December 18, 2014
Developer of the old Oregonian
building acquires another firm
By Wendy Culverwell, Staff Writer
Seattle-based real estate firm Urban Renaissance Group, which has
made its mark on Portland, has acquired Touchstone, a Seattle
developer with more than 30 years of experience in the Puget Sound
area. URG's work in Portland has included the 2011 acquisition and
repositioning of the downtown Portland Yeon Building and
construction management services for 2100 River Parkway on the
Willamette. URG also purchased the former home of The Oregonian
at 1320 S.W. Broadway for $14.1 million in September.
The transaction
between URG and
Touchstone
includes the
acquisition of
Touchstone and
the retention of all
current Touchstone
employees.
Touchstone owners
Douglas Howe, Jim
O'Hanlon and
Shawn Parry will
step back from day-to-day operation of the firm. They will continue
to serve as advisers to the company and remain invested as general
partners with URG in all current projects.
URG has invested in six current Touchstone projects, including a
new Hilton Garden Inn in Seattle, an 817,000-square-foot office
development in South Lake Union and a Marriott hotel in Everett,
Wash.
According to a release, URG's acquisition of Touchstone will mean
little change for their employees. URG will operate the firm as a
wholly owned subsidiary and the Touchstone name will not change.
The development strategy of large-scale urban projects will continue.
Patrick Callahan, founder and CEO of URG, will serve as CEO of
Touchstone as well as URG.