NBS Financial Arranges $15.1M in Refinancing For Wieden + Kennedy Headquarters Building

NBS Financial Services Executive Vice President Ken Griggs and Associate Finance Officer Paddy Ryan have secured $15.1 million in refinancing for the Wieden + Kennedy Headquarters Building in Portland’s Pearl District.

John Hancock Life Insurance Company, out of Boston, is the lender. NBS Financial is John Hancock’s oldest correspondent in the United States. John Hancock’s ability to structure the loan to meet the individual needs of the borrower was key to winning the business, Griggs said.

The strength of the tenant was integral to this transaction, according to Griggs, as lenders are careful to lend on single-tenant deals. Wieden + Kennedy is a creative advertising agency known worldwide for its work with major clients like Coca Cola, Nike and ESPN. It has six offices in addition to the Portland office, including in London and Tokyo.

The quality of the building and its location, at 224 NW 13th Ave. in the Pearl, also had major appeal. The Wieden + Kennedy Headquarters Building was built in the early 1900s to store dry goods and was later used as a cold storage warehouse. Wieden + Kennedy was seeking a new and larger space in the 1990s, and commissioned Gerding Edlen Development and Allied Works Architecture’s Brad Cloepfil for a more than $35 million renovation of the five-story building.

The renovation was finished in 2000, and has garnered awards and national attention for its design and energy efficiency. Wieden + Kennedy occupies the majority of the building’s 160,000 sf of office space. The building also includes about 30,000 sf ofground floor retail space, with tenants like popular restaurant Bluehour, retailer Design Within Reach, and urgent care clinic ZoomCare.