Unico Taking In New Restaurateur for 30th Floor of Big Pink

PORTLAND-The Big Pink will not go without a 30th floor restaurant for long. Unico Properties says it has signed up Pacific Coast Restaurants to run a new restaurant two-thirds of the way up the U.S. Bancorp Tower.

The eatery doesn’t yet have a name, but it should open late this year with a menu full of prime beef and seafood, a genre in which Pacific Coast is well versed. The company created the Portland Steak & Chophouse, and has proliferated the Stanford’s and Newport Bay brands. It plans to spend $3 million renovating the space.

Pacific Coast’s lease rate is not being revealed by Unico, and was not otherwise immediately available. Unico acquired he building from U.S. Bancorp last June. The agreement, a 15-year lease with a 20-year extension option, was handled by the tower’s general manager Craig Glazier. Colliers International’s Mark Fraser, the man responsible for leasing the building’s office space, lauds Unico’s decision not to convert it to office space and to pick Pacific Coast to improve upon Atwaters, which closed last week after extensive and recurring losses.

“Although the building’s tenants will miss Atwaters, the general public didn’t eat very often at Atwaters, and because of that they weren’t a great tenant for the building,” says Fraser. “And although converting it to office space would have garnered a greater rent, not having such a nice amenity for the building was a serious concern, so when they were able to strike a deal with Pacific Coast, from my standpoint they couldn’t have come up with a better replacement.”

Fraser now says he again has a great amenity to help him market the property, which provides some of the best views available from downtown Portland. About 60,000-sf is currently available in the 42-story, 750,000-sf building. Another 60,000-sf — including some prime upper-floor space — will come available later this spring with Louisiana Pacific moves over to the Fox Tower.