US Bancorp Tower (Portland, Oregon)

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"Big Pink" redirects here. For the album by The Band, see Music from Big Pink.

The US Bancorp Tower

The US Bancorp Tower is the second tallest skyscraper in Portland, Oregon. It stands at 536 feet (163 m) with 43 floors (42 floors excluding the missing 13th floor). The building has nearly 1.1 million square feet (69,000 m²) of office space inside, making it the largest office building in Oregon in terms of volume, and the second tallest building in Oregon, with only the Wells Fargo Center exceeding its height.

Construction of the building was undertaken by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM) with Pietro Belluschi as a consultant. The tower opened in 1983, serving first as the national headquarters of U.S. Bancorp, then the regional headquarters of that organization after a 1997 merger moved the corporate offices to Minneapolis, Minnesota. U.S. Bancorp has 480,000 square feet leased until 2015.

Perhaps the most unique features of the building are its shape and color. Pietro Belluschi was most concerned about the play of light and shadows on its surface; meanwhile, the SOM team had to work with a uniquely shaped lot due to the street grid. The meshing of these two concerns led to what has been called Portland's most dynamic building.^{[citation needed]} Because of the street grid, the tower features no right angles in its footprint. This, in turn, makes it look either extremely slender or wide depending upon your viewing angle. Belluschi carefully selected the glass and granite for the exterior facing. The windows can absorb or reflect light depending upon how much light is upon them, while the surrounding granite may appear darker or lighter than the window pieces depending upon the time of day. The building can be described as being pink, orange, purple, or even gray all in the same day. The usual pinkish color earned the building the nickname "Big Pink", after an album by The Band.

Since a $4 million renovation in 2002, the 30th floor of the tower has been occupied by the Portland City Grill, Portland's top-grossing restaurant.[1] It is often cited as the restaurant with the best view in Portland.[2]

The building was purchased by JPMorgan Asset Management in August 2006 for a price of $286 million [3]. It was previously owned Unico who purchased it in 2000 for a price of $165 million. Currently, 92% of the building is occupied.