The lead developers, Bechtel and Trammell Crow, expect that to change real soon, however. MBK Northwest has tied up 40 acres and is deep in negotiations with prospective tenants for the retail and entertainment portion of the project, planned as 380,000-sf of restaurants and retailers pushed right up to the sidewalks and parking tucked behind the buildings.

MBK chief Mason Frank tells GlobeSt.com that despite the economic slowdown negotiations are underway with the likes of REI, Nordstrom Rack, Linens & Things, Bon Home Store, Ethan Allen, Pier One, as well as a major electronics retailer and a national bookstore. The plan is to prelease a significant portion of the project, secure financing, close the land deal with Bechtel and break ground this fall, says Frank.

If all goes well on the retail side, Ed Hurn of Bechtel and Jeff Sackett of Trammell Crow tell GlobeSt.com an as yet unnamed hotel developer will break ground on a 170-room Residence Inn on 2.5 acres. A total of 800 to 1,000 rooms are planned. Also about that time, they expect to break ground themselves on Cascade Station's first office building, which will occupy 3.5 acres. A total of 1.35 million sf is possible.

CascadeStation is a public/private partnership between Bechtel, Trammell Crow, the Port of Portland, the City of Portland, the Portland Development Commission and Tri-Met, the city's public transportation agency. At build out, which is projected to cost $400 million and take no more than 15 years, CascadeStation will employ an estimated 10,000 people.

The Port of Portland owns the land. Bechtel put up $28.2 million to help pay for a 5.5 mile extension of the city's light rail through CascadeStation and onto the Portland International Airport, and in exchange received an 85-year lease of the CascadeStation land and promptly partnered with Trammell Crow Co. for its development under the name Cascade Station Development Company LLC.

The land is valued at between $10 per sf and $15 per sf. MBK's acquisition of the rights to 40 acres "will more than cover (the LLC's) debt service obligations for a few years," Trammell Crow's Sackett tells GlobeSt.com. "We expect them to close on the acquisition sometime late this year."