According to the latest report from CB Richard Ellis, Tacoma was sporting a 9.73% direct office vacancy rate, the highest in the Tacoma/Federal Way submarket, which was averaging 8.16% as of the end of June. Kendall says the vacancies here, as opposed to Seattle and Eastside submarkets, are due more to a general sagging of the economy than to the high-tech meltdown.

"Only between 7% and 11% of our total technology group has gone away," says Kendall. "So, we are still confident in our small technology community." Kendall attributes the healthier high-tech climate of Tacoma to the much lower rents that were being paid by its tenants in comparison to the exorbitant numbers being reaped by Seattle and Bellevue owners during the dot-com heyday.

The county's industrial market, meanwhile, has plenty of space under construction, despite the 11% overall vacancy rate. As of the end of June, the Tacoma/Fife submarket--some 59% of new construction in the entire Puget Sound, according to the CBRE report. "For the first time in history, spec manufacturing buildings are going up in Frederickson—-20 miles east of Tacoma," says Kendall.