"We had a whole bunch of development projects in their early phases," Perniconi tells GlobeSt.com "I brought a little more experience to the table, and now we've got a lot of stuff going on out there right now."

Indeed, Perniconi's five-man development team is now juggling office projects in Vancouver and in Beaverton, five retail projects in Portland, Salem and Beaverton and a mid-rise residential project in Portland's burgeoning Pearl District.

Here in the Portland area in the retail arena, CE John has just started on a 10,000-sf project at 39th Street and Sandy Boulevard in the Hollywood District of close-in Northeast Portland. On the 30,000-sf block will go a high-grade Mexican fast food restaurant called Baja Fresh, a Radio Shack and a Subway sandwich shop. Perniconi says he's in negotiations for one of the two remaining spaces, and is still seeking tenants for one 1,500-sf space.