A major Midwest industrial developer is looking to make its mark on the Portland-metro market with a speculative project in Hillsboro.

Scannell Properties plans to seek bids in the coming weeks for construction of a 126,000-square-foot industrial structure with a 32-foot clear height. Mackenzie is designing the project for Scannell, and CBRE will search for a tenant.

The developer, based in Indianapolis, saw opportunity in the Portland market after completing two build-to-suit projects in Salem, said Mohnish Narlanka, a Scannell senior development manager who oversees the company’s Pacific Northwest projects.

Scannell built approximately 1 million square feet of logistics space for Dollar General and 300,000 square feet for Gensco after approaching the city of Salem to forge a land agreement to develop an industrial park.

“That was kind of our first dive into the greater Portland market,” Narlanka said. “As we got some positive momentum in the region, our next mandate was let’s go find that speculative deal that we like and plant the flag.”

Narlanka said he’s not among those investors turned off by the “optics around downtown Portland.” The developer said his wife grew up in Beaverton, and he’s become familiar with the area.

“Yes, there are challenges for downtown Portland, but it’s not indicative of what’s going on in Clackamas or Hillsboro or these submarkets that are doing really well,” he said. “So, we’re going to continue to invest where there’s demand. Our broad thesis is the Portland area is an area where there’s durable demand.”

Scannell develops some $4 billion in industrial real estate annually, split between speculative and build-to-suit projects. The privately held developer has in-house construction managers, along with accounting and legal staff, and typically works with local architecture firms and contractors.

In Hillsboro, Scannell was encouraged by limited land availability and activity from Washington County users.

“What we really liked about Hillsboro is it’s kind of a captive demand audience where people want to be close to those they serve, whether that’s Intel or someone else,” Narlanka said.

The developer is investing in a market that has seen its share of ups and downs in recent years. A spate of speculative construction led to higher vacancy rates and softening rents in some submarkets.

In the second quarter, leasing activity grew 25 percent compared to a year earlier, and leasing was up 7 percent compared to the previous quarter. That led to net absorption of 508,147 square feet.

Vacancy rose as new projects opened with limited preleasing. “Despite these headwinds, demand for modern Class-A space remains strong in select submarkets, particularly the Sunset Corridor, where premium facilities command some of the market’s highest rental rates,” CBRE stated in the quarterly report it released last week.

Vacancy in the Sunset Corridor remained low at 4.2 percent, compared to the market average of 7.7 percent.

An undisclosed tenant signed the quarter’s largest lease at Prologis Park Clackamas for 304,000 square feet. Consolidated Supply Co., Nuna Baby Essentials and Ferguson Enterprises also signed major leases, according to CBRE.

The construction pipeline remains robust, with nearly 3.5 million square feet on the way. Developers have delivered 1.6 million square feet year to date in the Portland market.

Scannell will seek one or two tenants for the Hillsboro speculative project, Narlanka said. The development is located at Northeast Starr Boulevard and Meek Road in Hillsboro, just south of U.S. Route 26 and near a cluster of new construction, including an Amazon fulfillment center and data centers.

The warehouse “theoretically could demise into two suites,” Narlanka said. “Many users prefer (an) entire building.”

Scannell is in the final phases of permitting and expects to begin clearing and grading the site in late September, Narlanka said. The company expects a 10-month construction phase, with availability in summer 2027.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Mohnish Narlanka leads Scannell Properties’ West Coast projects. Narlanka is in charge of the Pacific Northwest for Scannell.

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By Alan Torres
Eugene Register-Guard / USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Eugene City Council has advanced a measure that would require people selling homes in Eugene to disclose the home’s Home Energy Score to prospective buyers.

City staff, recommending councilors pursue the requirement, said in surveying Eugene residents, people wanted more guidance on how to improve their home’s energy efficiency and passing the requirement would do that.

“It would expand access to information about energy usage, energy improvements and available incentives,” said Danielle Klinkebiel, Eugene climate policy analyst.

A Home Energy Score is a standardized measurement of a home’s energy efficiency. A Home Energy Score report includes a home’s estimated energy costs, recommended improvements, and available rebates. Klinkebiel said this assessment costs $150 to $250 and examines the home’s insulation, air sealing, heating, cooling, windows, doors and water heating.

Under the proposal, people selling homes in Eugene would be required to include a Home Energy Score and Report in the real estate listing and home showing. Eugene would be the fifth Oregon city to adopt such a requirement.

City staff said they had researched Home Energy Score requirements in other cities, and found implementing them didn’t have an impact on housing supply. But staff recommended the city create a program to train energy assessors to ensure there are enough of them to meet the demand generated by the requirement.

Councilors unanimously voted to advance the proposal to a public hearing. Because of City Council’s upcoming summer recess, the earliest this could occur would be Sept. 21.

Councilors expressed a range of enthusiasm and skepticism of the proposal.

Supportive councilors said the requirement would provide more information to home buyers and help people make the homes in Eugene more energy efficient.

Critical councilors said it would likely be redundant with expected federal regulation and worried about the home inspections being inaccurate and sellers passing along the cost of the inspection to buyers.

Other Oregon cities requiring the disclosure are Portland, Milwaukie, Hillsboro and Bend.

Celeste Schmorde, president of Eugene Realtors, shared mixed thoughts on the requirement.

Schmorde said earlier in the process the Realtors had weighed in with concerns that the energy score may not accurately reflect the value or livability of older homes, and questioned the theory the requirement would encourage homeowners to make energy improvements.

But Schmorde also said the organization supports “transparency around a home’s expected utility costs and operating expenses,” and that at this point Eugene Realtors has switched from debating the policy to “helping buyers, sellers, and real estate professionals understand any new requirements so they can navigate them successfully.”

Meredith Tufts, coalition coordinator for Fossil Free Eugene, celebrated the vote. She called the proposed requirement “a common sense measure that will help to ensure prospective home buyers have the knowledge they need to make informed purchases.”

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Hillsboro’s data center market ended 2025 with a 0.2 percent vacancy rate, according to a recent report, underscoring insatiable demand in the sector and constrained supply.

At year end the market had 475.4 megawatts of inventory and approximately 1 megawatt of available capacity, CBRE found. Asking rents ranged from $175 to $225 per kilowatt per month.

“Hillsboro’s exceptionally low vacancy underscores how critical the market has become for West Coast deployments,” Haakon Weinstein, a Portland-based CBRE vice president, stated in a news release.

“Even with limited new supply last year, demand remained steady, driven by the area’s network density and access to renewable power,” Weinstein added. “With development constrained in part by the region’s urban growth boundary and power transmission limitations, availability will remain scarce, influencing both rate and land price trends.”

Hillsboro remained the seventh-largest North American data center market, led by Northern Virginia, Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth, Chicago, Phoenix and Silicon Valley.

Locally and nationally, data center developers perhaps have run out of easy locations to build. Data center capacity under construction fell to 5,994.4 megawatts at the end of 2025, compared to 6,350.1 megawatts a year earlier.

CBRE’s report blamed “longer timelines tied to permitting, zoning approvals and securing adequate power” for the first drop in data center construction since 2020.

Weinstein said he expects to see more construction near major cities, where operators prize speed.

“As data centers progress, you’re going to see more data centers on the edge of population centers that have very low latency,” Weinstein added in an interview.

Despite demand, Hillsboro isn’t where growth is occurring nationally. Dallas, Austin, Atlanta, Raleigh, North Carolina and Denver-Boulder, Colorado, are all seeing strong growth, Weinstein said.

Oregon is prized for relatively cheap electricity, and a mix high in renewable energy. Undersea data cables come ashore at Pacific City, and the state is sandwiched by tech clusters in Seattle and Northern California.

More growth is expected in Eastern Oregon, where Amazon has bought up “huge swaths of land,” Weinstein said. Hillsboro could see more growth if an effort to expand its urban growth boundary is successful, he said.

Meanwhile, data centers face political opposition from some critics who blame the industry for sharp rises in utility bills and water usage. The Oregon Legislature this month approved a one-year moratorium on property tax incentives for new data centers.

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A Bus Rapid Transit project is being proposed for Tualatin Valley Highway from Beaverton to Forest Grove. A locally preferred alternative will be selected by Hillsboro‘s steering committee in May or June.

The TV Highway Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) route is anticipated to be between 15 to 20 percent faster than the current Route 57. The route will use 60-foot articulated buses with three entry doors that will speed boardings, according to officials. Metro also plans to close about 27 bus stops with low ridership or major safety considerations, and use traffic signal priority to potentially allow for more time for buses to cross through certain intersections.

Metro Project Manager Jess Zbed and TriMet Community Affairs Coordinator Bernadette Le provided a project update during a Hillsboro Transportation Committee meeting Tuesday. The project is in conceptual design now with 5 percent of the design complete.

The project has three committees: a technical working group, a policy working group and the TV Highway Steering Committee. People can provide public comment to the steering committee.

A goal of the project includes improving speed and reliability for transit users along the corridor that runs from Forest Grove to Beaverton. Another goal is that the project is feasible to fund, construct and operate. The project received an $850,000 Federal Transit Administration Hope grant in 2020.

In fall 2021, a rider survey showed that 70 percent of those who ride the line do not have a vehicle. According to Metro and TriMet, Line 57 is the fifth-highest ridership in the TriMet system. It also has the second-highest frequent service line ridership retention during COVID-19.

In terms of safety, shelter stations and lighting are being proposed. The team is also looking at speed management and the location of stops. Le said TriMet is also working to improve travel time so it can be competitive with driving a vehicle.

The study is also looking at additional enhanced crossings, strategic sidewalk infill and station placement to address crash issues on the roadway. In-lane stops are being looked at, rather than pull out stops, as well as decreasing speed limits from 45 mph to 35 mph in certain areas. Some pull out stops along the corridor will be retained.

Challenges of the study corridor include many needs sharing limited space such as pedestrians, bicyclists, buses and vehicles; the railroad being very close to some of the stops; and a cap on federal funding.

Part of the study is looking at a zero emissions fleet. The bus fleet decision is not part of the LPA stage. The team will explore fleet emissions but will decide later in the process.

“Changes to the fleet includes changes to the design,” Zbed said. “Eventually, when we get down the path of really having more detailed design than 5 percent, the choice of the bus is going to drive that.”

The completed run time analysis will help inform model inputs and help understand relative benefits of design treatments. The analysis shows savings vary by location, time of day and year, with significant variation by location along the corridor.

An upcoming traffic analysis will project impacts. It will give a better understanding of specific treatments in certain areas.

The LPA will go before Hillsboro’s transportation committee for recommendation to Metro Council.

The project is estimated to cost millions of dollars. Construction is estimated to begin in 2026 and be complete in 2029.

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Even as the COVID-19 pandemic persists, construction work is continuing in the Portland-metro area.

The Wingspan Event & Conference Center, for instance, is being tackled by general contractor/construction manager Swinerton Builders within a stone’s throw of the Hillsboro Airport, at the corner of Northeast 34th Avenue and Veterans Drive. LRS Architects designed the 89,000-square-foot facility, which will feature mass timber and much more.

“It’s really an interesting project in that you have a lot of different buildings thrown together to make up the architecture,” Swinerton Builders senior project manager John Ciepiela said. “You have structural steel over joists on the lower roof sections. The main gallery and conference and meeting rooms are mass timber over structural steel. And the main expo hall space is made of mega-trusses over structural steel brace framing.”

The $52 million project is being developed by the partnership of Washington County, the city of Hillsboro and the Washington County Visitors Association. The Wingspan Event & Conference Center is expected to become the heart of Westside Commons – a multiuse campus being created to revitalize the aging Washington County Fairgrounds.

The new facility will host fair-related functions and large community events, including regional and national conferences. The main exposition hall will have roughly 39,000 square feet of floor space; partitions will allow the space to be split into smaller sections. A 13,000-square-foot conference hall will be able to host smaller events on its own or in combination with the main expo hall. An additional 3,000 square feet of meeting space will be provided for smaller meetings and lectures.

A spacious entry plaza will be next to the lobby, and a full commercial kitchen, concessions area and office will serve the entire building. An outdoor exhibit area on the west side of the building will provide an opening into the campus.

The building’s name comes from its most noticeable feature: a gracefully sloping roof section covering the east end.

“Aesthetically, that project is pretty fantastic,” said Swinerton Mass Timber superintendent Tym, who goes by only one name. “When you see the wingspan, as you approach it, there is something very retro about it that gives you a 1950s airport look. The thing that’s most exciting about mass timber, coming from a concrete background, where everything is gray with architectural features, is the vibrancy and the lines and shape and the efficiency of the erection process; as a builder it’s exciting to see.”

Inside, there are corridors taller than 30 feet and sloping ceilings with exposed cross-laminated timber panels. That said, the construction process pairing those panels with structural steel, Tym added, proved painstaking.

“The really high ceilings in the corridors have beam profiles that taper and slope,” he said. “Every time you’re dealing with an application of mass timber and sloped lines, it’s an incredible challenge to interface with all those steel elements.”

Ciepiela explained the assembly.

“You basically have brace frames and structural steel coming into an aesthetic architectural piece,” he said. “You’re dealing with 3-D angle assessment and mass-timber connections that are (intersecting) knife plates. Then you have buckle connections and there’s also long-span, 75-foot glulam beams; the sistering of those beams took some structural ingenuity from Nishkian Dean, the structural engineer.”

The project team broke ground in September 2018, and construction of the building began in February 2019. Substantial completion is expected sometime this spring.

Exterior work has been largely completed. Dozens of electricians and other tradespeople are installing the miles of wiring needed to power the facility and enable communications and audio/visual equipment.

Swinerton’s own carpenters are on the site self-performing drywall, carpentry and related scopes of work.

The unique design presented particular challenges for builders in regard to mechanical systems and a large curtainwall system, Ciepiela said. A delicate lifting operation was required to place large air-handling units inside the rooftop penthouse – with the cross-laminated timber roof already in place. Envelope considerations complicated other work.

“We have glazing curtainwall interfacing with mass timber at interesting negative angles going out,” he said. “Structurally it’s not as simple as just setting glass frames up and down.”

Projects like this are helping broaden the mass-timber market as a whole, Tym said.

“We’re able to share the lessons we’ve learned from a high-level CM-GC perspective, and we’re making it possible for these public jobs to envision what a mass-timber solution looks like,” he said.

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An information technology provider is expanding its presence in Hillsboro with a new facility.

Flexential executives said the new data center will be its largest anywhere. The company already has two in Hillsboro.

Flexential was the result of the merger of Peak 10 and ViaWest in 2017. ViaWest opened its first Hillsboro data center in 2006, and its second in 2011.

The third data center is in the city’s design review process. Flexential executives expect to break ground on the project in 2020. The firm has not yet selected a general contractor.

Completion of the project would give Flexential more than 500,000 gross square feet of data centers in Hillsboro, said Joe Guerriero, general counsel and real estate portfolio manager for the firm.

It’s not clear exactly how large the new building will be.

“The overall design review process will dictate that,” Guerriero said.

The project is being designed by The Mulhern Group, kW Mission Critical Engineering and Mackenzie.

Flexential acquired 20 acres for the new data center.

“We certainly have an audacious plan and we’re optimistic the city will accommodate that,” Guerriero said.

Flexential, a hybrid IT solutions provider, furnishes both physical and virtual infrastructure for co-location, cloud computing, data protection and other services.

The data center expansion is part of a growing concentration of such facilities in Hillsboro, where three trans-Pacific sub-sea cables connect to Asian markets.

“Given that they land there, ultimately it’s a good location for the compute resource,” said Chris Downie, Flexential’s CEO.

Demand is expected to come from existing customers as well as new ones, Downie said. The company has 41 data centers in 21 markets.

Downie said Hillsboro is “pretty cost-effective from a development perspective,” with low costs for water and electricity and some of the nation’s lowest tax rates. Hillsboro’s relative proximity to the California market is another plus, he said.

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General contractor Pence Construction is seeking bids from firms interested in participating on a $41.4 million project to renovate and expand Glencoe High School in Hillsboro.

Improvements are expected to increase the 39-year-old school’s enrollment capacity by 400 students. The project is being paid for with money from a $408 million bond approved by voters in 2017.

The school’s entrance will be updated and gain a secure entry vestibule. Additions will include a media center, a counseling center and health science classrooms. The commons area and cafeteria will be expanded, as will other existing spaces to accommodate career and technical education (CTE) programs. Plans call for improving and adding to the school’s weight room, outdoor covered training area and team rooms. There will also be seismic, roofing, HVAC, parking lot, and general safety and security improvements.

Nonmandatory job walks are scheduled for 3:30 p.m. on March 4 and 3:30 p.m. on March 11; both will start at the school’s main entrance.

Questions about the bid package may be sent to either Adam Rondeau at adamr@pence.net or 503-507-2756, or Owen Blakesley at owenb@pence.net or 971-707-2576.

The submission deadline for bid set No. 2 has been extended to March 13. Pence Construction expects to issue an addendum on March 1; the last day for substitution requests and pre-bid requests for information will be March 5.

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Development review has been requested for a proposal to build a four-story, 115-room Hyatt House hotel in Hillsboro.

Public notice of the application was published on Aug. 22.

Applicant Evergreen Hillsboro Brookwood LLC is proposing to build a 57,759-square-foot hotel on a 2.51-acre parcel at 5523 N.E. Huffman St. The site is less than half a mile south of U.S. Route 26, off of Northwest Brookwood Parkway. It is part of the Majestic Brookwood subdivision.

According to public records, Williamsville, N.Y.-based MWT Hotel & Resort Architect is designing the proposed hotel, which would have 115 rooms, a dine-in restaurant and an indoor pool.

The hotel is part of a larger development proposal for the property. At least four additional one-story commercial buildings are envisioned for the site, according to preliminary site plans. They would range in size from 3,000 to 7,300 square feet; the largest one received approval from the city in July. Plans call for a total of approximately 109 vehicle parking spaces.

The hotel would be 59 feet, 9 inches at its tallest point on the crown, with a nominal rooftop height of 44 feet.

Building materials would include “bronzestone” brick from Interstate Brick’s architectural series, metal panels and a hammered, silver metallic finish on the cornice. The exterior walls would be “canvas” colored, while the storefront would have an aluminum finish.

If approved and built, this would be the second Hyatt House hotel in the Portland-metro area. The first – a six-story, 203-room hotel in Portland’s South Waterfront District – was designed by SERA Architects and built by general contractor Howard S. Wright. It opened in September 2016.

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Oregon school districts planning for growth face a delicate task balancing demographics, politics and money before asking voters to approve property tax increases to build new schools.

For an illustrative example, look to Hillsboro School District.

The district is seeing strong growth, particularly in single-family homes, in areas around North Plains and South Hillsboro. Those families will eventually send their children to Hillsboro schools.

Hillsboro School District has convened a bond advisory committee to look at what facilities the district needs and when the community will need them. Timing is critical: If Hillsboro waits too long, schools will be overcrowded. Yet if it builds too soon, schools could be left underutilized.

“There’s that fine line before really crowding your schools and working proactively to build schools,” spokeswoman Beth Glaser said.

Hillsboro School District is tentatively looking to ask voters to approve funding for two to three new schools through a bond measure on the November 2017 or May 2018 ballot, Glaser said.

School districts across the state track a range of data to decide when to pursue money for a new school. Enrollment is the most important factor, but housing starts, population projections and even birth data from prior years can help predict enrollment.

Each district typically has a committee that evaluates facility needs. School staff members work with the committees, and the school board and superintendent, to plan for growth. Any major school construction requires a bond that is referred to voters’ ballots by school boards. When boards opt to do so, and how much money they ask for, requires them to delicately balance political needs and practical realities.

For Hillsboro, a future bond issue would most likely fund three new elementary schools – one in North Plains and two in South Hillsboro, an area where developers are building infrastructure ahead of master-planned housing developments. Reed’s Crossing, led by developer Newland Communities, could eventually encompass 4,000 housing units.

Other developments could double that number, bringing many new families to the area, Glaser said. The district anticipates about 600 new housing units per year will be constructed in South Hillsboro over the next decade or so.

Then there’s North Plains.

“North Plains is one of the areas where we’re looking at putting forth a recommendation for a new elementary school, and that’s because of the building that’s currently under way,” Glaser said. “We simply don’t have enough capacity up there in our one elementary school for all of those students.”

Hillsboro School District anticipates asking for about $300 million in bond funding, Glaser said. The bond measure, if approved, would keep property taxes roughly equal to current levels because of a “natural drop” in tax levels, she said. In part, that reflects a political calculation.

“If we don’t fill that gap with another bond ask, rates will drop by about $1.25 (per $1,000 of assessed value), and it’s pretty difficult once they drop to ask voters to raise it again,” she said.

Hillsboro School District serves more than 20,000 students in 25 elementary schools, four middle schools and four high schools. The district has no immediate need for additional middle or high schools, Glaser said.

Bend and surrounding communities are also experiencing strong growth. Bend-La Pine Schools, a district that serves Bend, La Pine and Sunriver, plans to build four new elementary schools, one middle school and two high schools by 2035, said Mike Tiller, the district’s executive director of facilities.

“The most immediate need on that list is a high school,” said Brad Henry, Bend-La Pine’s chief operations and financial officer. “Our high schools are currently at capacity (and) projected to go over capacity next year.”

Bend-La Pine officials use population projections from Portland State University, along with internal enrollment data, to gauge future growth. The district looks at birth data from five years prior to estimate kindergarten enrollment.

This fall, the district saw overall enrollment jump by 500 students, or nearly 3 percent.

“It’s fast growth, which is good,” Henry said. “It allows us to offer more programs. There are some challenges that come with it and most of (the challenges) are around facilities.”

Fall 2016 enrollment represented the strongest annual growth since 1991, Tiller said.

“We’re seeing growth in our schools across all grades, which suggests people are moving into the area,” he said.

The Bend district’s Sites and Facilities Committee is expected to bring a recommendation to the school board soon with a plan for a bond to pay for the next five to seven years of construction.

“We’re not quite to a point where we know the timeline yet, but there will be something that goes to the board this calendar year,” Henry said.

Portland Public Schools has faced declining enrollment for years. The district is focused on renovating existing buildings rather than new construction, spokesman Jon Coney said.

“Opening new schools hasn’t really been on our radar screen,” he said.

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An Arizona firm has proposed to build a mixed-use project with 276 residential units and 2,200 square feet of retail space, in Hillsboro‘s AmberGlen area.

The Wolff Co., based in Scottsdale, Arizona, envisions a four-story wood frame with surface and tuck- under parking. The building would include a rooftop deck, fitness center and other amenities.

The project’s land use has been approved, and plans are going through the permitting process. The project has not yet broken ground.

A Wolff spokeswoman said the firm is not ready to discuss the project.

Hillsboro began planning for the AmberGlen area in 2011. The Wolff project fits the larger vision for the area, said Patrick Preston, public affairs manager for the city of Hillsboro.

“The Wolff group project helps realize the AmberGlen community plan for a vibrant, higher density urban regional center that provides local employees with a great option for housing in an active, mixed-use environment,” Preston said.

AmberGlen encompasses more than 600 acres at the southern edge of the Tanasbourne Town Center area.

The Wolff Co. is active in Washington and California, but the AmberGlen project would be the company’s first foray into development in Oregon. Wolff previously acquired Broadway Place, a 170-unit in downtown Eugene. The Eugene property consists of eight mid-rise buildings with 13,800 square feet of street-level commercial space and a below-ground parking structure.

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