[OHPV-list] Now I really should move down there...

[Greg Merkley]

Tower owners hope bike hub will attract office tenants

Amenities - The proposed 15-story building would offer a unique facility 
to thousands of bicyclists

The Oregonian, Friday, May 12, 2006

by DYLAN RIVERA

The nation's biggest office space owner figures Portland is just a 
bikers' kinda town.

Equity Office Properties Trust has said it plans to make a first-floor 
"bike hub" a central part of its sales efforts for a new $100 million, 
15-story downtown tower. The owners started marketing the project this 
week, describing their aim for a regional bike facility grander than 
anything Portland has seen.

They're still highlighting the traditional kind of perks you'd expect in 
pricey high-rises, such as Mount Hood views, a plush lobby and 
underground parking. But it's the 3,000-square-foot bike hub that could 
make the building unique among Portland office locales.

"You just don't know what it is in your bag of amenities that's going to 
hook somebody," said Scott Madsen, a broker with Capacity Commercial 
Group. "I think it's smart on their part to play off of that."

The idea is that, as thousands of bicycle commuters zip into downtown 
from the Hawthorne Bridge, the riders should have a place to park a bike 
for the day, get help with a leaky tire and find a shower. It seems like 
the perfect fit for a major gateway to downtown: With nearly 5,000 
bicyclists crossing the bridge each day, the spot is probably the most 
heavily trafficked bike commuter route in the state.

The hub would offer more than just the few outdoor bike racks and few 
dozen indoor bicycle parking spaces all new office buildings in Portland 
are required to provide, said Kevin Mulhall, vice president of 
development for Equity Office. The company wants to create an amenity 
that bike commuters throughout downtown would be able to use.

"There are a fair number of high-powered decision-makers that ride their 
bikes to work," Mulhall said. "This is a way of life in Portland and the 
Pacific Northwest, that people are health- and environmentally conscious."

But a few office-space brokers who have looked at the First & Main 
project said tenants are still likely to consider rent and other factors 
above the fact that there's a bike hub.

"On the list of top criteria, it would be well down in the third or 
maybe even fourth quartile," said Michael Holzgang, a veteran downtown 
broker with Colliers International.

Nevertheless, some decision-makers may find bike amenities important. 
Capacity Commercial's Madsen, a broker who filled the 27-story Fox Tower 
with tenants as it was finished in 2000, said he remembers one small 
firm of intellectual property lawyers that insisted on renting space 
with secure bicycle parking.

"We're talking about expensive, high-end, thousand-dollar bikes that 
they rode," Madsen said. "That surprised me at the time."

On a practical level, the spot planned for the new bike facility would 
face the Portland Police Bureau's headquarters and city-county jail 
building -- not the most marketable location for retail outlets. So 
Equity Office officials said they figured a bike hub would work there, 
and provide aN amenity for future office tenants.

The development of a regional bike facility is not a new idea, and some 
efforts by the city in the 1990s met with mixed success. But the effort 
by Equity Office, the largest owner of office space in the Portland area 
and nationwide, adds new life to the concept. It also represents a rare 
private-sector bet -- without any city or urban renewal financial help 
-- on the idea that businesses might be attracted to buildings that 
offer substantial bicycle amenities.

With help from federal transportation money, the city of Portland in the 
mid-90s established five locations called "Bike Central," coupled with 
pre-existing lockers at private gyms. The program dwindled after it lost 
marketing dollars, said Roger Geller, bicycle transportation coordinator 
for the Portland Office of Transportation. Only two gyms continue to 
participate.

Surveys conducted by the nonprofit Bicycle Transportation Alliance 
showed many downtown workers wanted facilities located within five 
blocks of their offices, said Evan Manvel, executive director of the 
group. Many downtown buildings include bicycle parking and some access 
to showers, which provides some convenience for bike commuters.

But many bike commuters -- especially novices -- find navigating narrow 
downtown streets intimidating, Manvel said. So providing a place near 
the Willamette River for bike storage and lockers would enable them to 
park there and walk the last few blocks to their offices.

"Putting it at the base of the Hawthorne Bridge is the right way to go," 
Manvel said.

LINKS:

http://www.oregonlive.com/business/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/business/1147412049182890.xml&coll=7

First & Main Summary:

http://www.equityoffice.com/properties_space/building.aspx?buildingId=2958

Bicycle Transportation Alliance: http://www.bta4bikes.org/