Sitting in the shadow of Mt. St. Helens, Portland, Ore., today is the Phoenix of the West. "It's now an attractive alternative to the dot-com Silicon Valley," says Clayton Hering of Portland commercial real estate firm Norris Beggs & Simpson.

Rising from the dust of the 1980 volcanic eruption and a flagging economy, Portland is now home of the largest semiconductor producer in the world, Intel. With formal commitments for a $12.5 billion expansion within the next 15 years, Intel will continue to be a magnet for other firms. It's no secret why young executives are flocking to the city. The median home price in Portland is now $166,700, according to the National Association of Realtors, and job growth appears to be increasing. Unemployment continues to drop in the Portland area, with current numbers at 4.2 percent.

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Portland offers 250 parks, public gardens and greenways. To protect this green bounty, the city has enacted some of the toughest urban planning laws in the country. The Portland Urban Growth Boundary is a designated line beyond which development is highly restricted.

"The Urban Growth Boundary has etched the growth of Portland proper," says Hering. But this boundary has also resulted in several interesting factors. While increasing housing density within the boundary, commercial development is restricted to specific areas. Downtown Portland has revitalized several older in-town neighborhoods, renovating aged buildings for new space.

With tax concessions from Washington County, Wash., Intel is outfitting a fourth chip production plant in the Sunset Corridor area, valued at $1.2 billion. Other firms in this area include National Semiconductor, Xerox and Hewlett-Packard. There has been a decided drop in vacancy rates along the Corridor since the beginning of this year. According to Reis Observer, (www.Reis.com), "There is an immense amount of space currently under construction in the Sunset Corridor. However, a number of large transactions along Highway 26 have diminished future availability."