The property, at 10930 SW Tualatin Rd., is located in the Leveton Increment District, a 377-acre urban renewal area south of Tualatin Road and Highway 99W. Oki America Inc. purchased the site in mid-1989 for just over $3.45 million, according to Oregon Title Insurance Co. After adding 20,000 sf of office and 45,000 sf of manufacturing space, they sold it to Novellus last May for just under $12 million. Jack McConnell and Isaac Quintero of Norris Beggs & Simpson broker represented Oki in the sale.

In addition to the 355,000 development, work already is well underway on a 10,000-sf expansion of the existing buildings that came with the purchase. Architectural Technologies of Phoenix is the designer for the expansion. The general contractor is Germany-based M+W Zander. Novellus spokesman Bob Climo tells GlobeSt Novellus will start moving into the Tualatin plant early this year from leased facilities at 26277 S.W. 95th Ave in Wilsonville, OR that are rapidly becoming too small for the Silicon Valley-based company's local operation.

The local operation manufactures a machine that puts copper wiring in integrated circuits, the "brains" that power computers and cell phones and other high-tech electronics. The copper wiring is a sea change in an industry that since its infancy has used aluminum wiring, and Novellus is growing with the rapidly increasing demand for the new, improved product. The Oregon plant is the only one of Novellus' two locations that produces the equipment for copper wiring technology.