Prescott Loses Plum Contract -- Developer Ousted As Manager Of Downtown Tower

Prescott, the troubled real estate development and management company, has lost its plum contract to manage Pacific First Centre, leaving the company with only one 30-story building and a handful of smaller buildings to manage.

Once one of the city's premier high-rise developers, Prescott developed and initially held a large ownership stake in Pacific First Centre, at Fifth Avenue and Pike Street. The company reportedly lost most if not all of that stake in 1990, when it cut a deal with a partner to obtain long-term financing and avoid foreclosure on a short-term loan for the development.

Prescott, started in 1977 by Dick Clotfelter and Gary Carpenter, now manages only one high-rise, 30-story Century Square at Fourth Avenue and Pike Street. That building has had some recent successes, with plans to expand the Gap clothing store, open a bookstore and add a food court in the atrium.

PFC Holdings, the partnership that owns 44-story Pacific First Centre, said it decided to bring "new blood and new faces" into the building in conjunction with a name change in December. The name will change to U.S. Bank Centre when the bank begins to move its headquarters there from across the street.

Hazama USA Corp., the key ownership partner, hired LaSalle Partners of Chicago to manage the building. LaSalle just built a parking garage in Seattle at Sixth Avenue and Cherry Street, next to Interstate 5, but has no other high-profile work here. The company manages some prestigious buildings around the country, including Citicorp Center in New York and the retail renovation of Union Station in Washington, D.C. LaSalle will take over the building Dec. 1.

Bruce Zavon, chief financial officer of Hazama, said the new management will emphasize retail promotion and marketing of the new name.

Zavon said Prescott's performance was not a problem.

Prescott lost its key real estate partner in December, when Clotfelter left for a brokerage job in California. Clotfelter had been Prescott's chairman and worked closely with Japanese investors, including Hazama's Japanese parent company. Carpenter, who has been left to run Prescott on his own, has taken on real estate duties over the years but started as an accountant.

Carpenter was out of town and could not be reached for comment.

He and Clotfelter lost their homes to a creditor last year after one of their development partnerships wound up in bankruptcy.

The Third & Pike Limited Partnership had planned to build an office tower and theater downtown but could not get long-term financing.