The whole thing smacks of Panattoni's plunge into Texas two years ago with Ross Perot Jr.'s Hillwood operation. The Panattoni Hillwood joint venture recently disbanded after a two-year development record that pumped more than 4.8 million sf of industrial space into the Dallas-Ft. Worth market, according to a story on GlobeSt's Dallas Web site in November.

This most recent Portland-area deal is for all but 15 acres of the land Art Spada owns between the western portion of Catellus' Southshore Corporate Park and 185th Avenue, the borderline between Portland and Gresham, across which lies the rest of Southshore. Don Ossey of Ossey Patterson Co., who is representing Spada, tells GlobeSt the remaining acreage is yet to be tied up.

Mike Wells, Panattoni's local point man, hopes to close on his company's purchase within four months, which GlobeSt presumes is the length of time Wells believes is will take to finalize the build-to-suit deal and obtain the requisite city approvals for its construction.