Most submarkets saw an increase in vacancy during the first three months of the year. The Southwest Sunset jumped the most, from 5% to 17%. All submarkets have seen vacancy rise from the same period one year ago. The highest jump came in the Southwest I-5 submarket, where the rate has shot from 2.9% to 13.7%.

Construction remains lively, however. In the Airport Way area workers recently got underway on the 23-acre Rivergate Corporate Center, a two-building, 488,000-sf distribution center being developed by Kennedy Associates Real Estate Counsel, which is investing $20 million in the project on behalf of Multi-Employer Property Trust, a $3 billion union trades pension fund based in Delaware.

Elsewhere at the Port, Vestas Wind Systems, a Denmark-based manufacturer of wind-powered turbines, will spend upwards of $100 million to build a 700,000-sf North American headquarters and manufacturing operation on 113 acres in the Port of Portland's Rivergate Industrial District. At AmberGlen Business Center in Hillsboro, Planar Systems is nearing completion of its new 72,000-sf headquarters. Up in Vancouver, Wash., the Opus 205 Distribution Center also is nearly complete.