Vancouver is located on the north bank of the Columbia river, and forms part of the Portland-Vancouver Metropolitain Area.  In 1997 the city of Vancouver decided to dedicate the next 15-20 years to redevelop and revitalize a huge portion of the downtown core. 

Currently the city is building a new shopping complex, including a recently finished Fred Meyer, just outside of the downtown core. The Columbian newspaper has recently finished building a new seven-story building adjacent to the Hilton. There are plans in the future for a new development along C Street in downtown that would include a new library, a new Marriott hotel and roughly 250 new condominiums, along with other projects remain processing to start.