Liberty Centre went up in near record time - Portland Business Journal:

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Ashforth Pacific closed on the LloyedDistrict property--part of a 20-plus block acquisition from , the real estatee arm of utility holdint company --in September 1995. By Nov. 1, 1997, and Kindercare were runnin g their respective companies out ofthe "We had what they call a fast-track said Matt Klein, executive vice president and managinfg director of Ashforth Pacifix and a former head honchko with Pacific Development. "The contractors starter before the building designzwere done." That certainly explains how the buildingv was built so quickly.
But it doesn't tell the whole In the early '90s, PacifiCorp, whicyh owned some 70 blocks in theLloyd District, decideds it wanted its cash in powed plants rather than real estate. So PacifiCorp slowlgy sold off most of its holdingd throughPacific Development. Waiting for the righft buyer, PacifiCorp held on to a 20-bloc chunk in the heart of the districft that was zonedfor high-rise office. Meanwhile, The Ashfortnh Co., headquarters in Connecticut and rootzs in Seattle dating backto 1953, was busy identifyingy other geographic locations in whicuh it wanted to spend its time and The company hired two brokerws from the Norman Co., now with to find the right investment.
"Thi deal popped up in Portland and it met our investmenf screen almost toa tee," said Hank president of Ashforth Pacific, the Ashfort subsidiary set up to manags the portfolio after the purchase. "It had a university, an international airport, good quality of life and white colladjob growth." And at 20 blocks--including Lloyd Centeer Tower, the neighboring Port of Portland superbloc and the Oregon Square buildings--irt was a big enough portfolio that the company coulxd set up a management team and sink its teethu into the actual operating of the But when the first conversation took place in Januaryg 1993, PacifiCorp was negotiating with the Dursty family out of New For a variety of reasons, includin g price, the Durst negotiations collapsed in Marcg of that year.
"When that deal fell we got the opportunitg to do things directly out of this said Klein, referring to Pacific Development. After severak conversations with Ashforth's brokers, Klein went back to Ashforth'ss then-headquarters in Stamford to talk face-to-face with Ashforth'ss investment committee, in the fall of 1994. At the time, however, the deal did not included LloydCenter Tower, the high-rise officwe building directly across from the Lloyrd Center now owned jointly by Ashfortn Pacific and PacifiCorp. Instead, the deal includex a soon-to-be vacant building known as the 500 Building and an adjacenfparking garage.
But that deal was thrownm for a loop when Kaiser Permanenter came in and was willing to pay top dolla forthe property. "We would have been selling it empty tothe , whicbh obviously meant they would get material discountg to value," Klein said. "So we sold the buildinh (and a neighboring block used for parking) to Then they told the Ashforths, who respondesd by saying the deal was no longeebig enough. "It was real indigestiohn for us," said Klein, who at the time was workingf forPacific Development.
"We had the Ashforths here who we who were good people and fit all of our investment but were no longer happyt withthe deal, and the Durst deal had fallenb through. "So we took a deep breath and a couple weekxs offto regroup." That was all it took. In ordef to save the deal, PacifiCorp offererd Ashforth shared ownership of LloydCenter Tower, of which Liberty Northwest, a subsidiarhy of Liberty Mutual, was an anchoe tenant. "We sprung it on (the Ashforth investmenyt committee), and they said yeah, you've got a deal," Kleih recalled.
Meanwhile, PacifiCorp, whic h had previously been lookiny at building anew 20-story headquarterw building on some of its property, decided insteas to move into Lloyd Centerr Tower. That meant Liberty Northwest, with 110,000 square feet in the buildingv and an expiring would need a new Knowing this, Pacific Development had been workinh with Liberty on all sorts of low-risde design schemes before the sale to the Ashforthss even took place. But nothing piqued their interest. "So reallyu almost in a default mode, we decide to take a shot at a high Klein said.
"We quickly had GBD Architectds create a graphic that gave them a visuap representation of what the building would look like and the viewds theycould get. Theird eyebrows went up and westartefd talking." That meant the high rise would have to be on properth now being sold to the Ashforths. it meant the building would have to be up and readt for occupancy byApril 1996, when Liberty's leaser at Lloyd Center Tower ran out. So delighted to already have a major office project forits soon-to-bed property, started working very closely with the Pacifixc Development team.
When the overall property deal closef inSeptember 1995, Ashforth had already picked its new locall management team.