After four years of on-and-off negotiations with the New Beginnings Christian Center, Opus' development director Bruce Wood has not only acquired more than half the group's 84-acre property for the 800,000-sf Columbia Gorge Corporate Center, he's won Opus the contract to build the church a huge new complex on its remaining land.

"When I first started for Opus, the church was only selling (20 acres) they weren't going to need for their development," Wood tells GlobeSt. "But over the years we've been able to talk through the issues, and they made the decision to, rather than build a huge facility with seas of parking, find a higher use that would met their needs and also benefit the larger community."As a result, for right around the market rate of $5-$6/sf, Opus now owns 54 acres of prime industrial land between Northeast Sandy Boulevard and Interstate 84, in a market that is quickly losing its inventory of valuable, close-in land for office and industrial parks.

As the corporate center's first project, Opus recently broke ground on an 180,000-sf facility that American Honda Motor Corp. will buy upon completion. Other deals are in the works, said Cushman & Wakefield broker Gary Randles, the listing agent for the project.