The growing Portland Bureau of Transportation has reached agreement on a five-year lease of space at a downtown office building.

The transportation agency will take additional office space at Sixth + Main (formerly named the Congress Center), at 1001 S.W. Fifth Ave. The building is diagonally adjacent to the Portland Building, PBOT‘s usual office, which is undergoing an extensive renovation.

PBOT is already using portions of the fourth, fifth and sixth floors at Sixth + Main. That space is fully occupied, according to a draft City Council ordinance to authorize the lease.

The bureau is “experiencing unprecedented growth in terms of workload and staffing,” the draft ordinance states. PBOT plans to hire 72 additional employees this year. The Portland Building cannot accommodate the increased staffing, according to the draft ordinance.

There are no city-owned buildings with sufficient space to meet PBOT’s growth, the ordinance states. Leases by city bureaus must be brought to the City Council for approval.

It’s not clear how much additional space the bureau is seeking. A PBOT spokesman did not respond Wednesday to a message seeking comment.

The lease is estimated to cost $612,500 a year, or more than $3 million during the lease period.

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