Entrepreneur Andrew Erickson loves his office at the U.S. Custom House because it not only is inexpensive, but also provides flexibility.

“The physical layout is pretty great because it’s really easy to find distractions in that environment,” he said. “You can change environments to focus on the task at hand.”

The historic building, built in 1901, was remodeled by WeWork last fall. While open office configurations are popular these days, the work spaces in the U.S. Custom House are individualized. But because nearly all of the spaces are glassed in, the building has an open feel. Office spaces can also be expanded or contracted, depending on tenants’ needs.

Erickson is watching his budget, and pays only $270 a month for a “hot desk” – space at a long table with a lamp and Internet access. The setup has benefited his company, Macro Conscious Inc., which he started a year ago to help clients develop and market their websites.

WeWork, based in New York, has more than 30 locations that offer “flexible” rental office space ranging from a “hot desk” to private offices for up to 20 employees.

“We currently have about 300 small businesses and 579 members,” Portland WeWork community manager Lisa Siems said. “We can do custom builds and are very flexible and have a lot of (room) to work with members in different situations.”

With a team of more than 140 designers, engineers and construction managers, WeWork creates all designs in-house. But each facility is designed to be “localized and personal,” said Devin Vermeulen, WeWork’s creative director.

“There’s nothing we love more as designers than getting a building like Custom House that has a lot of rich history and architectural detail that we can build off of,” he said. “Given that our co-founder and chief creative officer Miguel McKelvey was born in Oregon and is a graduate of the University of the Oregon School of Architecture, this was an extra special project for us.”

WeWork spaces are designed to give people “an opportunity to work and interact,” Vermeulen said. That interaction often takes place in the open lounge areas on every floor with foosball and pingpong tables, as well as free cucumber and citrus water, tea, coffee, cider and beer. Other amenities include large and small conference rooms, high-speed Internet, bike storage and showers.

“We made sure there was plenty of open and communal space to create opportunities for collaboration, engagement – and fun,” Vermeulen said.

Another “fun” feature was created when the design team decided to transform several old money vaults, created by the Hermann Safe Co., into tiny spaces that can hold up to four people. Other renovators might have covered the old safes up or used them for storage, Vermeulen said.

“We took a different approach and turned them into small meeting rooms, unique and interesting architectural features that are obvious the second you step into the room,” he said.

Julie Clarke-Bush, owner of startup HighViz Marketing, said business has improved since she moved operations from her dining room to the U.S. Custom House.

“I’ve stopped wearing yoga pants,” she said, which makes her feel more businesslike.

And because the one-person office is glassed in, Clarke-Bush often steps into one of the safes for more privacy.

Clarke-Bush often attends networking events in the open lounge areas, she said.

“There are a lot of freelancer types that kind of have the same story as me,” she said. “Everyone can work online and can work anywhere they want.”

The post U.S. Custom House flourishing as offices appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

More details have arisen about the future use of the U.S. Custom House at 220 N.W. Eighth Ave.

The 111-year-old structure, which was sold to Eastern Real Estate LLC last March, is expected to be ready for occupancy by early 2013, according to officials from Norris, Beggs and Simpson.

The building will be leased out as office space. It will not be converted into a retail store chain, like other projects Eastern Real Estate has developed in the past.

A renovation is under way to restore the building’s historic elements, such as its arched windows, columns and 12-foot ceilings, and to install modern finishes and lighting. It will also add bike parking, a locker room, open collaborative spaces and an “entertainment zone.”

GBD Architects designed the renovation, while Lorentz Bruun Co. and KPFF Consulting Engineers are the contractors on the project.

The building was sold for $4.74 million after being vacant for six years. Built in 1901, it is a Portland Historic Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The post U.S. Custom House to be leased as office space appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

The identity of the winning bidder of the U.S. Custom House has been revealed.

, a privately owned real estate company based in Massachusetts, will take over as owner of the 111-year-old structure on 220 N.W. Eighth Ave.

The company, which was founded in 1990, is known for developing properties for retail store chains like Home Depot, Lowe’s, Target and TJ Maxx. According to its website, the company has developed in excess of 10 million square feet of office and retail projects.

Bidding was closed two weeks ago when a bid of $4.74 million was declared the winner. Before that, the General Services Administration made several unsuccessful attempts to sell the building since it became vacant about six years ago.

Local firms , and have been hired for the building’s remodel.

None of the firms would comment on what the purpose of the building will be, but representatives of GBD said the building’s seismic improvements will be the first aspect of the remodel addressed.

“There are seismic improvements that would be triggered with a redevelopment of the building, and the scope of those improvements will likely affect the final use of the building,” said Lucas Posada, designer for GBD architects.

A press release from Eastern Real Estate on Wednesday said tenants of the building have yet to be determined.

The post U.S. Custom House sells to Massachusetts development firm appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

The auction of the U.S. Custom House closed Monday, and the apparent winner came in with a bid of $4.74 million – nearly doubling the purchase price of the sale that fell through last year.

The General Services Administration will not reveal the identity of the winning bidder until the transaction is finalized, according to a GSA spokeswoman.

The 111-year-old landmark at 220 N.W. Eighth Ave. comes with a significant backlog of deferred maintenance that prevented the last auction winner, local real estate company PREM Group, from closing on its $2.5 million deal.

Since 2004, the GSA has made several unsuccessful attempts to sell the four-story, Second Renaissance Revival-style building. In 2010, the GSA planned to transfer the building to The International School, but the group ultimately decided to withdraw its application.

The building will likely need extensive renovations, which could run up to $17 million, according to cost estimates collected by PREM Group. Points of concern include major seismic weaknesses, asbestos and violations of the current Americans with Disabilities Act codes. The Custom House also is on the National Register of Historic Places, which means the owners must preserve its historic character.

The winning bidder has 10 days to contact the GSA and make a 10 percent deposit, at which point their identity will be released.

The post U.S. Custom House sells for $4.74 million appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

A bidding war has broken out for the historic U.S. Custom House at 220 N.W. Eighth Ave. in Portland.

According to the , five bids were submitted for the building in the past week; the top bid was $2.67 million. Before Feb. 8, no new bids had been submitted in more than a month.

The auction will continue in 24-hour increments as long as bidding continues. Once a winning bid is unchallenged for 24 hours, bidding will close and the winner will have 10 days to make a down payment. The GSA will not announce the winning bid until the sale is final.

In 2010, local real estate company won the building with a bid of $2.5 million. The deal collapsed, however, when the firm failed to raise sufficient money.

The 78,838-square-foot office building was constructed in 1901. in 1997 estimated that needed repairs totaled $18 million to $24.3 million – in 2009 dollars. Other than short-term leases for film and television productions, the building has been vacant for slightly more than six years.

The post Bidding war begins for U.S. Custom House appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

Portland’s historic U.S. Custom House at 220 N.W. Eighth Ave. is up for grabs once again, but some local experts are not enthusiastic about redevelopment options for the 110-year-old landmark.

After a three-week auction last year, local real estate company won the U.S. Custom House with a bid of $2.5 million. But the firm recently failed to close on the deal and the U.S. General Services Administration opted to begin another public sale process.

“It’s a tough project,” said Jacob Johnson, a spokesman for PREM Group. “It comes with a lot of unknowns, and between seismic, environmental and just historical layout of the project, it poses a lot of unknown costs.”

The 78,838-square-foot building was constructed in 1901 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, but it also has a significant backlog of deferred maintenance. Johnson said the cost estimates for necessary improvements ranged from $2 million to $17 million, and the deal ultimately fell through when it became apparent that financing would have been too expensive or too prolonged for the GSA‘s time frame.

“Rarely do our sales fall through, but in this economy and real estate market, it’s a contingency we have to deal with,” GSA spokeswoman Stephanie Kenitzer said. “And as it happens in the commercial and private sector, it happens on the federal front too.”

The building has major seismic weaknesses, but it also is plagued with asbestos and needs work to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Plus, energy use in the vast concrete and steel building is significantly inefficient.

And according to one of Portland’s most successful developers, finding a tenant will become increasingly difficult as the building remains vacant.

“There’s more hair on it all the time now; that’s the problem,” said Joe Weston, developer of hundreds of apartments in Portland’s Pearl District and around the region.

Weston bid on the U.S. Custom House last year, but said he wouldn’t bid on it again.

“Maybe it’s a blessing in disguise that we didn’t get it,” he said. “Bringing it up to code hits you hard. That’s what’s killing every transaction.”

PREM Group will keep its offices at Northwest 12th Avenue and Flanders Street. The company planned to use the considerably larger U.S. Custom House to better accommodate the 20 to 30 weekly meetings it hosts for various neighborhood associations, trade groups and others.

Vast floors, high ceilings and neoclassic grandeur make the U.S. Custom House tough to repurpose, according to Chet Orloff, urban studies professor at Portland State University and director emeritus at the Oregon Historical Society.

“It’s the perfect wrong size,” Orloff said. “(The U.S. Custom House) was designed in an era when the government was building large buildings that were really meant for almost a single use, which is probably why it’s so difficult for developers to redevelop the building and remodel it.”

Other than short-term leases for film and television productions, including TNT’s “Leverage” and NBC’s “Grimm” recently, the building has been vacant for approximately six years, according to the GSA. The most recent tenant was the Northwestern Division of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

“You’ve got to have someone buy it who loves architecture and wants to see it there,” Weston said. “It’s a nice building, but only the government can afford to own it.”

The GSA hosted its first open house on Tuesday; another is planned for Dec. 8. A new round of online bidding will open Dec. 1, with a minimum bid of $250,000.

The post Future of U.S. Custom House looks bleak after deal falls apart appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

The bids are in for the U.S. Custom House, and local real estate company PREM Group has claimed victory over — and ownership of — the long-vacant historic downtown building.

After three weeks of spirited bidding, Andrew Schwartz of the General Service Administration’s Office of Real Property confirmed that PREM Group’s bid of $2.5 million has won the firm the U.S. Custom House. The real estate company plans to convert the turn-of-the-century building into its new offices.

PREM Group is currently located at Northwest 12^th Avenue and Flanders Street. According to PREM Group spokesman Jacob Johnson, the considerably larger Custom House will provide ample meeting space for the various neighborhood associations, trade groups and others that PREM currently offers free meeting space to.

“Our office hosts 20 to 30 events each week,” Johnson said. “We plan to set up a community area within the Custom House for those groups to hold their meetings, as well as have some incubation space for nonprofits.”

Located at 220 N.W. Eighth Ave., the Custom House most recently housed the Western Pacific Division of the Army Corps of Engineers. The GSA made several attempts since 2004 to unload the structure, but attempts to renovate the building for another use have proved too expensive. The building was put up for auction by the GSA in May after The International School abandoned an effort to redevelop the property into a school.

PREM Group said it recognizes that the building is a fixer-upper, and has no plans to change its use from office space.

“Obviously that building has a ton of skeletons in it,” Johnson said.” But with us being in the business of real estate, we have in-house capabilities to handle those things.  We’re a sustainable company and being able to reuse a building is important to our mission.”

The post PREM Group wins bid for U.S. Custom House appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

Bids continue to come in – albeit slowly – for the 1901-built U.S. Custom House in Northwest Portland. The building is currently owned by the General Services Administration.

PREM Group – a real estate services company – is the current leader with a bid of $1.9 million for the 78,000-square-foot building at 3:25 p.m. this afternoon.

The auction was originally slated to end Sept. 21. But every time a bidder places a new bid between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. on the day the auction is supposed to close, it’s extended one more day.

“I don’t think the people we are bidding against realize how this works,” said Jacob Johnson, president of PREM Group. “They need to make a bid outside of those hours so it isn’t extended.”

PREM Group would turn the upstairs space into its headquarters for its 90 employees. The ground floor would be turned into community space for various organizations around the Pearl District.

“There’s not enough meeting space for the organizations in the Pearl and this would help accommodate them,” said Johnson.

The bid now ends tomorrow at 3 p.m. But the auction could be extended once again if a bid comes in between the above-mentioned hours.

The post PREM current top bidder for Custom House appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

With bids climbing in the seven-figure range, the General Services Administration has decided to extend bidding for the U.S. Custom House, according to Andrew Schwartz, a spokesman with the agency.

The auction, originally slated to end on Sept. 21, will now run until 3 p.m. on Sept. 27. It could go even longer, according to Schwartz, if the bidding activity continues to be lively.

The highest bid so far on the – $1.8 million – comes from local real estate company the PREM Group, which wants to convert the turn-of-the-century building into its headquarters, according to Jacob Johnson, president of PREM Group.

PREM Group currently lends some of its office space to local nonprofits, building groups and neighborhood associations for meetings. But they are quickly running out of space for the 20 plus hours of meetings the real estate company hosts each week, Johnson said.

“If we get the bid, we’d set up a community area that could be used by these groups,” Johnson said. “We’d also like to have smaller incubation spaces for nonprofits. They’re having a hard time right now.”

The rest of the space would be renovated into offices for PREM Group’s 90 employees. The company is currently housed in the Pearl District at Northwest Flanders Street and 12th Avenue.

Located at 220 N.W. Eighth Avenue, the US Custom House most recently housed the Western Pacific Division of the Army Corps of Engineers.

The GSA tried several times since 2004 to unload the building, but attempts to renovate it for other uses turned out to be too expensive. The building was put up for auction by the GSA in May, after The International School abandoned an effort to redevelop the property into a school.

Despite the US Custom House’s challenges, Johnson said his company has the staff and the skill to make the project a success, should their bid win.

“Obviously the building has a lot of skeletons in it,” Johnson said. “But we aren’t looking to change the use. We’re cleaning it up as is for office space. Being a sustainable company, reusing a building is important to our mission.”

The post U.S. Custom House auction extended appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

Three months have passed since the General Services Administration put the historic U.S. Custom House in Portland up for public auction. Only five people have bid on the building so far, according to GSA realty specialist Andrew Schwartz.

The GSA has posted a closing date for the auction – Sept. 21. The most recent bid for the building is $500,000. The suggested opening bid for the building, however, was $2.5 million. Located at 220 N.W. Eighth Ave. in Portland, the U.S. Custom House had trouble securing a tenant since the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers moved out of the building in 2004, prompting the GSA to put the building on the auction block in May.

“Selling the building at $500,000 would be left up to the GSA,” Schwartz said. “We’re hoping that by announcing the closing date there will be an impetus for increased bidding activity.”

The identities of the five people bidding on the building will be kept confidential until a sales contract has been signed, Schwartz said.

The post Bids for U.S. Custom House disappointing so far appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.