PORTLAND, OR-Construction has begun on high cube flex space totaling more than 180,000 sf in two buildings at the Southshore Corporate Park in Gresham. San Francisco-based Catellus Development Corp. expects the buildings to be completed and ready for occupancy by the beginning of March 2002.

Located at 18712 NE Portal Way, Southshore Corporate Park Building D will consist of 96,608 sf, and Building E located at 19018 NE Portal Way will consist of 84,192 sf. Both buildings are concrete tilt-up with 26-foot clear heights and have been designed with extensive glass lines and higher parking ratios to accommodate corporate users with significant office space demands as well as manufacturing users.

Southshore is a 230-acre master-planned business park with 1.3 million sf of flexible warehouse/distribution space either built or under construction, with an additional 65 acres available for development.

Despite economic uncertainties in a state with one of the highest jobless rates in the nation, local real estate executives are confident that the buildings will find tenants once completed. "There's demand out there," says Steve Barragar, with Grubb & Ellis' Portland office. "We have activity." Barragar is listing the project along with Tom Talbot, a VP in the same office.

Other new tenants with buildings under construction at the park include Alexander Moving & Storage which is building a 110,000-sf distribution facility; Harry's Fresh Foods, which acquired 7.53 acres to build an 80,000-sf production facility; and Frito Lay, which has begun construction on a 80,000-foot facility.