Telecom hotels are essentially logistical storage and routingfacilities for companies providing cable, Internet, voice and datanetwork services to corporate and residential clients. There arethree major rings of fiber running under the streets ofmetropolitan Portland, one of which runs through close-in NorthwestPortland. It costs roughly $350,000 per mile to run fiber fromthese rings to buildings, so telecom hotels are often developedclose to these rings.

"There's a real frenzy in the telecom hotel sector nationwideand Portland is right in the middle of it," says Cushman &Wakefield broker Ramona Harrington, current president of thePortland Chapter of the Commercial Association of Realtors. "Partof the frenzy has to do with who can get to the market first andgain critical mass."

If so, the two latest entrants are already behind. In May, SanFrancisco-based F&F Partners LLC bought the massive,320,000-square-foot Meier & Frank Warehouse at 1438 N.W. IrvingSt. to create the city's largest telecom facility.