Plans are for the Portland Development Commission to take out a10-year master lease on the property, throw in an additional $1.2million for seismic stabilizing, and then sublease the space tocreative services companies such as software developers, electroniccommerce businesses, advertising and public relations agencies andfilm and video companies. The project is part of the city's effortto support the industry and keep companies from fleeing to thesuburbs.

For annual lease rates low-to-mid $20 per sf range, theseven-story, 80,000-sf center will provide 32,000-sf of finishedloft space for creative services companies. It will also be homebase for the Oregon Creative Services Alliance, and provideindividual offices and common meeting rooms for industryassociations, including "fully wired" communal conferencerooms.

In addition to Venerable Properties, SERA Architects, Howard S.Wright Construction, Sparling Technical Consulting, MacDonaldMiller and KPFF Consulting are also involved in the renovation,which began this week. Completion is expected in July 2001.