PORTLAND, OR-Two years after luring the historic building's maintenant to one of its other buildings, Seattle-based UnicoProperties has acquired the 219,000-sf Commonwealth Building inDowntown Portland from local investor-developer Joe Weston in anoff-market transaction. Unico and partner Cigna Realty Investorspaid $27 million for the building, according to local industrysources, and will invest an additional $6 million to substantiallyrenovate the lobbies, replace the HVAC and lighting systems, andimprove tenant spaces.

The class B office building at 421 SW 6th Ave. has remainedlargely vacant (70%) since Multnomah County left in 2005 forUnico's Lincoln Building. Prior to the sale Weston's AmericanProperty Management has begun a common-area renovation program thatUnico will complete. Unico's local executive Brian Pearce confirmedthe renovation budget but declined to confirm the purchase price.Unico's broker Dave Squire of Grubb & Ellis could not bereached for comment.

Completed in 1948 as the headquarters for Equitable Savings andLoan, the Commonwealth Building was the first skyscraper in the USto use a flush curtain-wall design; the first to use double-panedglass; the first to use heat pumps for heating and cooling; and thefirst to be completely clad in aluminum. It would be a standardbuilding style for decades to come.