Email This   Larger Font      Print This   Smaller Font Advertisement Hewlett-Packard Corp. What: World’s largest computer maker, designs and markets inkjet printers locally. Where: 18110 S.E. 34th St., Vancouver. Who: Mark Hurd, chief executive officer. Employees: Won’t release local numbers, 172,000 worldwide. Revenues: $104 billion in 2007. Hewlett-Packard Co.’s Clark County campus at 18110 S.E. 34th St. in east Vancouver.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008
By Courtney Sherwood, Columbian Staff Writer

Hewlett-Packard Co., one of Clark County’s largest employers, is looking for renters to fill empty office space at its east Vancouver campus, 18110 S.E. 34th St.

Just how many people remain at the Vancouver printer design and marketing firm is a company secret — HP has not released staffing figures for more than two years.

But one building on the company’s campus now stands largely empty, and for almost a year HP has been seeking a tenant, company spokesman Ed Woodward confirmed.

HP is seeking to rent out 64,580 square feet on the second floor of Building 1, one of six structures that comprise 694,000 square feet on the 175-acre campus.

“Primarily we are marketing the second story of that building, but if there was a large enough tenant then HP would consider making the first floor available, too,” said Kristin Hammon, an associate with real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield in Portland.

At its peak in the mid-1990s, Hewlett-Packard employed about 3,300 people in Clark County. Staffing levels have climbed and fallen through the years in response to market trends.

In 2005, HP confirmed that it employed about 1,800 people in Vancouver.

Since then, the company has sold off equipment associated with its manufacturing operations here, which had mostly ended by 2000.

Mark Hurd, who became chief executive in 2005, trimmed HP’s work force by 10 percent.

Under Hurd’s leadership, HP also is consolidating its work sites, and has announced several closures of leased facilities over the past year.

But HP owns its site in Vancouver and has invested heavily here since starting construction of its first Clark County building in 1979.

Despite rumors reported by former HP employees to The Columbian that the campus is for sale, the only activity under way is the effort to lease some office space, company spokesman Woodward said.