Menashe Properties, a Portland-based real estate investment and management company, is in the process of acquiring downtown Vancouver’s Main Place Building (1111 Main Street) and adjacent parking structure for $12.15 million.
The building, constructed in the early 1990’s and owned by Realvest Corporation, is one of downtown Vancouver’s most prominent Class A office buildings. With approximately 85,000 square feet of space, the seven-story building houses a range of tenants including Chicago Title Company and Holland Partner Group.
“The Main Place Building is a timeless asset,” said Jordan Menashe, owner and vice president of Menashe Properties. “It looks cool from the outside whether it’s 1992 when it was built, or today. It’s going to look [cool] in 15 or 20 years. It’s a well-located, well-maintained, clean asset. Realvest has done a heck of a job with the building.”
Included in the acquisition, which is expected to be finalized on Tuesday, is a covered parking garage with about 230 parking spots on the north side of the building.
Joshua Schwartz of Kidder Mathews brokered the deal, and said the fact that one of Portland’s most established real estate investment firms (Menashe) has its eye on Vancouver is significant.
“These guys (Menashe Properties) own a lot of office product in downtown Portland, so seeing that they are coming up to Vancouver I think is a really good sign for the city,” said Schwartz.
“They are forward thinkers,” he added. “If they’re coming into the Vancouver market that shows that they are betting on Vancouver. They’re looking at Vancouver as a long-term play.”
Jordan Menashe said he would be interested in acquiring other buildings in close proximity to Main Place, as well as in other areas of the city, adding that his company is “aggressively looking to grow and purchase more in Portland, Vancouver and other selective cities.” As for the Main Place Building, he said he’s focused on enhancing the immediate property with things like landscaping improvement, tenant signage and other asethetic tweaks.
Speaking of tenants, Menashe said that one unforeseen challenge was BergerABAM’s decision to move their Vancouver office from the Main Place Building to Block 56, at the corner of Mill Plain Boulevard and C Street.
“BergerABAM was a bit of a twist in this transaction because we thought we were buying the building with them renewing (their lease) and it didn’t happen that way,” he said. “And that’s okay. I understand what they were trying to do.”
Menashe said he already has a company from Portland that’s interested in the former BergerABAM space, and hinted that it could very well “go creative.”
“The more creative companies that come to the city of Vancouver, the more of an incubator it will be as a whole,” he said. “I do see creatives coming here and a very bright future for this downtown and city as a whole.”
