Portland, Oregon High Rise Security

At 42 stories, the U.S. Bancorp Tower and Plaza is perhaps the most prominent office complex in the Portland, Oregon skyline. The distinctive property takes up three city blocks, offers nearly 1.1 million rentable square feet including the highest occupied floor in the city, and is visited by presidents and traveling dignitaries.

U.S. Bancorp Tower and Plaza is also the largest property for Unico Properties LLC, a Seattle based full-service real estate firm. 

To help ensure the safety and security of their tenants and holdings, Unico employs Securitas to provide a team of 15 on-site officers as well as a premier bicycle patrol, which varies in size as needed.

“We have a gold plated relationship with Securitas,” notes Senior Property Manager Ty Barker.  “The officers are the first point of contact for our clients, and they well represent Unico’s desire to provide exceedingly helpful customer service.” 

Securitas officers are conspicuously uniformed and staffed around the clock in the main traffic areas of the building.   In the case of a theft, accident or medical emergency, they are the first to answer the call and as Barker sees it, “in the case of a situation like an elevator entrapment, the security officer is the human voice to calm.”

Unico and Securitas have worked together to develop specialized services for visitors and tenants.  An officer is stationed at the adjacent parking structure during peak hours to help ensure safety, provide directions and to eliminate the need to wait for elevator service.  Escorts are always available during off hours.  In addition, officers routinely go out of their way to provide additional services to the community such as umbrella coverage from Portland’s rainy skies.    As one tenant puts it, “[The officer] never lets me walk by carrying anything heavy without helping.”

In conjunction with the local fire department, a number of Securitas officers have undergone Neighborhood Emergency Team (NET) training so they can serve as additional responders in the event of a natural or civic disaster.  “Once we stabilize our business population, we can provide the community with additional trained search and rescue workers for the neighborhood,” says Barker.  Additionally, account managers sit in on weekly meetings as members of the Portland Downtown Safety Committee.  “We have utilized Securitas officers to such a degree that they are interacting with the community at all levels, and that provides extra value.”

Unico has been particularly pleased with the way their local account manager has addressed concerns and found the right officers to staff the complex.   “Securitas has been extremely diligent and responsive to our requests,” says Barker.  “We have a well-trained pool of officers that we know well and an excellent relationship with our account manager.  It is critical to have the implied trust. This is a prominent property and I don’t have to worry about lapses in training or coverage; I know the officers won’t do anything that compromises the security of our tenants.”

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