‘Big Pink’ buyer says millions in renovations planned for downtown Portland skyscraper

The investor

buying downtown Portland’s U.S. Bancorp Tower

said he plans to spend millions of dollars to draw new tenants.

Buyer Jeff Swickard paid about $45 million in an all-cash deal for the tower, an 88% markdown from the last time the building traded hands in 2015.

Swickard, who lives in Nevada near the Las Vegas headquarters of his auto dealership chain, said he could spend $150 million improving the building — known to locals as “Big Pink” for its rosy facade — over the next 10 years. The spending, he said, would be needed to overcome Portland taxes he says deter businesses from locating in the city.

“Portland is not organically attracting businesses,” Swickard told The Oregonian/OregonLive. “People are leaving Portland, unfortunately, because of the tax problem. So in order to bring them to Portland, you have to do something extraordinarily special for them and that is unique to a tenant.”

The U.S. Bancorp Tower last year

lost the tenant for which it’s named

. The holding company for U.S. Bank moved its workers to a site it owns in Gresham, leaving the downtown tower with many empty floors. Other tenants left earlier.

It’s not clear how much of the building is empty, but the brokerage CBRE recently

reported that nearly a third

of the central city’s offices were vacant.

Swickard’s renovation plans might include a skybridge from an adjacent parking lot to the offices, “multi-floor experiences” for tenants, fitness facilities, coffee shops, restaurants and more. The changes might not happen quickly, Swickard cautioned, saying it could be three years to attract new tenants and secure permits.

Swickard said he hoped to make downtown Portland the thriving center it was during his college years at the University of Oregon. One way to do that, he said, is by discounting rents in the building and attracting Portland suburb workers to the city instead.

“I just want to bring people back to downtown Portland, and I want the Big Pink to be what it once was,” he said, adding it’s “just a really special place for people to come and do business and have dinner and enjoy themselves.”

The Swiss investment bank UBS had owned the property for a decade. Its partner, Unico Properties of Seattle, will continue to manage the 42-story building.

In 2023, a former tenant, Digital Trends, alleged in a lawsuit that lapses in security left the building unsafe at times for its workers. The lawsuit has since been settled.

Swickard says he plans on ensuring worker and building safety at the tower by continuing to spend money on private security.

“It is like a mini police department in and around that building with our private security,” he said. Swickard said he was hopeful that Gov. Tina Kotek and Portland Mayor Keith Wilson’s focus on reducing homelessness and improving public safety would pay dividends near Big Pink.

Swickard plans to add to his Oregon real estate portfolio this year, saying he would spend nearly $100 million on investments in the state. He did not disclose any other transactions.

Swickard plans to hold focus groups and to talk with tenants in the U.S. Bancorp Tower about their wants and needs for both the building and downtown Portland.

“We’re not building flippers,” he said. “I want to own this for a very long time. I love Oregon.”

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