Panattoni Ties Up Remaining 15 Acres of Art Spada's Riverfront Industrial Land

Panattoni's Mike Wells tied up the first 45 acres in late January after receiving a commitment for a 250,000-sf build-to-suit for an unnamed assembly-manufacturing-distribution operation that would occupy a portion of the site. With all 60-acres now tied up and closings scheduled for May and June, Panattoni is renaming the property Riverside Parkway Corporate Center and planning a million-sf development.

"We've seen a lot of interest in the property since we began working on it, which made me more confident of the marketplace receiving this project very well," Wells tells GlobeSt. "That's why we proceeded on the phase two acquisition on the 'Spada North' property."

Ossey says Spada was enticed into selling the land on the strength of the buyer and its cooperation and involvement with the Portland Development Commission's Quality Jobs Program. "It was a combination of the strength of the buyer and the backing of the PDC," says Ossey. "It is a good way to ensure that more than just high-cube distribution space is built, and that was a compelling factor for Art and his family."

Under the PDC's Quality Jobs Program, if a new employer coming into an Urban Renewal Area agrees to meet certain job and income benchmarks and work with a staffing company that provides job for people living in areas of high unemployment, it is given a performance-based loan of up to $300,000 ($2,000 per employee up to 150 employees) for land acquisition, tenant improvements and equipment purchase and installation. Better yet, if it meets or beats those benchmarks -- one job per 800 sf of gross building space and an average company wage that's 200% of minimum wage -- the principal and interest associated with the loan are forgiven altogether.

Meanwhile, Panattoni is still in due diligence for the purchase of a prime 7.56-acre parcel to the south in Tigard on which it plans 150,000 sf of office space, and less than a third of the way through its 1-million-sf development on 103-acres of former Fujitsu property out west in the City of Hillsboro.

The acquisition of the property in Tigard, across Highway 99 from Costco at 11765 Pacific Highway S., is contingent upon site plan approval and a building permit, but Wells anticipates starting construction in June or July if everything goes smoothly, and completing the project sometime next spring.

Panattoni hired Wells away from Cushman & Wakefield last January to handle purchase and development of 136-acres sold by Fujitsu in Hillsboro, now called Cornelius Pass Corporate Center. Wells nabbed the property for $28 million and then immediately flipped 33 acres that contained the only two buildings on the property for $24.8 million, leaving Panattoni 103 acres for the relative pittance of $4 million after costs.

By the end of February, Panattoni will have nearly 380,000-sf completed or in the works on 28 acres -- two-thirds of which has already been leased or sold -- leaving it 75 acres to play with over the next couple of years. Already signed tenants include Sumitomo Electric Semiconductor Materials Inc. (103,000 sf), Relera (a 78,000 sf), RCN Telecom (45,000 sf) and Arrow Electronics (about 30,000 sf).