PORTLAND — Call it the $6.9 million Pearl District puzzle.
The rumor flew through local real estate circles late last week: Someone had agreed to buy a condo in one of Portland’s toniest neighborhoods for a record-breaking price.
Sure enough, title documents confirm that Monday a 4,300-square-foot penthouse suite on the 27th floor of the Cosmopolitan building sold for $6,995,000. At $1,626 per square foot, it is believed to be the highest price ever paid for a condominium in Portland.
That’s hopeful news for the real estate community. Condo sales slumped in 2019.
But who’s the buyer? The answer to that question remains elusive.
Four real estate brokers told The Oregonian/OregonLive that the buyer is John Donahoe, the Bay Area tech executive who will take the helm at Nike next month.
But you wouldn’t know that by the title documents. According to the closing papers, the buyer is JRP Genpar Inc., trustee of the Northrup Property Trust U/T/A 11/15/19.
Say what?
Who or what is JRP Genpar?
The state of Delaware, where JRP Genpar is based, offers no valuable information.
But the title documents do list an address for JRP Genpar of 177 Goya Drive, Portola Valley, Calif. Portola Valley is a small town in the Bay Area that has grown fabulously wealthy along with the burgeoning Silicon Valley tech cluster. It also happens to be where Donahoe, the former CEO of eBay, has made his home.
While tantalizing, the Portola Valley connection is not proof. And the people who know aren’t talking.
The seller, local assisted living entrepreneur Rick Dillon, also demurred.
Tiffany Sweitzer, whose company, Hoyt Street Properties, built the Cosmopolitan, said Thursday that she doesn’t know who the buyer is.
Sweitzer did say she’s optimistic that the record sales price indicates better times are ahead for the local condo market. Hoyt Street is in the middle of trying to sell the units in its newest building, the Vista.
Patrick Clark, a prominent Pearl District broker, echoed those sentiments. “This bodes well for the Ritz Carlton and upper-end Pearl District properties,” Clark said. “The penthouses at the Cosmopolitan and the Casey are the types of condos that a CEO would want to purchase. Amazing views, exceptional finishes, and very large homes that offer privacy.”
Local developer Walt Bowen broke ground in July on a 35-story tower that will host a Ritz Carlton hotel and dozens of luxury condos.
Clark said he sold two of the most expensive Pearl units before this new sale in the Cosmopolitan. He handled the $4.2 million sale of a penthouse in the Metropolitan, which equates to $1,310 per square foot, and a $4.5 million buy of a unit in the Casey, at $1,227 per square foot.
Garden-variety Pearl condos fetch a wide range of prices. But $500 per square foot is not uncommon.
Blake Ellis, a broker at Windemere, said the Cosmopolitan is far and away the tallest condo building in the Pearl. With views that likely won’t be disrupted by new construction anytime soon, Hoyt Street priced it “aggressively,” he said.
The unit in question is actually two penthouses merged into one super-sized dwelling. It offers nearly 360-degree views, three bedrooms, three fireplaces, three decks and two kitchens.
Property taxes will set the owner back about $65,000 a year, according to RMLS listings. HOA fees run more than $2,300 a month.
