By JON BELL
About a month after unloading its downtown courthouse for $28 million, Multnomah County has sold another surplus building for almost $9.9 million.
Seattle-based Urban Renaissance Group, which has been busy in Portland of late, teamed up with private equity firm Gaw Capital USA to acquire the county’s Gladys McCoy Building for $9.85 million. The 10-story building, which sits at 426 S.W. Harvey Milk St., is currently home to the headquarters of the Multnomah County Health Department.
The county is building a new $92.7 million building for the health department headquarters at Northwest Sixth Avenue and Northwest Hoyt Street. It is scheduled to open this spring.
In a release, URG noted that it plans to renovate the Gladys McCoy Building into about 100,000 square feet of modern office space that could be available for rent in the spring of 2020. Renovations will include the lobby, elevators, doors, restrooms, showers, bike storage area and a new cafe.
“As URG continues to pursue both significant renovation projects and ground up development, we couldn’t be more excited about this acquisition,” said URG vice president and regional general manager Tom Kilbane, in the release. “The McCoy Building is in an ideal location with great historic appeal, and we anticipate it will attract a wide range of tenants, from technology to engineering to creative types.”
The county will continue to lease the building from the new owners through the middle of this year.
URG’s recent Portland projects include the renovation of the 1320 Broadway building and the under-construction Press Blocks project in Goose Hollow.
