CBRE Arranges $32.25 Million Sale And $26.78 Million Financing For Blagen Block And New Market Theater In Portland, OR

CBRE Capital Markets has arranged the sale and financing for Blagen Block and New Market Theater, a two-building office portfolio in Portland’s Old Town/Chinatown district. 

Charles Safley and Trevor Kafoury of CBRE’s Portland office represented both the seller, Swift Real Estate Partners, and buyer, NBP Capital, LLC, while Nick Santangelo of CBRE’s Portland office, alongside Mike Walker and Brad Zampa in CBRE’s downtown San Francisco office secured the acquisition financing.

“We utilized a cross collateralized bridge financing product to maximize Blagen Block’s existing cash flow and help support New Market Theater’s lease up and stabilization strategy,” says Nick Santangelo, First Vice President. “We obtained floating rate debt at 70% LTC, which will help to reposition the assets while maintaining maximum flexibility.”

“We enjoyed every moment of this transaction. It is a rare opportunity to be able to work on such special product with so much rich history. Blagen Block is already the high benchmark for Historic transformations in Portland, but once the New Market Theater Building is fully re-positioned, it has the opportunity to be one of the most unique assets downtown for office tenants seeking collaborative work environments.” said Charles Safley, CBRE.

NBP Capital is a privately held commercial real estate fund with a focus on value-add, opportunistic investing on the West Coast. With a proven track record of repositioning buildings into best-in-class, creative work environments, their focus will be on continuing to execute the leasing strategy for New Market Theater and making strategic capital improvements to attract creative and tech users. In Portland, NBP Capital has been successful with transformation of the  George Lawrence, Stevens and RJ Templeton Buildings into best-in-class creative work environments for all types of office users from attorneys to software companies.

“At NBP Capital, we see tremendous long-term value in Portland’s Old Town/Chinatown. We are committed to expanding our creative office portfolio and this acquisition is one piece in this strategy,” said Lauren Noecker Robert, Managing Director, NBP Capital, LLC.  

Blagen Block and New Market Theater represent two of the last remaining cast-iron Victorian Italianate buildings in Portland. Built in 1888, Blagen Block is a four-story creative office building that is fully leased to Airbnb. New Market Theater is a six-story office building constructed in 1872 and 1875 and is home to Portland’s long-standing Saturday Market.

Swift Real Estate Partners acquired both buildings from Beardsley Building Development in 2015, seeing tremendous potential at each of these unique assets. Specifically at New Market Theater, they invested significant capital into modernizing and upgrading the building, commencing a process that NBP Capital plans to build upon. Earlier this year, Swift leased nearly 10,000 SF at New Market Theater to San Diego-based PIA Communications, who were drawn to the building’s creative appeal and location.  

Development has been on the rise in Old Town/Chinatown, with several exciting new office, hotel and mixed-use projects in the pipeline. Several tech companies have moved their offices to the neighborhood in recent years in search of buildings with history and creative character. Notable new projects include Pine Street Market, an innovative food hall concept that has proven to be a major tourist draw, as well as 38 Davis, the first new construction in Old Town/Chinatown in the past ten years.