixth straight year of positive net absorption in the city,” Haskins said. “Low vacancy rates will push more development and more adaptive reuse and redevelopment.”

Haskins predicts space constraints in the CBD will increase asking rents for office space to $30 per square foot and spur development in the suburbs.

“I think we’ll see a significant increase in sales volume in 2015 and the price per square foot will be above its pre-recession peak,” Haskins said. “Five years from now I think we’re going to look back and realize we were part of a fundamental shift in Portland from a second- to a top-tier city.”

Haskins and several other panel members said they expect 2015 will be an active and “exciting” year.

In September, Jones Lang LaSalle ranked Portland as the nation’s No. 8 high-tech hub.

“Investors are being told to invest here,” Nelson said.

Investors want in on Portland’s market, so financing is available for speculative development of office and industrial space.

“On spec development there’s financing happening; there’s plenty of capital out there,” said Ken Griggs, president of Norris, Beggs & Simpson Financial. “Banks are expecting an expanded supply of capital for the next few years.”

Recent college graduates want to live in Portland, Newton said, and continued job growth in the area will continue to fuel construction of industrial and office space.

Dave Ellis, a principal at Capacity Commercial Group, predicts industrial vacancy rates will dip to below 5 percent by the end of 2015.

“Not only are we building new product, but it’s being leased,” Ellis said. “I predict 1.5 to 2.5 million square feet of net absorption by the end of 2015.”

Ellis said if fuel prices stay low, he expects to see construction of distribution centers for online retailers like Amazon. E-trade distribution centers can have footprints of up to 1.2 million square feet.

Macoubray said e-commerce is creating construction opportunities for retail as well. He cited Cabela’s, which started as a catalog-only retailer, but now has stores often built close to a highway or freeway.

“Any online company that doesn’t have a brick-and-mortar store I predict will be out of business in 10 years,” Macoubray said. “People want to buy online and be able to go to the store if they want to pick it up or need to return it.”

The post Portland building boom may continue appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

Brandon Frank on office

If Portland’s office market were to name its golden child, the Pearl District would be it without question. With a broad base of tenants ranging from traditional law and accounting firms to creative tech startups, the Pearl District reigns supreme.

2014 saw a migration surge of tech companies escaping the oversaturated safe havens of San Francisco and Seattle, but it wasn’t just tech companies opting for Portland’s deep talent pool and comparatively low cost of living. Many different types of office users sought new space or expansion options this year. After all, the city’s lifeblood is Portland’s rare 24/7 vibrancy and at its epicenter is the Pearl District.

Whereas Portland on the whole balances urban luxury and rural sanctuary, the Pearl District is a concentration of culture. Its unique experiences have birthed the term ‘Pearl Envy’ in which other cities try to model their urban development upon the success found in the Pearl. As such, the Pearl District boasts the highest lease rates in the city as a lifestyle destination.

The proliferation of multifamily development is countered by new restaurants, fun specialty boutiques, and exciting arts and entertainment. Office tenants prefer the Pearl’s accessibility and seamless transition between family friendly parks, work and play. With easy transportation options and numerous bike lanes, the Pearl District is also attractive to a wide age spectrum spanning from young professionals to retirees.

As more people and businesses discover and flock to the Pearl, there is concern whether it can accommodate and sustain such robust growth. Though Portland’s office market is battling limited space options with low vacancy and higher rates, the Pearl District is also the target for the city’s newest development plans between housing projects, residential towers and mixed-use high-rises. This new development will ensure the Pearl’s future as a thriving capital of commerce and culture.

Scott MacLean on industrial

Between staggering amounts of speculative development proposals and new construction projects, Portland is experiencing a tremendous industrial growth spurt. Of course, it’s greatly needed as high demand currently outpaces the city’s supply. Yet, existing close-in industrial properties are also undergoing significant change. As traditional industrial users expand their presence with new development, close-in properties are now attractive and available to a new breed of modernized industrial tenant.

Technology has undoubtedly revolutionized manufacturing trades, refining processes and production to an art. Today’s industrial tenants are a combination of their predecessors with less unwieldy machines and more efficient equipment. As such, this tenant is oftentimes a creative office user too. With obvious competing wants and needs between industrial and office space usage, today’s industrial tenant requires the best of both worlds.

In the past few years, the perfect balance between industrial and office was discovered in flex space, and more specifically, renovated warehouses. Offering large blocks of contiguous, unadulterated space, renovated warehouses are an idyllic solution for tenants wanting build-to-suits. Warehouse space provides operable windows, loading docks, and useful freight elevators; all are ideal amenities for the ‘manufacturer-lite’ or tech startup. Additionally, multistory buildings can be retrofitted to downsize space for smaller businesses.

However, repurposing existing buildings for its large space options hasn’t just been the trend, but has become today’s standard. New industrial construction is now cognizant of this new type of tenant’s needs.

The most recent development of this kind is the six-story New York building – a clear game-changer as the first new high-rise industrial building in Portland in 60 years. With over 100,000 square feet of open floor space, the New York building proved that a spectrum of tenants is willing to pay more for the quintessential open industrial space, and that this is the expectation moving forward.

Jack Gallagher on retail

Portland’s retail market continued to show revitalized strength at the start of the holiday shopping season. This was primarily due to Portland’s affinity for local businesses and preference for lifestyle centers and specialty stores in enclosed malls.

Portland metro consumers are primarily staunch supporters of niche small businesses, which account for over 85 percent of all businesses in the city. The wild success of ‘Little Boxes.’ an iPhone app that encourages users to discover and shop the local retail scene, is evidence of Portland’s serious commitment to small businesses. According to the app’s data results, Little Boxes was credited for 4,200 visits at the 200+ participating stores on Black Friday and more than 1,600 subsequent purchases.

The trend of Little Boxes and similar retail apps is congruent with technology’s increasing influence on brick-and-mortar stores. Many retailers now provide free Wi-Fi and supplement in-store experiences with staggering online inventories and delivery options, catering beyond the consumer’s initial need. These centers, such as Bridgeport Village and Nyberg Rivers’ 100,000-square-foot Cabela’s, have become shopping destinations. In addition, the November opening of Grant Park Village – an apartment complex anchored by the new 34,500-square-foot New Seasons Market – highlights the growing demand for urban lifestyle centers.

Due to their ultimate urban convenience, lifestyle centers are expected to increase significantly. In order to compete with this trend, existing shopping centers must be strategic with their tenant placement. Clackamas Town Center’s recent 36,000-square-foot addition of Dave and Buster’s is a direct result of strategic tenant selection. After all, well-selected, active tenants drive customer traffic and sales, which will ultimately drive rents. As this type of development continues in 2015, the retail market can expect landlords becoming more focused on their tenant selection.

Brandon Frank specializes in the leasing and sales of office properties throughout the Portland metropolitan area at NAI Norris, Beggs & Simpson, a real estate brokerage and asset/property management company. Contact him at 503-273-0358 or bfrank@nai-nbs.com.

Scott MacLean specializes in the leasing and sales of industrial properties throughout the Portland metropolitan area at NAI Norris, Beggs & Simpson, a real estate brokerage and asset/property management company. Contact him at 503-273-0321 or smaclean@nai-nbs.com.

Jack Gallagher specializes in the leasing and sales of retail properties throughout the Portland metropolitan area at NAI Norris, Beggs & Simpson, a real estate brokerage and asset/property management company. Contact him at 503-273-0327 or jgallagher@nai-nbs.com.

The post OP-ED: The pulse of office, industrial and retail appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

Thousands of years after open-air markets flourished in ancient Greece, shopping centers are continuing to evolve.

“There will be new formats,” said Fred Bruning, history buff and CEO of . “There will be new sizes and shapes, but at the end of the day, we’re not more than two steps away from the souk of Byzantium.”

Slowly, but surely, retail is rebounding. Absorption is reportedly up in the Portland area, which is attracting numerous large chains. But as the business changes, Bruning said, properties need to as well.

At Bridgeport Village in Tigard, Bruning peered inside the glass storefront of a space that soon will hold a Barnes and Noble store.

“Upstairs will be the most amazing children’s section you’ve ever seen,” he said, “with a lot of electronic, interactive things so the kids can actually have screens that they can touch and play and follow the stories, and be read to, or read for themselves.”

The space formerly held Borders’ No. 2 store for volume before the company filed for bankruptcy last year. Barnes & Noble is relying on technology, fueled by a new $300 million partnership with Microsoft to develop its Nook reader technology, to succeed in the space.

Customers still want to wander through aisles of books and thumb through titles, Bruning said, but they prefer to make purchases via downloads. So, retailers don’t need to devote so many square feet to inventory.

Bruning noted that when he was with Sears in the early 1980s, more than 55 percent of the company’s sales came from its catalog. The Internet, he said, is just a shiny new catalog that doesn’t need to be mailed.

“(Retailers are) looking to get smaller,” said Alex MacLean, a retail broker with . “Without a doubt, almost across the board retail is getting smaller.”

MacLean said retailers are becoming increasingly more efficient space users. For instance, stores that formerly relied on stock rooms now stack items up to the ceiling above displays.

But it also has to do with the amount of available real estate, MacLean said. In Portland, where the urban growth boundary confines development, little land is available for new buildings. So, retailers must modify their models to suit existing buildings.

MacLean said that Wal-Mart, for example is repurposing spaces formerly used by various businesses in West Linn, Beaverton, Gresham, Lake Oswego and Southeast Portland (on McLoughlin Boulevard).

“That’s the perfect reuse of existing space,” he said. “This is curbside recycling at its best.”

MacLean added that 2012 would be the first year in roughly 15 that a new shopping center hasn’t opened in the Portland-metro area.

Mark New of said the recession left Portland with nearly 2 million square feet of vacant big-box space. But most of that has since been absorbed. According to Norris, Beggs & Simpson’s third-quarter report, retail vacancy was down slightly while absorption was up.

Kidder Mathews‘ third-quarter report, meanwhile, said vacancy was up a bit and net absorption was down; however, it predicted an upward swing in the coming months.

Nationally, retail sales increased 1.1 percent in September to approximately $413 billion – 5.4 percent higher than a year ago. New said his personal survey of Portland-area businesses indicated that sales are up.

New and MacLean follow institutions like Intel, Nike and Oregon Health and Science University to gauge retail growth because expansions mean new consumers. Intel’s recent announcement that it will build more space in Hillsboro is likely to have a big impact.

“That’s a great opportunity,” New said. “That’s a story that gets to the top of the pile and gets people to Portland.”

One such company apparently on its way is Richmond, Va.-based , a used-car retailer with no existing locations in Oregon. It paid $13.08 million for a Milwaukie property, at 13750 S.E. Johnson Road, that presently holds a Kmart store.

Bruning said he likes to think of retail as a giant subduction zone in which rising businesses slide above others. CenterCal Properties is banking on business continuing to increase, with 2 million square feet of space in the works.

A couple of months ago, CenterCal entered into a 75-year lease for a property off of Interstate 5 in Tualatin that presently holds a Kmart. That store is closing, and CenterCal is planning a $55 million development – Nyberg Rivers – with 300,000 square feet of retail space. Bruning said construction will begin in spring 2013 and finish a year later.

Like Gramor’s Progress Ridge TownSquare development – which opened last year and includes a small lake – Nyberg Rivers will play up the pedestrian experience by weaving paved and gravel trails around the Tualatin River. New said those types of amenities are playing an increasingly important role in retail developments’ success.

In a way, it’s a return to the days of yore.

“It’s offering a community town center,” New said. “And that’s how retail started in the first place.”

The post Retail re-energizing in Portland appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

The old Wizer’s shopping center in Lake Oswego wasn’t dead, but it certainly wasn’t vibrant.

“It was economically viable in terms of the cash flow it produced, but it had a ton of deferred maintenance that needed to happen – and it was tired,” said Eric Shoemaker, principal of real estate management and development firm

Meanwhile, approximately 46,000 drivers were passing by the location every day.

So, in 2009, the property’s owner, the Bitar family, asked to devise a solution. Shoemaker, who was working for Beam at the time, said the owners initially wanted only minor improvements, but Beam challenged them to think bigger and more creatively.

“What could we do if we swung for the fences a little bit more?” Shoemaker said.

The result is a revitalized shopping center that opened in June as Lake Grove Village Plaza. It sits in the footprint of the original 1960s-era strip mall, but has a new 21,000-square-foot Zupan’s Market as an anchor and a modern, pedestrian-oriented influence.

The project is something of a sign of the times. Increasingly dense communities are expected to continue to seek alternatives to vehicle-oriented strip malls. Local real estate experts say owners of such shopping centers would be wise to follow in the footsteps of Lake Grove Village Plaza.

“A very high percentage of what gets consumed in America is not a necessity,” said Dick Loffelmacher, a vice president at “And so the feel and the look and the ambience of a shopping center is very important because when people are spending discretionary dollars they really want to go to some place they feel good about, that looks good; it’s new, it’s well kept and it has good tenants that display their wares well.”

An increasingly important characteristic is a shopping center’s walk-ability.

In the case of Lake Grove Village Plaza, Beam demolished sections of existing buildings to create pedestrian breezeways with covered canopies, outdoor heating and seating. Opposite the breezeways, the team transformed a vacant lot into parking.

“The thesis there is that by cutting those breezeways you create a lot more corners,” Shoemaker said. “And corners are always better in retail.”

Shoemaker said there are a lot of U.S. strip malls that need revitalization and that Lake Grove was a perfect candidate because of its highly trafficked location and neighborhood demographics. He said that two years ago, when the project began, the median family income within a two-mile radius of the store was somewhere between $115,000 and $120,000.

Also, 70 percent of the center’s leases were expiring, so the group was able to reimagine the tenant mix. Shoemaker said his team spent a lot of time asking residents what kinds of businesses they wanted. The answer was “local,” and led to agreements being reached with Zupan’s and eateries like Jefe Mexican Restaurant and La Provence.

The plaza has only two national chains – Starbucks and Rite Aid – and Shoemaker said he is being selective in how the remaining vacancies are filled.

The overall cost of the redevelopment was approximately $6 million.

“But there are a lot of strip malls on parcels that are never going to merit a heavier touch like we brought to this one,” Shoemaker said. He said that an investment in redevelopment is warranted only if a potential customer base exists.

The Portland-metro area has 708 unanchored strip malls that total 19.1 million square feet, according to . In the past five years, vacancy at these locations has increased from 7.8 percent in 2007 to 12.5 percent at the end of the second quarter of 2012. Over the same period, rents dropped from $18.40 to $16.05 per square foot.

Pam Lindloff, an associate vice president at , said that while a fresh coat of paint can go a long way, many strip mall owners need to consider offering concessions and perhaps leasing to different types of tenants. Martial arts and beauty schools, for instance, can fill spaces but require lots of parking.

“Many shopping centers were purchased by their current owners with the vision that they would be typical retail centers,” she said. “Today’s market and economy don’t support that, so they’re having to rethink what a retail center is.”

Lindloff said there is no reason why struggling grocery-anchored shopping centers can’t incorporate dining, entertainment and shopping

elements of larger and more popular lifestyle centers like Bridgeport Village in Tigard. A good example, she said, is Gramor Development’s Progress Ridge TownSquare along the border of Tigard and Beaverton; it’s anchored by a New Seasons market and a Cinetopia movie theater.

There is room for improvement in the Portland-metro area. Colliers reports that vacancy at the 102 anchored strip centers (totaling 12.8 million square feet) in the market was 4.3 percent at the end of the second quarter of 2012 – a 1.6 percent increase from 2008. Rents also dropped from $19.54 to $16.37 over the same period.

Loffelmacher said that while he expects many strip malls to be redeveloped into tighter mixed-use properties, grocery-anchored developments aren’t going anywhere.

“Good neighborhood shopping centers that are anchored by a grocery store and then have additional tenants around them are still the backbone of the industry,” he said.

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Portland’s West End (you know, that area in downtown south of Burnside and west of the streetcar?) has been seeing a lot of retail activity lately. And as more retail tenants open in the area, some already established businesses are taking note of the West End’s heavy foot traffic – and cheaper rents.

Most recently, two retail shops planned to open in what used to be called the Portland Medical Building. , a hat store, is moving from the underground trenches of downtown’s Morgan’s Alley, and another store, , a women’s clothing boutique, is moving shop from is location in the Pearl District.

Both retailers said they were attracted to the spaces for their cheaper rents and higher foot traffic.

“I see a trend,” said broker Jordan Menashe with Menashe Properties. “I believe retailers see something in the West End. It’s a very, very busy area.”

It’s part of a larger trend of holes filling up in Portland’s West End. Across the street from Pinkham and Parallel is the pricey and trendy shop . Around the corner on 10th Avenue is and . Finnegan’s Toys recently moved into the Stevens Building a block away, the same building where Under U4 Men is opening its new expanded store. And another Pearl District shop, Dress Code, is planning to open in the 10W building on 10th Avenue and Washington Street.

In a sense, the retailers are making the move in tandem.

“Everybody knows everybody in the fashion community around here,” said Dana Pinkham, who owns Pinkham Millinery and talked about making the move with several retailers. “This is great timing for all of us.”

But to be fair to Menashe, he did his part in orchestrating the transition. He recently moved from Los Angeles to work with his father Barry, who owns the Portland Medical Building. Jordan gave a facelift to the interior of the building – by far not the prettiest in Portland – and he rebranded it as the 511 Building. Sure, plenty of patients come in and out of the building for dental appointments, etc., he theorizes, but now on their way out, they’ll be tempted to do some shopping. Maybe buy a hat.

And so far, even though the retailers’ rents are cheaper, their prices haven’t changed much. Good for the retailers; maybe not so great for you and me.

The post Is the West End the cheaper Pearl District? appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

, the Portland boutique for men’s undies, is moving its store on Southwest Broadway to a new location at , at Park Avenue.

The new store, which will be almost 5,000 square feet, marks an expansion for the company, whose store on Broadway is only 800 square feet. Owner Steven Lien says the new store will be the largest men’s underwear store in North America.

The new store should open in February of 2012, in time for Valentine’s Day. The Under U 4 Men store on Broadway will stay open for a while, but it will eventually close.

“We want to expand, especially our year-round swimming department and our athletic and workout products,” Lien said, “and we just didn’t have the space to expand. We had maxed our ability to generate more sales per square foot at that location.”

Lien plans convert the store into a “state-of -the-art experience,” for which he will add more services, including a barbershop called “U Cut,” as well as services for shaving products, body care and cosmetics.

When asked about the lease rate, Lien said the retail lease rates in downtown Portland “have become very aggressive and it was an opportunity that could not be passed up. There are very, very few corner locations of this size in the downtown core.”

The company has been an office tenant above the new space for a couple of years, but broker Laura Pallin with Sperry Van Ness Bluestone and Hockley convinced  Lien to move into the 4,970-square-foot retail space on the ground floor.

“We’re all very excited, and we think Under U 4 Men’s presence on the street will do a lot for Park Avenue,” Pallin said. “We’re hoping it brings more retailers and encourages owners on the block to improve their buildings, as well.”

The new store will be in the Park Washington Building, built in 1914 and owned by the Cheng family. The building adjacent to it, to the south, is . The retail space in the Stevens Building to the west was recently leased by Finnegan’s Toys & Gifts, which moved there in August from its space on Southwest Yamhill Street. Brokers in the area see high foot traffic from the nearby food cart pod as a benefit for retailers.

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This Friday is that most hallowed of American economic holidays – Black Friday, so named because of retailers that supposedly move from being in the red to being in the black, for the year, on the day after Thanksgiving.

While it’s not consistently the biggest retail spending day of the year, statistics about this coming Friday are tossed about as a major indicator of how things are going in the world of consumer spending. Even if you’re not the type to camp outside of a to get the limited-time midnight deals, holiday spending does affect you. It’s not unheard of for retailers to take in more than half of their annual revenue in the month between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

So what are the prognostications about this year? What do economists see when they gaze into their crystal balls and try to predict the retail future?

Last year’s Black Friday was staggeringly huge – according to the National Retail Federation, over 212 million shoppers hit the stores last year . There are countries with purchasing power parity GDPs lower than that figure. . Last year, even in the midst of a recession, American shoppers on a single busy day spent enough money to out-buy Paraguay.

That was last year. This year, , with estimates in the neighborhood of 152 million shoppers opening their wallets across the country. While American consumers (i.e., us) aren’t going to be rocketing the economy out of a recession, low consumer seasonal consumer spending isn’t going to be contributing to any further fiscal woe for the U.S. We’ll be spending enough to come out on the moderate-to-good side of the equation.

So, even if you’re already sick of the ads and the jingles and the spam in your inbox announcing all kinds of sales, this is a big deal. Countless retailers are at this moment bedecking their stores with products and deals to get ready for a day that will be, justly or not, held up as a major economic indicator for the year ahead. And even if you can’t bring yourself to go into a crowd-choked Target, worry not. This year, . Black Friday might not always be the biggest consumer spending day of the year, but in some ways, it might as well be.

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It’s that time of year again – early November, in which Thanksgiving festivities get overshadowed by a flurry of early Christmas decorations and a flurry of economic prognostications.

Yes, nothing says “Christmas” like projections as to how retail is going to do. This year, things actually look fairly non-terrible, as consumers are expected to spend about 3 percent more than last year.

That’s all to the good, . Why? There’s a lot of them, they face competition from smaller retail outlets, and big box stores have descended upon their market share.  And they have a huge, somewhat-empty reminder of what happens to troubled malls: the Galleria.

Believe it or not, the now-struggling Galleria was once a fairly hopping place. Back in the ’50s and ’60s, downtown Portland was an empty graveyard of office buildings and parking lots. The general populace of the city had no reason to come to the urban core other than punching the clock on their jobs, and the interior of Portland was a gray, empty wasteland outside of normal office hours. The city swooped in with the (when people talk about Portland’s urban planning, this is what they’re usually talking about) and soon began transforming a desiccated wasteland into a space where people would actually want to go.

Chief among the goals was creating a retail core, and in 1976 an old department store that was previously known as was transformed into a monument of then-modern culture: a mall. The Galleria, as it was renamed, was considered a marvel of it’s time. The Oregonian actually called it “the most exciting development in downtown merchandising in several decades.” Yes, way back in the 1970s, the Galleria was exciting. It also soon reached full capacity, and downtown began to transform into the fairly active space that we now know today.

In 1990, though Pioneer Place opened and the once-mighty Galleria was eventually brought to its knees by competition. Downtown was fine, and continues to act as Portland’s retail hub, but one of the major engines that made Portland so Portland-y is now a semi-hollow almost-ruin. However, it’s a big part of the reason why there’s any downtown Portland at all. Life for the formerly revolutionary space certainly isn’t over – Target has been in talks to move in, which could be a shot in the arm for the old place. On a smaller scale, temporary popup shops have, well, popped up in the Galleria. Crafty Wonderland, Flurry, Boy’s Fort and the Portland Design Collective have all moved into the old mall, each selling the wares of different local designers. The temporary storefronts have been a way for the landlords to sell the space even when they can’t find a permanent tenant, and will likely remain for the duration of the holidays. (Side note – definitely check out Boy’s Fort. It’s like the best tree house ever got turned into a store.)

The jury is still out as to whether the Galleria will be able to regain its former glory, but the next time you’re strolling among the food carts and coffee shops, and suppliers of locally produced artisan food items, remember – your city was not too cool to get helped out by a mall.

Photo by via Flickr

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Finnegan’s Toys & Gifts, the independent and locally-owned toy store, is moving three blocks from its current location in downtown Portland.

Finnegan’s will leave its space at the Blanchard Building, 922 S.W. Yamhill Street, and move to the Stevens Building at 820 S.W. Washington Street, the company said today. The windows of its new ground floor retail space are already painted.

The store will occupy space on the lower level and the second floor. The grand opening will be next month.

The store has been at its location on Southwest Yamhill Street for 30 of the 34 years its been in business. It’s moving because the new building has “a better configuration of space” and “a lot more light,” said owner Karen Leppman.

“It’s almost the same neighborhood,” Leppman said. “But it feels a bit different. It’s near the food carts, which is  a big draw.”

Finnegan’s also opened a new location at Bridgeport Village last year.

Doug Bean of Doug Bean & Associates represented Finnegan’s in the transaction. Bob Butler of Butler Brokers represented the owner of the Stevens Building, the Portland chapter of the Church of Scientology.

The Stevens Building is currently for sale at an asking price of $4.95 million.

The post Finnegan’s Toys moving to Stevens Building in downtown Portland appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

According to filed with the Bureau of Development Services, Starbucks is planning to put in a new location at Southwest Fourth Avenue and Morrison Street, in the historic S. H. Kress Building.

It’s also across the street from Starbucks. And down the street. It’s an old joke, I know… but anyway.

The design review documents approve the installation of two signs, which had to get special approval because of the 1928-built Kress Building’s status as a historic landmark on the National Register of Historic Places.

As for the rest of the Kress Building: show that Sephora was planning to move into the next-door storefront, the site of a former Shoe Pavillion store. The next space over, the former Williams-Sonoma space, will be the new home of when it moves out of its Sixth Street location.

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