PORTLAND-The Portland Development Commission is planning to investigate whether its urban renewal activities have a hand in gentrifying a neighborhood--forcing lower-income residents to leave the area due to factors such as rising rent or residential investors who put rentals up for sale.

NEW YORK CITY-The local real estate markets, already weakened by a faltering economy, were temporarily paralyzed by the World Trade Center bombings. But the ongoing impact of Sept. 11 on the industry is difficult, if not impossible to quantify.

GROVELAND, FL-Developers monitor Groveland's planned 2,000-acre annexation as environmentalists and anti-growth foes prepare to fight what local planners say could be the ecological battle of the decade, 25 miles west of Downtown Orlando.

SAN FRANCISCO-A 30-year-old concrete plant that does not fit into the Mission Bay development plan must relocate, despite 10 years left on the company's lease. To boot, the neighbors of its proposed new home say it isn't part of their plans, either.